Buffalo Place

Thursday, July 28th

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
www.georgeclinton.com  

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame says the following about their ’97 inductees Parliament-Funkadelic, “If James Brown is funk’s founding father, Clinton has been its chief architect and tactician.”  This forefather of funk and his entourage also go by “dealers of funky music, P-Funk, uncut funk and The Bomb.”  Clinton was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 1940.  He developed a passion for music, in particular for doo wop groups, in the 1950’s when living in New Jersey.  In 1955, Clinton formed the Parliaments and the group was based out of the barber shop where he made a living straightening hair.  Soon soul, pop and rock influences inspired Clinton to form another group, Funkadelic and it was around this time that he dropped the “s” from Parliaments.  While both rooted in funk music, Parliament held more soul and horn-built sounds and Funkadelic was a rocking guitar centered group.  The latter is notorious for their large stage prop, the “Mothership,” which was a pseudo flying saucer contraption that held Clinton’s band mates.  Heavily influenced by psychedelic rockers Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Sly Stone, the groups made their mark in the 1970’s pumping out 60 hit R&B singles and three platinum albums.  The group’s biggest hits released in 1978 and 1979 including “Flash Light,” “One Nation Under a Groove”, “Aqua Boogie” and “Knee Deep,” all of which reached number one on the R&B charts.  

In 1982, Clinton signed with Capital recording company as a solo act and with the P. Funk All-Stars.  His 1982 record, Computer Games, is one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Albums of the 80’s.  Just when he thought his heyday of funk furry was beginning to wear in the late 1980’s, rap was on the rise and rap artists of the day began name dropping Clinton and giving him props as they ripped lines from his catchy hits.  To this day, Clinton is second only to James Brown as the most heavily sampled musical artist.  In the 90’s Clinton toured with both Parliament and Funkadelic, often collectively tagged the P-Funk All Stars.  Their 1996 album, The Awesome Power of a Fully Operational Mothership aka T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M., enabled the collective to further expand their fan base in the rap scene and by this time, the group was highly regarded as pioneers of funk music.  George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic along with former mates Bootsy, Phelps Collins and Bernie Worell performed at Woodstock 99’.

Clinton was featured on Snoop Dog’s 2007 album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment and made cameo appearances in the film PCU starring Jeremy Pivon and David Spade, as well as on the CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother.  In September of 2008, Clinton released solo album, George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love which features Sly Stone, El DeBarge, Red Hot Chili Peppers, RZA, Carlos Santana and gospel singer Kim Burrell.  Spin Magazine ranked Parliament Funkadelic number six on their list of the 50 Greatest Bands of All Time.  George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic have toured across the globe and are hitting the United States and United Kingdom this summer.  Clinton will perform at Thursday at The Square this year six days after his 71st birthday- “Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay!”