George Clinton is the single most influential figure in the history of funk, the mastermind behind both Parliament & Funkadelic. Clinton founded The Parliaments, and began experimenting with harmonies, melody and rhythm and taking cues from the psychedelic movement, forever setting himself apart from the Motown era. In the early 70’s, Clinton spawned Funkadelic, a rock group which fused psychedelic guitar distortion, bizarre sound effects, and cosmological rants with danceable beats and booming bass lines which became the definition of funk.

Parliament & Funkadelic dominated and revolutionized the music scene in the 70’s capturing 40 R&B hit singles and racking up four #1 hits. In the 80’s, George Clinton emerged as a successful solo artist and produced The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Freaky Styley”, also signing onto Prince’s Paisley Park label. He also began to experiment with the urban hip-hop music scene.

By 1990, Clinton had become recognized as the godfather of modern urban music.
In 1997, George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and earned a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NAACP Image Awards. In 2002, SPIN magazine voted Parliament/Funkadelic #6 of the 50 Greatest Band of All Time.

http://www.georgeclinton.com

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