George Clinton Biography

While residing in New Jersey in the early 1950s, George Clinton grew fascinated with doo-wop. In 1955, he founded the Parliaments in a barbershop back room where he straightened hair. The trio scored a little R&B success in 1967, but Clinton took over the reins of the Parliaments two years later. The trio transformed R&B in the 1970s, twisting soul music into funk by incorporating inspirations from various late-'60s acid idols, including Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Sly Stone. During the 1970s, the Parliament/Funkadelic machine reigned black music, with over 40 R&B hit songs (including three number ones) and three platinum albums. By 1980, George Clinton was burdened by legal issues stemming from Polygram's purchase of Parliament's Casablanca label. Clinton signed to Capitol in 1982 as a solo artist and as the P.Funk All-Stars, ditching both the Parliament and Funkadelic titles (but not the musicians). Loopzilla was a Top 20 R&B single from his debut solo album, Computer Games, released in 1982. The title single from Clinton's Atomic Dog EP reached number one on the R&B charts a few months later; it stayed there for four weeks, but only reached number 101 on the mainstream charts. Clinton continued with Capitol for three more years, releasing three studio albums and hitting songs in the R&B Top 40 on a regular basis (Nubian Nut, Last Dance, Do Fries Go With That Shake). Clinton was in legal trouble for much of the three-year period from 1986 to 1989 (due to a slew of royalties issues that arose throughout the 1970s with recordings by over 40 performers for four companies under three identities). Clinton's fading status as a real forefather of rock was also an issue in the latter part of the 1980s; towards the end of the decade, however, a generation of rappers raised on P-Funk was beginning to name check him.

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