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The godfather of funk and one of the most influential musical innovators of our time, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, descends the Mothership on O2 Academy Liverpool for a one-off, full UK live show on Friday 29 July 2016; and their first time in the city for more than 40 years.
Famed for ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ and ‘Atomic Dog’ he is the single most sampled artist in music history with his signature grooves, crossing all boundaries.
In more recent years, 74 year old Clinton’s resurgence has been unstoppable. In March this year, the Funkadelic frontman recruited an all-star collaboration of Kendrick Lamar and Ice Cube to beam up and get down in an outrageous futuristic video for a remix of ‘Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?’. Lamar appeared on a Louie Vega remix of the track (To Pimp A Butterfly) in 2015, while Ice Cube’s verse was added to the ‘We Ain’t Never Gonna Stop’ remix in February 2016.
In 2015, he released a delicious new Chocolate City box-set featuring unique marbled vinyl discs, a DVD and two CDS in honour of the fortieth anniversary of Parliament’s seminal 1975 album of the same name and celebrated George Clinton’s earlier performances at Metropolis Studios (London)*; as well as appearing live on Later… with Jools Holland on BBC Two (Series 46 Live, Episode 2) and performed a two-hour lock-down at Glastonbury festival (June 2016).
Three decades since their last official album, Funkadelic returned to recording new material and released First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate in November 2014; three discs for the hardcore P Funk fans, an eclectic mix of genres of funk, soul, rap, rock and jazz.
He also penned his seminal music memoir in 2014, talking four decades of hit songs and the evolution of his career. The brilliant read, Brothers Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? (written with Ben Green), packed full of entertaining stories about becoming one of the funkiest men on the planet.
George Clinton began his music career in the 1950’s, while working at a barbershop in Newark, New Jersey. He founded a doo-wop singing quintet he called The Parliaments out of the shop’s back room. When Clinton headed to Detroit in the early 1960s to work as a staff song writer for Motown, the group stayed in New Jersey but continued to work together long distance and turned out their first hit with in 1967 with the single “(I Just Wanna) Testify,” which landed at No. 3 on the Billboard R&B charts. When Revilot went bankrupt later that year, the group’s name became tied up in litigation. In 1968, they renamed themselves Funkadelic, after Clinton’s back-up band. In 1972, when Clinton was finally able to get back the Parliament name, the group began using both the Parliament and Funkadelic moniker.
Clinton and his touring ensemble of singers, dancers, circus clowns, roller girls, virtuoso musicians and galactic space travellers deliver a live performance that is so energized and visually spectacular that they’re often mistaken for interstellar beings from another galaxy. Parliament explored and invented new sounds through funk – a twist on soul that included psychedelic guitar, deep bass groove, and bizarre sound effects – while Funkadelic cultivated a rock sound.
Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic released more than 40 R&B hit singles and three platinum albums during the 1970’s. He also received an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 by the late, great Prince, along with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Buckle up Liverpool – this is going to be one long intergalactic ride!