Parliament | Artist
Parliament was an American funk band formed 1970 in Plainfield, New Jersey, by George Clinton as part of his Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Less rock-oriented than its sister act Funkadelic, Parliament drew on science-fiction and outlandish performances in their work. The group of five vocalists, initially called The Parliaments, was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon and Grady Thomas. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group scored a hit single in 1967 with "I Wanna Testify", co-written by Clinton, on Revilot Records. To capitalize on this chart success, Clinton formed a touring band, adding Billy Nelson (bass), Tiki Fulwood (drums), Eddie Hazel (guitar), Tal Ross (guitar), and Mickey Atkins (organ). During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments", and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records as Funkadelic, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Between 1970-1978 Parliament released a string of excellent albums, including the classics Up For The Down Stroke, Mothership Connection, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome and Motor Booty Affair. Parliament's 1978 release "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" would go on to become one of the defining samples of the West Coast G-Funk movement. The song came to sampling prominence in the late '80s, appearing on King Tee's "Just Clowning", Ice-T's "The Syndicate", Fat Boys' “Get Down” and Ice Cube's 1990 release "Rollin' With Da Lench Mob". The song would go on to be sampled more than 12 additional times before the turn of the century by West Coast artists including Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, DJ Muggs, The Dogg Pound and Warren G.
Artist Website: georgeclinton.com
Featured Albums: Parliament
Related Artists: Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band, George Clinton, The JB's
