George Clinton — The Man Who Brought the ‘P’ To Funk
An artist with a thousand faces and great music all around
What do you get as one of the three key pillars of funk music? Well, if you are George Clinton, on one hand, you get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame and an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. On the other, you get a constant series of legal hassles and financial problems due to royalty and copyright issues.
That is, in a nutshell, the brief story of George Clinton, songwriter, vocalist, producer, and bandleader who has been described as a “genius” and a “pioneer” of funk music, but he is also a man who has had to fight for his rightful place in the annals of popular music.
Clinton is the man who brought us P-Funk, one of the most influential funk sub-genres, a mixture of soul, free-form funk, psychedelic rock as well as lyrical mythology that included a set of recurring characters set in science fiction and political and social statements, contained in the music, album liner notes, album artwork, costumes, advertisements, and stage banter.
Clinton had the acumen to surround himself with some brilliant musicians, including musical wizards like Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, and Bootsy Collins ― just to name a few. As a producer, he was instrumental…
