George Clinton (born July 22, 1941 in Kannapolis, North Carolina) is an American singer and producer, who is with James Brown and Sly Stone one of the founding fathers of funk. He coordinated the groups Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as some production satellites, before beginning a solo career. He is colorblind and a father of 14 children.

Funkadelic et Parliament

He grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, where he worked in a hairdresser, before forming the doo-wop group The Parliaments who signs some singles, including the popular I want to testify. Due to a contractual issue, the group becomes Parliament, a name then temporarily abandoned in favor of Funkadelic, which publishes twelve albums from 1970 to 1981, after recruiting keyboardist Bernie Worrell and guitarist Eddie Hazel. The sound is first rock and roll, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, before moving on into a psychedelic funk version of their own, the P-Funk,  of which  One Nation Under a Groove 1978 song is the peak commercial hit. The same musicians have revived Parliament in 1972, a project that is moving two years later also to the funk and a great success with Mothership Connection (1975), with participating  saxophonist Maceo Parker and trombonist Fred Wesley, both escaped from James Brown. Until 1980, nine studio discs came out under Parliament.

Going solo

George Clinton recorded several solo albums since 1982, sometimes accompanied by members of Parliament and Funkadelic groups designated by the letters "The P-Funk All Stars." The main reason was legal, because of the complexity of copyrights and trademark on the name "Parliament", and the acquisition of their former label Casablanca by Polygram.

In 1982, Clinton signed with Capitol Records as a solo artist and released the album Computer Games. The single Loopzilla reached the Top 20 R & B, followed by Atomic Dog, who gets the top in R & B charts but did not exceed the 101st place on the pop charts. During the three following years, he released three studio discs (You Should not Nuf Bit Fish-, Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends and R & B Skeletons in the Closet) and a live, Mothership Connection (Live from the Summit , Houston, Texas). Three singles were ranked in the R&B Top 30: Nubian Nut, Last Dance and Do Fries Go With That Shake.

During the 1980s, he met legal problems and financial difficulties due to complex copyright matters, as well as a decline in popularity. The musician, singer and producer Prince relaunches his career on his personal label Paisley Park, with which the former Funkadelic leader signs two albums, The Cinderella Theory in 1989 and Hey Man, Smell My Finger in 1993. Nevertheless, George Clinton owes his comeback to Rap music, since many of his old songs are sampled in disks such as Snoop Dogg Doggystyle (1993, produced by Dr. Dre), knowing a planetary success which provides the artists with new royalties and an increasing interest for younger generations. He again gives many concerts in the U.S. and Europe, and new albums appear: Dope Dogs (1995), TAPOAFOM (The Awesome Power Of A Fully Operational Mothership) (1996), and most recently How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Away? (2005), an eclectic double album marking fifty years of an impressive career of creativity.

Cinema et other

During the 1990s, Clinton featured in a few films: Graffiti Bridge (1990) Prince, PCU (1994) and Good Burger (1997). He also composed and recorded several songs for the film industry: PCU, Big Party (1998), The Muppets in Space (1999), Romeo Must Die and Charlie's Angels. More recently he lent his voice to Funktipus, DJ Bounce FM, a radio in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game released in 2004. He also appears in an episode of season 2 of the american series "How I Met Your Mother"  playing his own role, offering a ferret to one of the heroines (Lily, Alyson Hannigan) during a lunch in San Francisco.

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