The Parliaments

The Parliaments

The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, formed in the back room of a barbershop in the late 1950s and named after the cigarette brand. After some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was group leader and manager, and part owner of the barbershop where the group convened to entertain customers.

The group was originally based on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, but by the 1960s had developed a unique sound based on emerging styles of soul and funk music, with a notable penchant for bizarre lyrics. The group struggled for hits during most of the 1960s, recording singles on a variety of small record labels. They switched labels many times, and released several double-sided singles without success, including "Poor Willie" (Apt Records), "Lonely Island" For Flip and "Heart Trouble" on Golden World Records). Eventually, Clinton gained employment at Motown Records as a songwriter and producer, making weekly trips to Detroit to produce for The Pets, Roy Handy, and other acts. In 1967 the Parliaments released "(I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot and finally achieved a hit single, with the song reaching #3 R&B and #20 Pop on the "Billboard" charts. In reality, Clinton was the only member of the Parliaments to appear in the song, as the other members were unable to travel to Detroit for the recording session (session singers and musicians rounded out the recording). To capitalize on the single's success, Clinton put together a backing band for a tour, expanding the Parliaments to the five singers plus five backing musicians.

After the success of "(I Wanna) Testify," Clinton became embroiled in a contractual dispute surrounding the bankruptcy of Revilot Records and temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments." In order to continue recording for other labels, Clinton renamed the entire ensemble Funkadelic (a name coined by bassist Billy Bass Nelson), which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five backing musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. When Revilot declared bankruptcy the Parliaments were sold to Atlantic Records, and Clinton abandoned doo-wop to avoid working for Atlantic. Even with Funkadelic operating as a recording and touring entity, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the Parliaments as a new R&B-based funk band, now known as Parliament. The lineup still consisted of the five original singers plus the five backing musicians, with the two acts signed to different labels and marketed as performing different types of funk. (For further history, see Parliament.)

Several songs from the early repertoire of the Parliaments would be re-recorded on future Parliament and Funkadelic albums, including "Testify", "The Goose", "All Your Goodies Are Gone", and "Fantasy Is Reality". In 1995, many of the original Parliaments tracks were reissued on the Goldmine/Soul label as the album "Testifyin"'.

External links

* [http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/pfunk.html The Motherpage]

References

Liner notes to "Music For Your Mother" by Rob Bowman, 1992.

ee also

* Parliament
* Parliament-Funkadelic
* List of P-Funk members


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Parliaments — était un quintet de doo wop originaire de Plainfield, New Jersey. Ils répétaient dans l arrière boutique d un coiffeur. Membres George Clinton Stingray Davis Fuzzy Haskins Calvin Simon Grady Thomas Biographie Le groupe commença par des reprises… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Parliaments of England — (ISBN 0 900178 13 2) is a compendium of election results for all House of Commons constituencies of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1715 to 1847, compiled by Henry Stooks Smith.The compendium was… …   Wikipedia

  • The Parliaments — Die Gruppe Parliament, eine der Ikonen des P Funk, wurde 1968 von George Clinton gegründet. Die Band war neben der Band Funkadelic Clintons zweites großes Projekt und Clinton setzte zum Großteil auf dieselben Musiker die doppelte Namensführung… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Records of the Parliaments of Scotland — The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 is a project of the Scottish Parliament and the University of St Andrews to create a comprehensive on line database of the proceedings of the Parliament of Scotland from 1235 to the Act of Union …   Wikipedia

  • Clerk of the Parliaments — Incumbent David Beamish since 16 April 2011 Appointer Elizabeth II as Sover …   Wikipedia

  • Clerk of the Parliaments Act 1824 — Parliament of the United Kingdom Long title An Act for better regulating the Office of Clerk of the Parliaments. Statute book chapter …   Wikipedia

  • Michael Davies (Clerk of the Parliaments) — Sir John Michael Davies, KCB[1] is the former Clerk of the Parliaments of the United Kingdom. He succeeded Sir Michael Wheeler Booth on 4 January 1997 and retired on 14 July 2003 succeeded by Paul Hayter. Sir Michael had overseen significant… …   Wikipedia

  • Clerk of the Parliaments — In England, one of the chief officers of the House of Lords. He is appointed by the Crown, by letters patent. On entering office he makes a declaration to make true entries and records of the things done and passed in the parliaments, and to keep …   Black's law dictionary

  • Clerk of the Parliaments — In England, one of the chief officers of the House of Lords. He is appointed by the Crown, by letters patent. On entering office he makes a declaration to make true entries and records of the things done and passed in the parliaments, and to keep …   Black's law dictionary

  • Parliaments of the Australian states and territories — The Parliaments of the Australian states and territories are legislative bodies within the federal framework of the Commonwealth of Australia. Before the formation of the Commonwealth in 1901, the six Australian colonies were self governing, with …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”