Kiddo

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = Kiddo


Origin = flagicon|USA Long Beach / California / USA
Occupation = Singer-Songwriter / Producer / Musician
Genre = Funk / R&B
Years_active = 1981 - 1984
Label = A&M Records
URL =
Past_members =

Donnie Sterling - guitar / vocals

Michael Hampton - guitar

Arthur Brown - keyboards / vocals

Rock Goodin - drums / vocals

Willie Jenkins - percussion / vocals

Juice Johnson - bass guitar

Leroy Davis - saxophone / vocals

From the MySpace-page of Kiddo

Bio

Kiddo was a P-Funk offspring group at A&M Records formed by former Parliament - Funkadelic guitarist Michael Hampton and writer Donnie Sterling in the early 80's.Donnie Sterling was brought in as a musician for Parlet in 1978, a P-Funk girl group, created by George Clinton. As Parlet's band leader and bass player, Donnie Sterling wrote three songs on Parlet's second album , Invasion of the Booty Snatchers , then became P-Funk writer for producers George Clinton and Ron Dunbar. Sterling wrote a bunch of tunes for Parliament in the band's late days, and is most noted for his vocal performance in "Agony Of Defeet". Donnie Sterling and his then-wife and member of Parlet , Mallia Franklin ( Queen of Funk ), left the group in 1979 to form a P-Funk offspring group called Sterling Silver Starship. An album was recorded, but never released. Some of those tracks can be heard on the George Clinton Family Series. Mallia Franklin continued to do studio work with P-Funk and Zapp while Sterling ended up forming another group Kiddo with Michael Hampton.

Michael Hampton was the guitarist for the band Funkadelic after original guitarist Eddie Hazel departed to join The Temptations in 1975. Like Hazel, Hampton was recruited as a seventeen year old guitar prodigy, first appearing on Let's Take It To The Stage. Hazel had left the band due to payment problems with Clinton and a drug-related arrest on an airplane in which a stewardess was bitten. The band found itself in need of a lead guitarist that could match Hazel's amazing soloing, but could also restrain himself for long funk workouts. The answer came in Hampton. His excellent guitar playing was evident throughout the album. The album was full of fuzzy, Hendrix inspired licks, wailing harmonics and rhythms that were also meant for the dance floor.

In 1981 George Clinton disbanded the Parliament-Funkadelic empire due to financial and legal difficulties. Hampton performed on a number of Clinton's so-called "solo" albums and eventually became a member of Clinton's P-Funk All Stars.

After the disbandment, Donnie Sterling and Michael Hampton formed Kiddo in 1981. Kiddo recorded two albums for A&M Records. The album was recorded just before funk as we knew it was basically driven into the ground by drum machines and synthesizers, and this album is definitely caught between those two worlds.

Discography

1983 - Kiddo - A&M Records * [http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/albums_noncore/alb-kiddo_kiddo.html Detailed album-info] *"Waterfront" on the Soundtrack of "A Night In Heaven" 1984 - Action - A&M Records * [http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/albums_noncore/alb-kiddo_action.html Detailed album-info]

More links

*Donnie Sterling @ Wikipedia * [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Donnie+Sterling Donnie Sterling @ Discogs] * [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sterling+Silver+Starship Sterling Silver Starship @ Discogs] * [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kiddo+(2) Kiddo @ Discogs] * [http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/albums_gcarchival/alb-plushfunk.html "Go For Yer Funk"-track info from the Plush Funk CD-sampler]