Billy Bass Nelson
- Funk
- soul
- psychedelic rock
- psychedelic soul
William "Billy Bass" Nelson (born January 28, 1951) is an American musician, who was the original bassist for Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Career
Nelson was born in Plainfield, New Jersey and as a teenager worked at George Clinton's barbershop, sweeping the floor and singing and dancing for the customers.[1] Clinton was a member of the doo wop vocal group the Parliaments, who scored a nationwide hit in 1967 with the song "(I Wanna) Testify". Clinton put together a backing band as musical support for a tour and recruited Nelson, who in turn recommended his friend Eddie Hazel. Nelson and Hazel eventually took on bass and lead guitar roles respectively.[2] The backing band was originally unnamed, but Nelson later coined the name "Funkadelic" to reflect the style (funk) and connect it with the then-burgeoning psychedelic music scene.[3]
By 1970, Funkadelic was a full band consisting of Nelson, Hazel, drummer Tiki Fulwood, guitarist Tawl Ross, and keyboardist Mickey Atkins (later replaced by Bernie Worrell). Since 1967 the band had been billed as the musical backing for The Parliaments.[4] Due to legal problems, in the early 1970s Clinton had temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments" and instead signed the entire ensemble to Westbound Records under the name Funkadelic.[5] Nelson was a prominent contributor to the first three Funkadelic albums, Funkadelic (1970), Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970), and Maggot Brain (1971).[1][6]
Nelson left the group in late 1971 after a financial dispute with George Clinton[4] (making Nelson the first Parliament-Funkadelic member to defect over such concerns, foreshadowing a major problem that would haunt Clinton in the late 1970s). Nelson and Hazel next performed with The Temptations.[1] Nelson rejoined Funkadelic briefly in the studio in 1975, playing on the track "Better By the Pound" on the Funkadelic album Let's Take It To The Stage.[1] Nelson later played with The Commodores, Chairmen of the Board, Fishbone, Jermaine Jackson, Parlet, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, and Lenny Williams.[1]
In the 1990s, Nelson enjoyed a surge of name-checking by such legendary bassists as John Norwood Fisher (of Fishbone) and Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), while his early Funkadelic work was being sampled often by hip hop artists.[1] Joining with some other P-Funk alumni, in 1994 Nelson released the album Out of the Dark under the name O.G. Funk.[1] Since 1994 he has served in various touring lineups of Parliament-Funkadelic. He has also toured with P-Funk spinoff acts the 420 Funk Mob[7] and Sons of Funk.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Billy "Bass" Nelson | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1992). Liner notes to Music For Your Mother.
- ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 497/8. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- ^ a b Bowman, Rob (1996). Liner notes to Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan – 12th September 1971.
- ^ "Funkadelic | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ Makin, Bob. "Parliament-Funkadelic: From doo-wop to hip-hop". MY CENTRAL JERSEY. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ "420 Funk Mob". Nashville Scene. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ "SONS OF F.U.N.K." TheRoanoker.com. 2019-09-17. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- v
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- Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey
- George Clinton
- Bootsy Collins
- Ray Davis
- Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood
- Glenn Goins
- Michael Hampton
- Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins
- Eddie Hazel
- Walter "Junie" Morrison
- Cordell "Boogie" Mosson
- "Billy Bass" Nelson
- Garry Shider
- Calvin Simon
- Grady Thomas
- Bernie Worrell
- Osmium
- Up for the Down Stroke
- Chocolate City
- Mothership Connection
- The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
- Live: P-Funk Earth Tour
- Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
- Motor Booty Affair
- Gloryhallastoopid
- Trombipulation
- Medicaid Fraud Dogg
- Funkadelic
- Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow
- Maggot Brain
- America Eats Its Young
- Cosmic Slop
- Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
- Let's Take It to the Stage
- Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
- Hardcore Jollies
- One Nation Under a Groove
- Uncle Jam Wants You
- Connections & Disconnections
- The Electric Spanking of War Babies
- Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan – 12th September 1971
- By Way of the Drum
- Toys
- U.S. Music with Funkadelic
- First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate
Parliament-Funkadelic
- Computer Games
- Urban Dancefloor Guerillas
- You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish
- Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends
- R&B Skeletons in the Closet
- The Mothership Connection – Live from Houston
- The Cinderella Theory
- Live at the Beverly Theater
- Hey, Man, Smell My Finger
- Dope Dogs
- Mothership Connection Newberg Session
- T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.
- Live 1976–1993
- How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent?
- George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love
- Live...Capitol Theatre 1978
- Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band
- Ahh... The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!
- Bootsy? Player of the Year
- This Boot Is Made for Fonk-N
- Ultra Wave
- The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away
- What's Bootsy Doin'?
- Jungle Bass
- Blasters of the Universe
- Lord of the Harvest
- Keepin' dah Funk Alive 4-1995
- Fresh Outta 'P' University
- Live in Louisville 1978
- Play with Bootsy
- Live in Concert 1998
- Live in Oklahoma 1976
- Christmas Is 4 Ever
- Tha Funk Capital of the World
- All the Woo in the World
- Funk of Ages
- Pieces of Woo: The Other Side
- Blacktronic Science
- Free Agent: A Spaced Odyssey
- Pleasure Principle
- Invasion of the Booty Snatchers
- Play Me or Trade Me
- A Whole Nother Thang (1976)
- Radio Active (1978)
- A Whole Nother Radio Active Thang (1994)
- Self Portrait (1970)
- I Am What I Am (1971)
- Take Me to Baltimore (1976)
- Mutiny on the Mamaship (1979)
- Funk Plus the One (1980)
- A Night Out With the Boys (1983)
- Aftershock 2005 (1996)
- Quazar (1978)
- Sweat Band (1980)
- Federation of Tackheads (1985)
- Lifestyles of the Roach and Famous (1988)
- Out of the Dark (1993)
- Funkcronomicon (1995)
- Heavy Metal Funkason (1998)
- PCU
- Parliament-Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove
- George Clinton: The Mothership Connection
- Parliament
- Funkadelic
- House Guests
- Godmoma
- Kiddo
- Original P
- The Pacemakers
- The Parliaments
- Zapp (Roger Troutman)
- List of P-Funk members
- Pedro Bell
- Armen Boladian
- Bridgeport Music
- Children of Production
- Bill Laswell
- Overton Loyd
- P-Funk
- P-Funk Earth Tour
- P-Funk Mothership
- P-Funk mythology
- P-Funk projects
- Uncle Jam Records
- G-funk