Billy Bass Nelson
Encyclopedia
William "Billy Bass" Nelson (born January 28, 1951) is a U.S.
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
.
Billy 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. 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, originally as guitarist. Nelson later switched to bass when his good friend Eddie Hazel
joined as lead guitarist. 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.
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
. 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. 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).
Nelson left the group in late 1971 after a financial dispute with George Clinton (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
. 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
. Nelson later played with The Commodores, Chairmen of the Board, Fishbone
, Jermaine Jackson
, Parlet
, Lionel Richie
, Smokey Robinson
, and Lenny Williams
.
By the early 1990s, Nelson had 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. Joining with some other P-Funk
alumni, in 1994 Nelson released the album Out of the Dark
under the name O.G. Funk. In 1994, Nelson rejoined Parliament-Funkadelic.
In 1996, Billy Bass Nelson contributed to the album The Squishy Declaration by cHUCk dA fONk fISHMAN. He still works with Fishman today, and will appear on the upcoming album from Fishman's new band fONKSQUISh.
In 2011, he was still in the touring entourage of the Parliament-Funkadelic, playing guitar and bass.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician, who was the original bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
for Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
.
Billy was born in Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population increased to a record high of 49,808....
and as a teenager worked at George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
's barbershop, sweeping the floor and singing and dancing for the customers. Clinton was a member of the doo wop vocal group 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...
, 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, originally as guitarist. Nelson later switched to bass when his good friend Eddie Hazel
Eddie Hazel
Edward Earl "Eddie" Hazel was a guitarist in early funk music in the United States who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic...
joined as lead guitarist. The backing band was originally unnamed, but Nelson later coined the name "Funkadelic" to reflect the style (funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
) and connect it with the then-burgeoning psychedelic music scene.
By 1970, Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
was a full band consisting of Nelson, Hazel, drummer Tiki Fulwood
Tiki Fulwood
Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood was a drummer for the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic...
, guitarist Tawl Ross
Tawl Ross
Lucius "Tawl" Ross was the rhythm guitarist for Funkadelic from 1968 to 1971 and played on their first three albums. He left the band in 1971 soon after a debilitating experience with LSD. He moved back to North Carolina and dropped out of the music scene, but resurfaced in 1995 after a nearly...
, and keyboardist Mickey Atkins (later replaced by Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
). Since 1967 the band had been billed as the musical backing for 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...
. 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
Westbound Records
Westbound Records is a Detroit-based record label founded by Armen Boladian in 1970. It had a distribution deal with Janus Records from 1970 to 1975, but then it switched distribution to 20th Century Records during 1975 and 1976, but again switched distribution to Atlantic Records from 1976 to...
under the name Funkadelic. Nelson was a prominent contributor to the first three Funkadelic albums, Funkadelic
Funkadelic (album)
Funkadelic was the debut album by the American funk band Funkadelic, released in 1970 on Westbound Records. The album showcased a strong bass and rhythm section, as well as lengthy jam sessions, future trademarks of the band...
(1970), Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970), and Maggot Brain
Maggot Brain
Maggot Brain is the third studio album by the American funk band Funkadelic, released in 1971 on Westbound Records. The album incorporates musical elements of psychedelia, rock, gospel, and soul music, with significant variation between each track. Pitchfork Media named it the seventeenth best...
(1971).
Nelson left the group in late 1971 after a financial dispute with George Clinton (making Nelson the first Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
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
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
. 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
Let's Take It to the Stage
Let's Take It to the Stage is the seventh album by American funk/soul/rock band Funkadelic. It was released in April 1975 on Westbound Records . Compared to most of the group's albums it features more short and to-the-point songs and fewer extended jam sessions. The "G...
. Nelson later played with The Commodores, Chairmen of the Board, Fishbone
Fishbone
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...
, Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director...
, Parlet
Parlet
Parlet was a female spinoff group from P-Funk formed by veteran background vocalists Mallia Franklin, Jeanette Washington and Debbie Wright. Washington and Wright were the first female members in Parliament-Funkadelic in 1975.-Studio albums:...
, Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
, Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
, and Lenny Williams
Lenny Williams
Leonard Charles "Lenny" Williams is an American singer known for his work in the R&B and soul music genres. During the 1970s, he was the lead vocalist for Tower of Power...
.
By the early 1990s, Nelson had enjoyed a surge of name-checking by such legendary bassists as John Norwood Fisher
John Norwood Fisher
John Norwood Fisher is the bass player and founder for the band Fishbone. Fisher has played bass in the band throughout its history, even as other members have departed and returned...
(of Fishbone
Fishbone
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...
) and Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
), while his early Funkadelic work was being sampled often by hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artists. Joining with some other P-Funk
P-Funk
P-Funk is a shorthand term for the repertoire and performers associated with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and the distinctive style of funk music they performed...
alumni, in 1994 Nelson released the album Out of the Dark
Out of the Dark (Billy Bass Nelson album)
Out of the Dark is the first solo album by original Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Billy Bass Nelson. The album was released in 1993 by Polystar records in Japan and by Rykodisc in the U.S. and the United Kingdom the following year. It was produced by Nelson and Bill Laswell as part of Laswell's...
under the name O.G. Funk. In 1994, Nelson rejoined Parliament-Funkadelic.
In 1996, Billy Bass Nelson contributed to the album The Squishy Declaration by cHUCk dA fONk fISHMAN. He still works with Fishman today, and will appear on the upcoming album from Fishman's new band fONKSQUISh.
In 2011, he was still in the touring entourage of the Parliament-Funkadelic, playing guitar and bass.