The Brides of Funkenstein was a 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...

 musical group originally composed of singers Dawn Silva

Dawn Silva

Dawn Silva is an American funk vocalist.Silva was born in Sacramento, California. She started her career as a background vocalist for Sly and The Family Stone. She joined P-Funk in 1977. She was the only original Brides of Funkenstein member to continue through Brides' career. In 1978, with Lynn...

 and Lynn Mabry

Lynn Mabry

Lynn Mabry is an American vocalist. She got her start in Sly and the Family Stone, along with Dawn Silva. In 1977 she joined P-Funk . The following year Mabry and Silva became the original Brides Of Funkenstein, releasing their first album Funk Or Walk. Lynn became pregnant and left the band in 1979...

.

History

Previously background singers for Sly Stone

Sly & the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

, Mabry and Silva joined the 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...

 collective in the mid-1970s. 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...

 named the group (based on a storyline and characters from the Parliament

Parliament (band)

Parliament was a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

 album The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein

The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein

The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein is an album by funk band Parliament, released in the summer of 1976. The album is notable for featuring horn arrangements by ex-James Brown band member, Fred Wesley. The album charted at #20 on the Billboard pop chart and became Parliament's second album to be...

). The Brides' provided the vocals for the 1977 album Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs by P-Funk guitarist 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...

. Clinton produced the Brides' debut album, Funk Or Walk

Funk or Walk

Funk Or Walk is the debut album by the American female funk band The Brides of Funkenstein. The album was released by Atlantic Records in September 1978. The Brides of Funkenstein consisted of P-Funk background singers Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva....

, for Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 in 1978. The album was a success, selling over three hundred thousand copies within the first week as well as winning a Record World award for best new female group. The album charted at #7 on the R&B charts; the single "Disco To Go" was certified gold in America and reached platinum status in Europe and Asia. The duo became an opening act for 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...

 tours and also performed backing vocals for the ensemble itself.

Lynn Mabry left the group in 1979. Dawn Silva assumed the role of lead singer and invited back-up "Bridesmaids" Sheila Horne

Sheila Horne

Brides of Funkenstein member Sheila Horne was hired as a back-up singer for original Brides Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva in 1978. She became a main singer with Silva and Jeanette McGruder in 1979 for the second Brides album Never Buy Texas from a Cowboy and joined Rick James on tour in 1981 as an...

 and Jeanette McGruder

Jeanette McGruder

Jeanette McGruder, born , is a singer.As a child, McGruder discovered a natural ability to sing. Taught by her stepmother, she joined a female trio called "New Dawn" which would perform at nightclubs, and one black panther rally. During her schooling, McGruder played violin with Earl Klugh in a...

 to sing on the second Brides album, Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy

Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy

Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy is the second album from the American female funk band The Brides of Funkenstein. It was released in November 1979 by Atlantic Records. On this album, the Brides were a trio consisting of Dawn Silva, Sheila Horne, and Jeanette McGruder...

. This lineup received a Cashbox Rhythm & Blues award for best new female artist, beating out The Pointer Sisters, Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...

, and Cheryl Lynn

Cheryl Lynn

Lynda Cheryl Smith , known better by her professional name Cheryl Lynn, is a female African-American disco, R&B and soul singer known best for her 1978 disco song, "Got to Be Real".-Early career:...

. The Brides' second album was rated in 2001 by Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

as one of the top 50 coolest albums ever released. The trio recorded a third album, Shadows On The Wall, Shaped Like The Hat You Wore in 1980, but the album was not released. Most of the songs from the unreleased album gradually appeared elsewhere in the P-Funk catalog.

Lynn Mabry resurfaced in 1984 as a backing vocalist with Talking Heads

Talking Heads

Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...

, appearing in the concert film Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...

along with P-Funk colleague 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...

. Silva and Mabry had a brief reunion in 1981 as the New Wave Brides, opening for Grace Jones

Grace Jones

Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...

, and a lengthy tour with Was (Not Was)

Was (Not Was)

-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...

. Silva would tour and record with the Gap Band

Gap Band

The Gap Band was an American funk band, who rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. Comprising brothers Charlie, Ronnie and Robert Wilson, the band first formed as the Greenwood, Archer and Pine Street Band in 1967 in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The group shortened its name to The Gap Band...

 from 1983 to 1991, moving on to work with Ice Cube

Ice Cube

O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...

. In 2000 Silva released the solo album All My Funky Friends, which received rave reviews in Europe and Asia.