Billy Bass, the founding bassist of Parliament-Funkadelic, whose real name was William Nelson Jr., died on Saturday. The Facebook account of the group's leader, George Clinton, announced the news without providing further details. Nelson was 75 years old.
The musician, who co-founded The Parliaments with George Clinton, is the originator of the name “Funkadelic”.
Born January 28, 1951, Nelson was part of the group of musicians Clinton befriended while working in a Plainfield, New Jersey, barbershop. They eventually formed a doo-wop vocal group, including a teenage Nelson, called The Parliaments, whose goal was to sign with Motown. The group released a handful of singles in the late sixties, the most notable of which, (I Wanna) Testifywas released in 1967 and reached #20 on the pop chart and #3 on the R&B chart; their next single, All Your Goodies Are Goneshowed the group experimenting with psychedelia.
It was Nelson who suggested that the Parliaments hire a rhythm section so they wouldn't have to rely on house bands when touring, according to the book Funk by Dave Thompson. Nelson, who initially played guitar in the band, also recommended the hiring of guitarist Eddie Hazel, whose solo on Maggot Brain would later become one of the group's most famous works. Nelson later switched to bass, encouraged by James Jamerson, learning to play the instrument on the road. Clinton once described Nelson's playing style as ” Motown flavor with aggressive rock attitude “, according to Premier Guitar.
He was also a pioneer when the group began to make its look more “funky” with wild costumes. Tired of being called the ” baby “ of the group, he showed up to a concert in diapers and combat boots.
In 1967, a dispute with their label, Revilot, led to the group finding a new label and name, as Clinton claimed that Revilot claimed to own the name The Parliaments. Although they later dropped the “s”, they initially renamed themselves Funkadelic, a name Nelson claimed to have invented.
Nelson played bass on Funkadelic's first three albums: Funkadelic (1970), Free Your Mind…and Your Ass Will Follow (1970) and Maggot Brain (1971). Parliaments mainstay Nelson sang lead vocals on at least one song on each album. He also played bass with the band Parliament on their first album, Osmium (1970), and guitar on Up for the Down Stroke (1974).
“ Rest in eternal peace and funk “, commented on Clinton's Facebook account.
The bassist left the group due to a financial dispute with Clinton, according to the latter's website, foreshadowing the departures of other musicians in the future for the same reasons. He played with the Temptations for a time before joining P-Funk for their session on Better by the Pounda song that will appear on Let's Take It to the Stage (1975). He was also credited for the “Blackbelt Thumbsauric Bass” on Tales of Kidd Funkadelic (1976). He would get other credits on albums by Parliament and Funkadelic until the end of the seventies.
After leaving again, Nelson played with the Commodores, Fishbone, Jermaine Jackson, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson and other artists. He also played on solo albums by P-Funk members including Hazel, Ruth Copeland and Bernie Worrell.
In the 90s, Nelson fronted a group called OG Funk, which released a single, I Wanna Knowin 1991 and an album, Out of the Darkin 1994. He joined P-Funk that same year. He was one of the members of P-Funk inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. He has also toured with 420 Funk Mob and Sons of FUNK
When asked to name a few lead songs for a radio show called The Soul Show In 2016, Nelson chose three tracks that he played on with his friend Eddie Hazel, who died in 1992: Hit It and Quit It And Super Stupid by Funkadelic, both taken from Maggot BrainAnd Shakey Ground from the Temptations, taken from A Song for You. When the interviewer referred to the latter as the Temptations' “psychedelic soul era,” Nelson corrected him: ” Well, Motown called it the “Funkadelic era.” “, he said with pride in his voice.
