Billy Bass Nelson
| William "Billy Bass" Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Nelson |
| Also known as | Billy Bass |
| Born |
January 28, 1951 Plainfield, New Jersey |
| Genres | Funk, soul, psychedelic rock, psychedelic soul |
| Instruments | Bass guitar; rhythm guitar |
| Years active | 1968 to the present |
| Labels | Warner Bros., Polystar Records, Casablanca Records, Westbound Records, Columbia Records, Rykodisc Records |
| Associated acts |
Funkadelic, Parliament, The Temptations, George Clinton, Axiom Funk |
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.
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. 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).
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