Parliament (band)

Parliament
Background information
Origin	Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Funk, psychedelic soul, funk rock
Years active	1968–1970, 1974-1980
Labels	Casablanca Invictus
Associated acts	The Parliaments Funkadelic Bootsy's Rubber Band
Past members	George Clinton Ray Davis Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins Calvin Simon Grady Thomas Billy Bass Nelson Eddie Hazel Tawl Ross Tiki Fulwood Mickey Atkins Bernie Worrell Bootsy Collins Cordell Mosson Rodney "Skeet" Curtis Garry Shider Prakash John Tyrone Lampkin Glenn Goins Michael Hampton Debbie Wright Gary "Muddbone" Cooper Jerome Brailey Fred Wesley Maceo Parker Michael Brecker Randy Brecker Rick Gardner Reunald "Renny" Jones Jeanette Washington Mallia Franklin- Queen of Funk Dawn Silva Lynn Mabry Ron Ford Shirley Hayden Greg Thomas Larry Heckstall Walter "Junie" Morrison Robert "P-Nut" Johnson Ruth Copeland

Parliament is a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. Both Parliament and its sister act, Funkadelic, are led by George Clinton.

Parliament was originally The Parliaments, a doo-wop vocal group based at a Plainfield, New Jersey barbershop. The group was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group finally had a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot Records. To capitalize, Clinton formed a backing band for a tour, featuring teenage barbershop employee Billy Bass Nelson on bass and his friend Eddie Hazel on guitar, with the lineup eventually rounded out by Tawl Ross on guitar, Tiki Fulwood on drums, and Mickey Atkins on organ.

During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments", and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records as Funkadelic, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Clinton was now the leader of two different acts, Parliament and Funkadelic, which featured the same members but were marketed as creating two different types of funk.

The Parliament album entitled Osmium was released on Invictus Records in 1970, and was later reissued on CD with non-album tracks as both Rhenium and First Thangs. Osmium featured a mostly psychedelic soul sound that was more similar to the Funkadelic albums of the period than to the later Parliament albums. The song "The Breakdown" was released separately as a single, and reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971. Due to continuing contractual problems and the fact that Funkadelic releases were more successful at the time, Clinton abandoned the name Parliament until 1974.

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