William "Billy Bass" Nelson (born January 28, 1951) is a U.S. musician, who was the original

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

for

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

. He is a member of the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive ...

Career

Nelson was born in

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

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 Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

vocal group

the Parliaments The Parliaments were an American vocal quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, United States. Originally formed in the back room of a barbershop in 1956, the quintet was named after the cigarette brand. The Parliaments initially performed doo-wop ...

, 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, who in turn recommended his friend

Eddie Hazel Edward Earl Hazel (April 10, 1950 – December 23, 1992) was an American guitarist and singer in early funk music who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic. Hazel was a posthumous inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 19 ...

. Nelson and Hazel eventually took on bass and lead guitar roles respectively. The backing band was originally unnamed, but Nelson later coined the name "Funkadelic" to reflect the style (

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

) and connect it with the then-burgeoning

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

music scene. By 1970,

was a full band consisting of Nelson, Hazel, drummer Tiki Fulwood, guitarist Tawl Ross, and keyboardist Mickey Atkins (later replaced by

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Rol ...

). Since 1967 the band had been billed as the musical backing for

The Parliaments The Parliaments were an American vocal quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, United States. Originally formed in the back room of a barbershop in 1956, the quintet was named after the cigarette brand. The Parliaments initially performed doo-wop ...

. 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 was a Detroit-based record label founded by Armen Boladian in 1968. 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 switch ...

under the name Funkadelic. Nelson was a prominent contributor to the first three Funkadelic albums, ''

'' (1970), '' Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow'' (1970), and ''

Maggot Brain ''Maggot Brain'' is the third studio album by the American funk rock band Funkadelic, released by Westbound Records in July 1971. It was produced by band leader George Clinton and recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit during late 1970 ...

'' (1971). Nelson left the group in late 1971 after a financial dispute with George Clinton (making Nelson the first

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 are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

. 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 Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

Chairmen of the Board Chairmen of the Board is an American-Canadian, Detroit, Michigan-based soul music group, who saw their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. Recording career General Johnson (1941–2010) had a hit as the lead singer of The Showmen in th ...

Fishbone Fishbone is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1979, that plays a fusion of ska, punk, funk, metal, reggae, and soul. AllMusic has described the group as "one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the lat ...

Jermaine Jackson Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of The Jackso ...

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 Parliament-Funkadeli ...

, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, and

Lenny Williams Leonard Charles Williams (born February 16, 1945)"Biography by Alex Henderson"
AllMus ...

. In the 1990s, Nelson enjoyed a surge of name-checking by such legendary bassists as John Norwood Fisher (of

) and

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

(of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

), 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. Since 1994 he has served in various touring lineups of

. He has also toured with P-Funk spinoff acts the 420 Funk Mob and Sons of Funk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Billy P-Funk members American bass guitarists 1951 births Living people Musicians from Plainfield, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists American male bass guitarists