Jeanette Washington is a

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 ...

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

best known as a member of the band

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Washington appeared as a background singer on recordings by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

in 1975. That year, she joined Parliament with Debbie Wright, becoming the first female members of the group. She recorded with Parliament (1975–1980) and

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

(1978–1980), both featuring George Clinton, and with the Sweat Band featuring

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

and

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of ...

(1980). Washington formed the female spin-off band

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-Funkadel ...

in 1978 with Wright and

Mallia Franklin Rosalind Mallia Franklin (March 1, 1952 – February 5, 2010), also known as The Queen Of Funk, was a vocalist of the American funk band Parliament-Funkadelic. She introduced friends George Clinton and Bootsy Collins in 1971, and brought ex- Oh ...

for their first album ''Pleasure Principle''. She recorded the group's remaining two albums ''Invasion Of the Booty Snatchers'' in 1979 and ''Play Me Or Trade Me'' in 1980 with Shirley Hayden and

Janice Evans Janice may refer to: * Janice (given name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) * Processor codename of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance Android smartphone * Janice, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) * Janice, Lower Siles ...

. Washington is the only Parlet member to have remained in the band for the duration of the group's career. Washington left Parliament in 1980. She recorded with Dawn Silva in 2000.

References

P-Funk members Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-singer-stub