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Michael Hampton (born November 15, 1956) is an American
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 ...
/rock guitarist. He is a member of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also 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 the ...
, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of
Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...
.


Career

Hampton was born in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, and started his professional career when he was recruited as a seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy by the band
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, ...
, which found itself in need of a lead guitarist after original guitarist
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 ...
left the band. Hampton impressed Funkadelic's George Clinton by performing a note-for-note rendition of Hazel's ten-minute solo "
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 bandleader George Clinton and recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit during late 1970 an ...
". Hampton made his debut with the band's album ''Let's Take It to the Stage'' in 1975, which is dominated by his guitar. Hampton's playing included fuzzy,
Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
-inspired licks and wailing
harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...
s. Due to his young age, Hampton was nicknamed "Kidd Funkadelic". Hampton became a fixture in Funkadelic, and he continued his role as lead guitarist even during Hazel's sporadic returns to the band. Hampton's performances of "Maggot Brain" — which had become more
improvised Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
– became regular features of live
Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...
shows, and the song became his signature concert performance. The bonus-EP of Funkadelic's ''
One Nation Under a Groove ''One Nation Under a Groove'' is the tenth studio album by American funk rock band Funkadelic, released on September 22, 1978, on Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions took place at United Sound Studio in Detroit, with one song recorded live ...
'' (1978) included a live version of the song featuring Hampton. One of his most celebrated performances is the lead guitar solo on the Funkadelic hit single "
(Not Just) Knee Deep "(Not Just) Knee Deep" is a song by the American funk band Funkadelic, written by George Clinton. The song was released as a single for their album '' Uncle Jam Wants You'' (1979). The song is widely regarded as a funk classic, peaking at No. 7 ...
" from 1979, as well the title track to the Brides of Funkenstein's second album '' Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy''. In 1981, Clinton was forced to disband the
P-Funk Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...
musical empire due to financial and legal difficulties. In 1993, Hampton performed on the album ''Under the 6'' with Slave Master. Hampton continued to perform on albums released under Clinton's name, which featured many other P-Funk mainstays as well, and he became a member of the P-Funk All-Stars. In 1998, he released his first solo album entitled '' Heavy Metal Funkason'' through the
P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name ...
label in Japan. In 2022, Hampton joined
Chuck Treece Chuck Treece (born May 30, 1964) is an American musician and professional skateboarder from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1984, he became famous for being the first African-American skateboarder to be featured on the cover of ''Thrasher'' maga ...
to form the funk/punk fusion group Punkadelic. With Hampton on guitar and Treece on bass and drums, Punkadelic performed both original music and Funkadelic covers in Philadelphia, Mexico, and live on the radio at WOCM Ocean 98 in
Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States c ...
. Punkadelic released two singles and an original EP titled ''Collective Consciousness'' in 2023.


References


External links

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Allmusic guide entry for Michael Hampton AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the datab ...
br>Michael Hampton Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2016) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Michael 1956 births Living people Musicians from Cleveland American funk guitarists American male guitarists P-Funk members Psychedelic soul musicians Guitarists from Ohio 20th-century American guitarists