Billy Bass Nelson
Psychedelic soul, Composer
1951 –
Who is Billy Bass Nelson?
William "Billy Bass" Nelson 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.
Billy 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 " 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 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. Since 1967 the band had been billed as the musical backing for The Parliaments.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Billy Bass Nelson." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/billy_bass_nelson>.
Discuss this Billy Bass Nelson biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In