Bootsy Collins (1951 - )
Biography
William Collins (born October 26, 1951, Cincinnati, Ohio), best known as Bootsy Collins, is a pioneering funk bassist, singer and songwriter. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootsy_Collins [Feb 2005]Bootsy Collins in many ways became the "soul" of later Funkadelic, the band's rhythmic and charismatic anchor. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, a teenaged Bootsy formed the Pacemakers with his brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins in 1969. In a stroke of luck, James Brown hired the Pacemakers to replace his mutinied band. They toured the United States, Europe and Africa, and recorded the classics "Sex Machine," "Super Bad," "Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing" and "Soul Power." Bootsy soon felt too restricted by Brown's disciplined regimen, and left in 1971 to form The House Guests, who boldly advertised themselves as James Brown's band. "Pretty soon we started hearing about Funkadelic -- this other group people said was wild and crazy just like us. So I started spreading the word that we'd like to crush them on stage. It got where we heard about them so much we were actually trying to track them down just to prove who was the best band." Instead of playing with Funkadelic, however, The House Guests became Funkadelic. Amidst drug problems and professional jealousies, the original band had collapsed, and once again Bootsy found himself in someone else's band. They contributed to America Eats Its Young, but Bootsy was determined to have his own band, and moved the band back to Cincinnati as the Complete Strangers. Aside from cutting a single, nothing happened for over a year. He moved back to Detroit in 1973 and did session work with a variety of people, including work for Motown. Gradually, Bootsy gave in to the wiles of Dr. Funkenstein, first with an uncredited bass line on "Cosmic Slop," then co-writing Parliament's "Up For the Down Stroke", half of Chocolate City and three songs from Funkadelic's Let's Take It To The Stage.
--A.S. Van DorstonHis Site
CDs
- Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! - Bootsy Collins [CD, Amazon US]
Bassist for James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, Bootsy's solo career has been a George Clinton produced extension of the P-Funk philosophy, with Collins portraying the role of "Starchild, Player of the Year." Collins' vocals, are off-handedly cool in the manner of Jimi Hendrix, whose flamboyance Collins unmistakably aspires to. However, the music is definitely in the Parliament vein, with practically everyone from the band's late-'70s peak aboard, including Mike Hampton, Jerome Brailey and the horny horns. Conceptually, sci-fi reins, and the watery sound of Collins' aqua-bass doesn't get in the way of a mostly up-tempo album. This might be his best solo work. --D. Strauss for amazon.com