William “Billy Bass” Nelson Jr, who co-founded Parliament–Funkadelic alongside George Clinton, died on Saturday January 31, just days after his 75th birthday.
The news was confirmed on Clinton’s Facebook page. “Rest in eternal peace and funk,” the account commented. No cause of death has been reported.
As a teenager, Nelson worked in Clinton's barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey, and was recruited to join his vocal group the Parliaments.
When their 1967 single (I Wanna) Testify became a crossover hit, Clinton put together a touring band, with Nelson gravitating from guitar to bass guitar.
Having brought in Eddie Hazel, whose Maggot Brain guitar solo would later become one of the group’s most celebrated works, Nelson coined the name Funkadelic – a term that perfectly captured the band’s fusion of groove, and psychedelic experimentation.
Speaking to Bass Player in 2010, Nelson said: “One day, Eddie and I were tossing ideas back and forth when we came up with the name Funkadelic, which perfectly fit the psychedelic funk music.”
When the group moved to Detroit in search of a record deal at Motown, Nelson befriended James Jamerson, who taught him how to stay in the lower register.
“Music for My Mother is a good example of how Jamerson taught me to play bass. I used an Ampeg bass on that song.”
Nelson was also a trailblazer when it came to flamboyant stage personas, famously performing in a diaper and combat boots in response to being called the “baby” of the band.
In his 2014 autobiography, Clinton wrote: “Billy set a high standard for everything that followed. His Funkadelic work is still among my all-time favorite stuff. He had the Motown flavor with an aggressive rock attitude.”
As well as contributing to Funkadelic’s debut, Nelson’s basslines also anchored seminal work on Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow, and Maggot Brain; Parliament’s Osmium, and Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome.
Nelson and Clinton eventually went their separate ways in 1971 following a money dispute. Clinton replaced him with the former James Brown bassist Bootsy Collins.
Nelson found work back at Motown, collaborating with the likes of Chairmen of the Board, the Coasters, Wilson Pickett, Johnnie Taylor, the Commodores, Jermaine Jackson, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, and Lenny Williams.
He also reunited with Eddie Hazel to play on the Temptations’ Shakey Ground, before briefly rejoining P-Funk for the single Better by the Pound from 1975’s Let’s Take It to the Stage, and Blackbelt Thumpasauric Bass a year later.
Having toured with various Parliament-Funkadelic lineups in the early '90s, Nelson re-joined in 1994 and released solo work under the name O.G. Funk, before being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. He also toured with 420 Funk Mob and Sons of F.U.N.K.
In his latter years, Nelson enjoyed a surge of name-checking by Fishbone’s Norwood Fisher and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His early Funkadelic work has been sampled by the likes of 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, D. Dre and Massive Attack.
“I have seen and listened to countless incredible bass players of every flavor in my life. I listen and watch with great intensity. Billy Bass is the funkiest bass player that ever lived,” Flea said in tribute.
“The hardest, down dirtiest, and funkiest. His bass playing is impenetrable and undeniable. Every note a mighty oak, a bull elephant, a bomb. When I watched him play live I was in awe, humbled by his greatness. Every p funk recording he made will be heard til there are no more ears. And we will dance, we will trance. There will never be another.”
