Bootsy Collins |
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William "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.
Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the `70s, Collins` driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk. Early career and James Brown With his older brother Catfish Collins, and Kash Waddy and Philippe Wynne, Collins formed a group called The Pacesetters in 1968. Until 1971, the Pacesetters were the backing band for James Brown, and were known in that context as The JB`s. Brown fired Collins after he experienced LSD hallucinations on-stage. It is known that the young Bootsy clashed several times with the rigid system Brown used to discipline the young band whenever he felt they stepped out of line. After leaving the band Collins then moved to Detroit, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin. House Guests, P-Funk, Rubber Band and Sweat Band After parting ways with James Brown, Bootsy returned to Cincinnati and formed House Guests with his brother Phelps Collins, Clayton Grunnels, Frank Waddy, and Robert McCullough and released two singles on their own House Guests label.[2] Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and 1972 saw both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, join Funkadelic. Bootsy played bass on most of Funkadelic and Parliament`s early albums, garnering several songwriting credits as well. In 1976 Bootsy, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson, Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy`s Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of Clinton`s P-Funk collective. The group recorded four albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group`s 1978 album Bootsy? Player of the Year reached the top of the R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single "Bootzilla". Like Clinton, Bootsy took on several alter egos, from "Casper the Funky Ghost" to Bootzilla, "the world`s only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll", as part of an evolving character, an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went on (see P-Funk mythology). He also adopted his trademark space bass around this time. Bootsy also released a 1980 album, Sweat Band, on George Clinton`s Uncle Jam label with a group billed as Bootsy`s Sweat Band. [edit] Later times In 1984, Bootsy collaborated with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to produce "Five Minutes", a dance record sampled and edited from Ronald Reagan`s infamous "Five Minutes" speech. The record was credited to "Bonzo goes to Washington" (a reference to the Ramones song "Bonzo goes to Bitburg." Reagan had starred as Professor Peter Boyd in the 1951 comedy film Bedtime for Bonzo) In 1990 Bootsy collaborated with Deee-Lite on their massive hit "Groove Is In The Heart" where he contributed bass and additional vocals. He also appeared in the music video, while Bootsy`s Rubber Band became the defacto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. Bootsy collaborated with bluegrass legends Del McCoury, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman to form the GrooveGrass Boyz. They produced a fusion of bluegrass and funk that listeners either loved as a fresh take on tradition or hated as defiling that same tradition. Bootsy has collaborated extensively with Bill Laswell and made app Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootsy_Collins |
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Quotes Since Warner Brothers, back in the day, I hadn`t never really had nobody that I think that was there, that I kinda felt was working like my right arm. Yeah, because what it all boils down to is at the end of the day, we are all riding on the same boat and we have to learn how to deal with each other. I think that the music and what we do in our actions is what can kind of bring us together, hopefully. It`s a whole other ball game and I am glad that I fit into that space where, whatever it is that you want to do and you are doing as long as you are happy with it, then you know What the Heck! I try to bring it across on my record, in my dress, in what I do and what I say because to me humor is important. You should have a dose of that and I guess giving it is what I`m here for. We are all human and I want to relate that message to all people. Catfish is not playing guitar no more, he`s doing like a home-front thing. He had been in the business around ten years before I got in it, so I guess he`s had enough of it. But I`m always trying to plan ahead too and in doing so, and in working on this album, I`ve met a lot people that I hope to be involved with, on their records and in their situations. Coming from the James Brown school, I had learned a lot of stuff before I got with George. It was from one extreme to the other. When we got with George, he didn`t care what was happening. He liked how crazy we were looking and dressing. I kinda liked being with George more so at the time, because George let us do what we wanted to do. But I needed both lessons. I like being out front, doing what I do, but then I also like playing in a band too. I`d like to do stuff like I did with Deee-lite. I went out and played with them and they were the stars, that was cool. That`s pretty much what we try to do. Stay with that one instead of following the Jones, I just like to come up with my own stuff. I guess some of today`s programming has rubbed off on me because I find myself having to set time around for touring, putting that together and then setting time around for recording. Everyone in the band pretty much knows that whatever they want to do I am there for them, if they need my help or not, I am there for them. We were brash young fellows`. I was always hanging with the older crowd anyway. The musicians were the Hip Cats, and I was hanging with them anyway. I Just started out real early. But by us doing a lot on the road, we were able to afford things like videos on the tours, cartoons that we`d open up the shows with. We were doing that way back when and now it`s the hippest thing to do. We`re just coming back around, I guess trying to play catch-up. When you`re used to playing with people, when you`re in a band, then you`re used to playing with each other. People nowadays aren`t used to playing with each other because they don`t have to. I`d like to have younger people around me and that I`ll be involved with them a lot more now, as opposed to me being the main focal point. I`ve thought maybe of getting younger artists out doing stuff, like I used to do a lot of. I don`t wanna do it day in and day out like I used to, but I still wanna do it. You have to get up and plant the seed and see if it grows, but you can`t just wait around, you have to water it and take care of it. Nowadays, it`s like two different arenas, recording and touring. When I started way back in the day, doing both was nothing, you didn`t have to think about it, the road and recording. A roast is like a get-together where people come down and talk about you and dog you out, the way you came up, the knucklehead things that you did, stuff like that. When I was coming up, we weren`t trying to get a hit or get paid, we were just trying to do our thing. The only thing we were really trying to do was to be recognized for our originality. We were just so happy to be playing with James Brown. We wouldn`t have dared asked for any writer`s credits, we didn`t know anything about that. Well actually, we are working on the live album from the shows in Japan. I`m trying to get that finished. I wanna keep creating those situations for myself so I don`t have to be out front all the time. Then when I do have to be out front, I can do it to the max. To me, you go through things like that and you learn from it. You add it on to your life, to try to make your life better. Instead of dogging people, learn something from it. And keep stepping. Usually when I`m out doing stuff, I`m just out in the wild, doing the wild thing. I don`t really get a chance to just chill out until I come here, in my creative space. I wanted to get my recording and become a musician again, work; with other people, do that kind of thing because I kind of got away from that for a while once we started happening, you know, selling records, sold out concerts. | ||
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