The Parliaments were an American vocal

quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

from

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

, United States. Originally formed in the back room of a barbershop in 1956, the quintet was named after the cigarette brand. The Parliaments initially performed

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

music; after some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis,

Fuzzy Haskins Clarence Eugene "Fuzzy" Haskins (born June 8, 1941) is a former singer with 1950s and 1960s doo-wop group, The Parliaments. He is a founding member of the groundbreaking and influential 1970s funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, also known as ...

Calvin Simon Calvin Eugene Simon (May 22, 1942 – January 6, 2022) was an American singer who was a member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 along with fifteen other members of Parliam ...

, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was group leader and manager, and part owner of the barbershop where the group convened to entertain customers. The group later changed its style, evolving into the bands

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

, which found success in the 1970s.

History

The group was originally based on

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers The Teenagers are an American music group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead ...

, but by the 1960s had developed a unique sound based on emerging styles of

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

and

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 mi ...

music, with a notable penchant for bizarre lyrics. The group struggled for hits during most of the 1960s, recording singles on a variety of small

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

s. They switched labels many times, and released several double-sided singles without success, including " Poor Willie" (on

Apt Records Apt Records was a sub-label from ABC-Paramount Records. The label was started in 1958 and released only singles until it was shelved in 1966. ABC briefly reactivated Apt twice, in 1969 and 1972, and also used the Apt name on a line of budget-pr ...

), "

Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program '' Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The thr ...

" (on Flipp) and " Heart Trouble" (on Golden World Records). Eventually, Clinton gained employment at

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

as a songwriter and producer, making weekly trips to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

to produce for The Pets, Roy Handy, and other acts. In

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

the Parliaments released " (I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot and finally achieved a hit single, with the song reaching No. 3 R&B and No. 20 Pop on the ''Billboard'' charts. In reality, Clinton was the only member of the Parliaments to appear in the song, as the other members were unable to travel to Detroit for the recording session (session singers and musicians rounded out the recording). To capitalize on the single's success, Clinton put together a backing band for a tour, expanding the Parliaments to the five singers plus five backing musicians. After the success of " (I Wanna) Testify", Clinton became embroiled in a contractual dispute surrounding the

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

of Revilot Records and temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments." In order to continue recording for other labels, Clinton renamed the entire ensemble

(a name coined by bassist Billy Bass Nelson). Clinton positioned Funkadelic as a funk-rock band featuring the five backing musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. When Revilot declared bankruptcy the Parliaments were sold to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most im ...

, and Clinton abandoned doo-wop to avoid working for Atlantic. Even with Funkadelic operating as a recording and touring entity, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the Parliaments as a new R&B-based funk band, now known as

. The lineup still consisted of the five original singers plus the five backing musicians, with the two acts signed to different labels and marketed as performing different types of

. Several songs from the early repertoire of the Parliaments would be re-recorded on future

and

albums, including " Testify," " The Goose," "All Your Goodies Are Gone," " Fantasy Is Reality," "Good Ole Music," "I Can Feel The Ice Melting," "What You Been Growing," "I'll Wait," and "That Was My Girl." In 1995, many of the original Parliaments tracks were reissued on the Goldmine/Soul label on the album ''Testifyin.

The Silk Palace

The West End of

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

was once home to the Silk Palace, a barbershop at 216 Plainfield Avenue owned in part by Clinton, staffed by various members of Parliament-Funkadelic and known as the "hangout for all the local singers and musicians" in Plainfield's 1950s and 1960s doo-wop, soul, rock and proto-funk music scene.

Discography

Albums

*''Backtrack'': six-track various artists compilation, featuring four singles by the Parliaments originally released on Revilot records, as well as one track by the Debonaires that was co-written and produced by George Clinton. *''The Parliaments - I Wanna Testify'': Goldmine/Soul Supply GSCD 52 - contains all of the Parliaments Revilot singles, as well as instrumental versions of "I'll Wait", "Baby I Owe You Something Good", and "All Your Goodies Are Gone", as well as the Clinton-penned track "Let's Make It Last" recorded by The Fellows. *''The Parliaments - Testifyin': The Mid 60's Detroit Sessions'': Goldmine/Soul Supply GSCD 119 - contains the same tracks as "I Wanna Testify", and also includes the Golden World single "Heart Trouble/That Was My Girl. *''The Parliaments - Testify: The Best of the Early Years'': Connoisseur VSOP CD 286 - contains all of the tracks featured on "Testify" and also includes "She's Always There", which is the flip side to the Fellows single "Let's Make It Last".

Singles

*" Poor Willie" / "Party Boys" APT 45-25036 *"

" / "You Make Me Wanna Cry" FL-45-100 *" Heart Trouble" / "That Was My Girl" GW-46 *" (I Wanna) Testify" / "I Can Feel the Ice Melting" RV-207 *"All Your Goodies Are Gone" / "Don't Be Sore At Me" RV-211 *"Little Man" / "The Goose (That Laid the Golden Egg)" RV-214 *"Look at What I Almost Missed" / "What You Been Growing" RV-217 *"Good Ole Music" / "Time" RV-223 *"A New Day Begins" / "I'll Wait" RV-228 (later reissued on the Atco label-ATCO 45-6675)

References

External links

The Motherpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parliaments, The P-Funk groups American rhythm and blues musical groups Doo-wop groups Musical groups established in 1955 Musical groups disestablished in 1969 1955 establishments in New Jersey 1969 disestablishments in New Jersey