Calvin Simon, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, died on Thursday. He was 79 years old.
Former P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins announced Simon’s death on Instagram. “We lost another original member of Parliament/Funkadelic,”He wrote. “A friend, bandmate & a cool classic guy, Mr. Calvin Simon was a former member of Parliament/Funkadelic.”It was not possible to determine the cause of death immediately.
Simon joined George Clinton’s doo-wop group the Parliaments in the late Fifties along with singers Fuzzy Haskins and Grady Thomas. He continued to be a member of the group through its various permutations, from R&B to acid-rock to funk, through 1977 when he left over disputes over finances and management. During his tenure with P-Funk, he contributed to Parliament’s classic Mothership Connection Funkentelechy and the Placebo Syndrome Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain and Cosmic Slop. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside many other members of Parliament-Funkadelic in 1997.
“Rest in peace to my P-Funk brother,”Clinton wrote Facebook. “Fly on, Calvin!”
Simon was born May 22, 1942 in Beckley (West Virginia), where he sang in a church choir for weekly radio broadcasts. He was 13 when his family moved from West Virginia to New Jersey, where he began working as a barber. The Parliaments was formed by him and fellow barbers, Clinton and Grady Thomas, and their customers Ray Davis and Fuzzy Hakins. They sounded like Frankie Lymon or the Teenagers.
In his 2014 memoir, Clinton likened Simon’s voice to the Temptations’ David Ruffin. They later moved to Detroit in mid-Sixties, to be closer to Motown. They were eventually successful with “(I Wanna) Testify”1967. Simon was drafted and served in Vietnam that year. “The thing that means the most to me is how I handled the PTSD from my service in the Vietnam War,”He Once said. “I was able to keep the genie in the bottle, so to speak, and did not allow the evil thoughts to break through and manifest into actions.”
After a dispute with their label, the Parliaments changed their name from Funkadelic to Parliament. They then shortened their name to Parliament after they won back the rights to their name. By this point, Parliament was more of a commercial R&B group while Funkadelic made less polished underground records. Both bands still toured together, with a replica. “mothership”From 1976 through 1981
Simon made a joke in his 1997 Rock Hall Induction Speech by saying “Thank you!” “the Academy,”The crowd laughed at him. He got even more serious. “I would like to thank all of our fans and our peers,”He stated. “And I would also like to thank God for sparing us to be able to receive this.”
Even after dedicating his life to gospel music for many years, he still recognized his role as a pioneer in the field of music. “I see a whole lot of things people have done over the years,”He told the Tampa Bay Times In 2017. “We opened the way for Prince, and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. In gospel, Kirk Franklin took one of our tunes for a track. We learned the hard lessons with record labels and people now know better. They know they need to own themselves.”
Simon, Haskins and Thomas left the group to release an album. Connections & Disconnections, in 1981 under the Funkadelic name. Original P was also used by the musicians for the 1998 album. What Dat Shakin’ and 2001’s Original P introduces the Westbound Souljaz. His solo debut came out after he decided to focus on gospel music. Share the NewsThe album reached number 21 on Simon Sayz’s label in 2004 Billboard’s According to his website, Gospel Albums chart.
At that point, he returned home to Beckley to assist in the construction of a new Sky Baptist Church church building. He was then rebaptized. He was about to embark on a tour to promote the album when he experienced difficulty singing and was diagnosed as having thyroid cancer. He had throat surgery, and was able to release the albums. It’s Not Too LateCalvin’s widow Jennifer was diagnosed with cancer in the same year that he published. I Believe.
Regarding his gospel music, Simon maintained it wasn’t different in spirit to Parliament-Funkadelic. “There was such a positive message and vibe to the original music of Parliament-Funkadelic that was delivered in a fun way,”He stated this in a Press releaseFor I Believe. “True music, true arrangements, pure joy. I think long-term fans will again relate to that side of the music. New fans can experience my version of gospel music, which I call ‘Sanctified Funk.’ It’s music without the synthesizers and auto-tuning.”
He hoped to travel and spread the message of his new music’s religious message in 2017, “I want to go around the country singing these songs, with this music, this message, this band,”He told the Tampa Bay Times. “This is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I hope somebody along the way will find something in the music and it will bring them to Jesus as well.”