 Legendary funk singer George Clinton was born on July 22, 1941 in rural North Carolina; as a child his family moved to Plainfield, N.J., a mostly African-American suburb of Philadelphia. While still in junior high, Clinton formed a five-man doo-wop band with several classmates, called the Parliaments. After graduating from high school, Clinton and his friends founded a barber shop, where they straightened hair in the front and rehearsed in the back. Consisting of Clinton, Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Ray Davis, Calvin Simon, and pal Eddie Hazel on guitar, the band found themselves going nowhere in New Jersey, and by the mid-'60s relocated to Detroit landing a deal with Revilot, a Motown rival. Their 1967 single "(I Wanna) Testify" reached the Top 20, but the band found themselves embroiled in a legal dispute with another band called the Parliaments, and were unable to release a follow-up.  |
