Fuzzy Haskins, Original Member of Parliament-Funkadelic, Dead at 81 – Rolling Stone

Haskins’ former band mate Bootsy Collins tweeted, “Prayer’s going out to Clarence ‘Fuzzys’ Haskins household & buddies. We misplaced his frequency in the present day 3-17- 23. He was an unique Parliament/Funkadelic inducted within the RHOF.We’ll miss u my pal, bandmate & Soul brother! Thx u for ur steerage in my pup 12 months’s. Bootsy child!!!”

Haskins’ P-Funk tenure dates again to when he and Clinton had been members of the Sixties vocal group the Parliaments, which — because of their document label folding — finally morphed into Funkadelic and Parliament. 

“Fuzzy wrote and co-wrote a few of Funkadelic’s earliest classics, together with ‘I Bought A Factor’ (that includes his vocals) and ‘I Wanna Know If It’s Good To You,’” Clinton’s web site wrote of Haskins. 

“He was an excellent drummer as properly, as he proved on ‘Can You Get To That,’ which he additionally co-wrote. A few of Fuzzy’s greatest vocals appeared on Funkadelic’s 1972 LP America Eats Its Younger, most notably on ‘Ms Lucifers Love.’ However singing wasn’t the one factor that Fuzzy dropped at P-Funk. He was identified, throughout reside P-Funk exhibits, to don skin-tight bodysuits and gyrate in opposition to the microphone pole as he whipped the gang right into a frenzy, particularly after they carried out ‘Standing on the Verge of Getting it On.’”

Haskins and his “berserker octave vocals” remained a full-time member of Funkadelic up by means of 1976’s Hardcore Jollies, and a member of Parliament to 1976’s The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein. After releasing his personal solo album A Complete Nother Thang, Haskins briefly rejoined P-Funk for his or her 1977 tour (captured on Reside: P-Funk Earth Tour) earlier than departing the collective for good later that 12 months. “By this time, he claimed he was by means of with singing all of the ole soiled songs and commenced finding out the Lord’s Phrase,” Clinton’s web site notes.

In later years, Haskins did turn into a preacher, however he remained within the P-Funk orbit: He and fellow founding-but-former Parliament-Funkadelic members Calvin Simon (who died in 2022), Ray Davis, and Grady Thomas carried out collectively as Authentic P, a reputation the group adopted after dropping a lawsuit in opposition to Clinton over the Funkadelic title; Haskins, Simon and Thomas — as Funkadelic — launched the maligned Connections and Disconnections in 1981, leading to Clinton’s lawsuit.

Regardless of their authorized points, Haskins was among the many 15 members of Parliament-Funkadelic that had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 1997. Haskins additionally obtained a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2019 for his contribution to P-Funk.