Bootsy Collins is as famous for his eccentric persona as his funky “space bass.” But there’s no doubt he’s an all-time great funkster.
Catapulted to fame in his late teens, he paid his dues as a member of James Brown’s band The Original J.B.’s just as his sound was evolving into tight, hard funk at the dawn of the Seventies.
After a year-long apprenticeship with the Godfather of Soul, Collins joined George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic as songwriter and vocalist as well as bassist par excellence, before forming his own side project, Bootsy’s Rubber Band.
Born in Cincinnati, William Earl Collins started playing guitar, inspired by Hendrix and his own older brother, Phelps ‘Catfish’ Collins, only switching instruments when his brother’s bass guitarist failed to show up for a gig.
He never looked back, the brothers becoming the nucleus of a group called The Pacemakers, whose vocalist Philippe Wynne would later find fame in The Detroit Spinners.
The James Brown connection arose by good fortune in 1970 when most of Brown’s band pulled out of a gig over a pay dispute and he sent Bobby Byrd on a jet to collect The Pacemakers as emergency replacements.
They were soon absorbed into his backing band, with Collins’ inspired, clever progressions and patterns rapidly becoming a vital part of hits like Sex Machine, Soul Power and Super Bad.
Just 11 months later the Collins brothers left The J.B.’s and went back to Cincinatti, forming a group that took a number of names – House Guest, House Guest Rated X, Booty Phelps and Gary – and released a handful of singles.
That didn’t last long either. In 1972 the Collinses moved up to Detroit to join George Clinton’s Funkadelic, Bootsy going on to pull double duty for Clinton with Parliament and writing several P-Funk hits including Up For The Down Stroke, Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) and the chart-topping Flashlight.
He also formed his own side project, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, who made their appearance in 1976, and, like Clinton, Like Clinton, took on various alter egos like Casper the Funky Ghost and Bootzilla – “The world’s only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll” – as different personae of an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went by.
In the Eighties, he formed a close and lasting alliance with Bill Laswell and began a series of collaborations, beginning with Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison on a satirical song mocking Ronald Reagan called 5 Minutes – released under the name Bonzo Goes To Washington.
In the early Nineties he was the “featured guest” on Deee-Lite’s hit Groove Is In The Heart, before touring with longtime partners Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. Another guest appearance, providing vocals for Fatboy Slim’s Weapon Of Choice, earned him a Grammy for the video, famously featuring a dancing Christopher Walken.