Bootsy Collins - Biography

Last Editor: mmolina5				Bootsy Collins Biography -   Name : Bootsy Collins Profession : Singer/ Lyricist Birth Details : born October 26, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Birth name : William Earl Collins Height : 6' 2½" (1.89 m) Spouse : Patti (? - present) Trade mark : Very high-pitched and animated speech style

Bootsy Collins Trivia -

Legendary funk bass guitarist and composer. Frequently works with George Clinton. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 (as a member of Parliament-Funkadelic). Lives in Cincinnati, Ohio (2004) Bootsy was generally clean cut when playing with The Pacesetters (James Brown's back-up band). Once he teamed up with George Clinton, he slowly started to dress in the wild, colorful outfits and star-shaped sunglasses that we know today. Uncle of rapper Snoop Dogg. In 2005, the Cincinnati native released a rap video called "Fear Da Tiger" with members of the Cincinnati Bengals, and their mascot "Who Dey."

Bootsy Collins Detailed Biography -

William "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio,) is a pioneering funk bassist, singer, and songwriter. With his brother, Catfish Collins, and Kash Waddy and Philippe Wynne, Collins formed a group called The Pacesetters in 1968. Until 1971, the Pacesetters were the backing band for James Brown, and were known in that context as The JB's. A possibly apocryphal story states than Brown fired Collins after the latter suffered LSD hallucinations on-stage. What is known is that the young Bootsy clashed several times with the rigid fine system Brown used to discipline the young band whenever he felt they stepped out of line. Regardless of his reasons for leaving Brown's band, Collins then moved to Detroit, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin. Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and 1972 saw both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy and Wynne, join Funkadelic. Bootsy played on most of their early albums, garnering several songwriting credits as well. His bass playing was hard, driving and rhythmic, and has been very influential in the development of Funk, Heavy Metal and Soul music. Bootsy's characteristic watery sound, produced by envelope filters, is particularly one of the things that identifies him as a bass player. Like Clinton, Bootsy took on several aliases, from "Casper the Funky Ghost" to "Bootzilla, the world's only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll" as part of an ever-evolving character, an alien rock star who grew gradually more alien, bizarre and flashy as time went on (see P Funk mythology). He also adopted his trademark space bass around this time. Bootsy, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson, Gary 'Mudbone' Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy's Rubber Band in 1976, the character of Bootsy evolved into a rhinestone-bedecked, flashy rock god. Bootsy's Rubber Band is a part of the P Funk umbrella of bands. Most of Bootsy's albums in the post-Parliament and Funkadelic days were released under the name Bootsy's Rubber Band, though he also released an album in 1980 under the name Sweat Band. The first three albums of Rubber Band released in years 1976, 1977 and 1978 are often considered to be among the essential funk recordings.