Parliament (band)

See P Funk mythology. She died of complications from diabetes in Arcadia, California. Of particular interest are the spacy themes of Starchild, Sir Nose and other recurring characters from multiple albums. They were a couple from 1946, and married in 1949. In 1964 they broke up both personally and professionally; Mary Ford went into retirement, while Les Paul continued as a consultant for the Gibson Company, guitar makers. With the ensuing albums, Parliament became one of the most respected bands on the 1970s, and are now recognized as one of the forefathers of funk music. She, Patti Page (who was probably the first), and Jane Turzy were three singers who used multi-tracking on their hits in the early 1950s. 1975 saw the release of Chocolate City, which also enjoyed moderate success; the titular track reached #24. She was originally a country music performer, working with Gene Autry and Jimmy Wakely, and became one of the early practitioners of multi-tracking, where she recorded several parts of a multi-part harmony.

The song was the biggest hit of P Funk's career. The name Mary Ford was picked out of a telephone directory by Paul, so she had as short a name as his when they recorded as a duo. In the early 1970s, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins and Catfish Collins joined Funkadelic, which released five albums by 1974. With only moderate success, the Funkadelic signed with Casablanca Records as Parliament, releasing "Up for the Down Stroke" (off the album of the same name) which reached #10 on the R&B charts but peaked at #63 Pop. Ford was born in El Monte, California. The legal problems with the name "The Parliaments" were resolved in 1970, and Clinton signed all of Funkadelic to Invictus Records under the name Parliament, releasing Osmium ("The Breakdown" reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971) but the name Parliament was then abandoned for some time, as Funkadelic was much more successful. Paul was a guitarist, born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, who created his own electric guitars from acoustic ones, and recorded several solo guitar hits as well as the songs where he backed his wife's singing. Soon, Parliament was created in addition to Funkadelic and the two bands consisted of essentially the same people (see List of P Funk members), though both released albums under their respective names. June 9, 1915, original name Lester Williams Polfus) and Mary Ford (July 7, 1928-September 30, 1977, original name Iris Colleen Summers) were a husband-wife musical duo.

The name was soon abandoned due to legal issues with Revilot and Atlantic Records, and most of the same people recorded under the name Funkadelic, which consisted of The Parliaments' backing musicians, most importantly Billy Bass Nelson. Les Paul (b. Parliament was originally The Parliaments, a doo-wop group based out of George Clinton's Plainfield, New Jersey barber shop.