George Bernard “Bernie” Worrell
Jr., co-founder of Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s, died today (June 24,
2016), at the age of 72, of lung cancer.
Worrell (born in New Jersey on
April 19, 1944), began playing piano at the age of three, wrote his first concerto
at eight, and played with the Washington Symphony Orchestra at the age of 10.
He attended the Juilliard School of Performing Arts and the New England
Conservatory. He played for a time with the band later to be known as Tavares.
While playing in bars, he met fellow Funkateer George Clinton, and the rest, as
they say, is history.
Worrell was a keyboardist,
songwriter, and arranger with P-Funk, as well as a synthesizer pioneer. Among
other works, Worrell was a co-writer of Flashlight, perhaps the group's most
popular cut. He played with P-Funk throughout the 1970s in its various forms,
including Bootsy's Rubber Band, the Parlets, the Brides of Funkenstein, and the
Horny Horns, leaving the group in 1981. He thereafter worked on solo projects,
as well as working with rock band Talking Heads, Keith Richards of the Rolling
Stones, and rapper Mos Def, as well as many others. He appeared in the 2015
film Ricki and the Flash as a keyboardist.
Parliament-Funkadelic and Worrell
were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. A 2005 documentary
film, Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth was produced about Worrell's
life, exploring the paradox that even a "genius" sometimes has to
struggle to make a living.
Though Worrell's name may not be
familiar to most of you, his music will definitely live on!
George Bernard “Bernie” Worrell
[1944 – 2016]
© 06/24/2016
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