Discography
123 releases – 46 under his own name, 69 in other groups and 9 credits on others' music Edit
- Show everything (123)
- Released as George Clinton (46)
-
In other groups (69)
-
Credits on others' music (9)
- Tracks on others' music (65)
Has worked with
Has been in these groups
Has this family
In the News
( 2 stories between 14th December 2010 and 14th July 2011 )George Clinton Sues His Former Attorneys
Jul, 14 2011
Parliament / Funkadelic front man George Clinton, has taken legal action against his former lawyers. Clinton claims that Seattle law firm Hendricks & Lewis failed to pursue copyright actions they were hired to undertake. Instead, he claims, the firm pursued a lawsuit against Universal Music over royalties, and lost.
Clinton asserts he selected Hendricks & Lewis because they'd done similar work for the Jimi Hendrix estate. He is seeking $10M in damages.
Also named in the suit is Hendricks & Lewis partner Oscar Yule Lewis Jr. Clinton retained the firm to regain Funkadelic master recordings that were “misappropriated.” He directed the firm to launch the case based on the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Clinton alleges that Lewis told him a RICO suit would be too expensive and a better strategy would be to pursue Universal Music, which it was believed, owed Clinton royalties. Funds generated by a successful settlement could be rolled over into a RICO suit.
Clinton now alleges Lewis failed to pursue the royalties’ action correctly; misinterpreted contracts, failed to name Clinton’s company Thang Inc. as a claimant, and came up short on the statue of limitations. When the case started to unravel, Clinton says, Lewis tried to quash the action.
Meanwhile, Clinton was billed $3.5M in legal fees relating to the Universal lawsuit - more than enough to pursue the original RICO action.
Clinton's lawsuit contends that simultaneous to bungling the royalties’ action, Lewis failed to pursue a straightforward copyright suit against Charly Records, which was illegally selling Funkadelic recordings. Charly Records tied to negotiate a settlement including a $200,000 advance, but Lewis failed to respond.
Lewis says he has a very different recollection of events. He says his company worked hard for Clinton for three and a half years, and is owed a lot of money for that work.
-Court
George Clinton to Black Eyed Peas: No Funkin’ Way
Dec, 14 2010
For the third time in recent months, the Black Eyed Peas have been accused of stealing other artists’ music. Last Friday George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic fame filed suit against the Peas, UMG Recordings and Cherry Lane Music for allegedly sampling the beat and melody from Funkadelic’s “(Not Just) Knee Deep.”
Previous lawsuits against the hip-hop quartet claimed the Peas engage in “a pattern and practice of intentional copyright infringement with respect to the unlawful copying of songs of unknown or lesser-known artists.”
Clinton's original song – elastic synth-heavy, sing-along party funk - appeared on his 1979 album Uncle Jam Wants You and has been sampled by artists such as De La Soul, Tone-Lōc, LL Cool J, MC Hammer, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac.
The funk-pioneer asserts the core of the song turned up on the Peas’ track “Shut Up” off their 2003 release, Elephunk,even though he rejected a request from the band’s producer.
It’s clear that the Peas used the song, but whether or not they had permission is the issue. Clinton is seeking the maximum of $150,000 for copyright infringement and an injunction against further distribution of the song.
- Court
