The Parliaments
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The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey. Formed in the back room of a barbershop, their lineup consisted of:
The group was based on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, but quickly created a unique sound, including, most notably, very bizarre lyrics. While Clinton, the leader of the group, made weekly trips to Detroit to produce for such groups as The Pets and Roy Handy, the Parliaments switched labels repeatedly and released several EPs, including "Poor Willie/Party Boys" (Apt Records), "Lonely Island/Cry For Flip" and "Heart Trouble/That Was My Girl" (both on Golden World Records) without success. In 1967 the Parliaments released "(I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot, and song went to #3 R&B and #20 Pop on the Billboard charts. This was followed by a dispute with Revilot in 1968, and Clinton's renaming of the group as Funkadelic, composed of the backing band for the Parliaments, including Billy Bass Nelson. When Revilot declared bankruptcy the Parliaments were sold to Atlantic Records, and Clinton abandoned doo-wop to avoid working for Atlantic. Funkadelic and its sister group Parliament eventually became the country's preeminent funk bands. Parliament re-recorded much of the repertoire originally associated with the vocal group, including "Testify", "The Goose", "All Your Goodies Are Gone", and "Fantasy Is Reality".
In 1995, many of the original Parliaments tracks were reissued on the Goldmine/Soul label as the album Testifyin'.
