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Bernie Worrell

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bernie Worrell was born in 1944 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and grew up in Plainfield. His mother sang in church choirs. He was a child prodigy: at three he was having piano lessons, at eight he wrote a concerto and at ten he played with members of a symphony orchestra. He studied at Juilliard in New York and at the New England Conservatory in Boston. In Plainfield he met George Clinton, the leader of the doo-wop group The Parliaments.

Music and breakthrough

Clinton brought him to Detroit as keyboardist, arranger and bandleader of Parliament and Funkadelic, together called P-Funk. He was there from the first Funkadelic album in 1970. He co-wrote songs such as Flash Light and played on Mothership Connection (Star Child), Chocolate City and Atomic Dog. Worrell used piano, clavinet, Hammond organ and synthesizers by Moog and ARP. The futuristic sound of P-Funk came largely from him. His bass part on a Minimoog in Flash Light changed the sound of American R&B.

Influence

In the 1980s he played with Talking Heads, including in the concert film Stop Making Sense. Later he worked with Keith Richards, Fela Kuti and Bill Laswell. Hip hop producers such as Dr. Dre sampled his synthesizer lines, which formed the basis of the West Coast G-funk. Worrell was an accompanist with the influence of a bandleader. He died in 2016.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) by Parliament. Notice Bernie Worrell's high, gliding synthesizer sounds between the choruses that sing through one another.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: Artists