George Clinton

With his multi-coloured dreadlocks and his spaced-out, psychedelic jams, George Clinton stands alongside Sly Stone and James Brown as one of the godfathers of funk and an eccentric pioneer who turned 1960s R&B into acid-tinged soul shakedowns. Originally a songwriter for Motown Records, his bands Parliament and Funkadelic lit up the 1970s with their flamboyant funk rock, before he turned solo in 1982 and had hits with Loopzilla, Atomic Dog and Do Fries Go With That Shake? The psychedelic funk boogies continued on Computer Games (1982) and R&B Skeletons In The Closet (1986) before he signed to Prince's label Paisley Park Records for comeback albums The Cinderella Theory (1989) and Hey Man, Smell My Finger (1993). Still performing his madcap grooves in his 70s, Clinton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and has been a key influence on the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Outcast and Happy Mondays.