Bootsy Collins

Whether through his bouncy melodic bass figures or his magnetic and engaging vocal style, Bootsy Collins ranks among the foremost figures in funk and R&B while projecting an outsized stage presence. He first reached wide attention in his late teens as a member of the J.B.'s, where he absorbed lessons from James Brown and helped reshape soul into compact, driving funk at the start of the 1970s. Yet that period marked only the beginning of his ascent; once welcomed into the Parliament-Funkadelic circle he took on larger responsibilities as songwriter and singer. By then he had become central to P-Funk successes such as “Up for the Down Stroke” (1974) and “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker” (1976), and he scored his own breakthrough with the 1976 single “I’d Rather Be with You” as leader of Bootsy’s Rubber Band. His catalog as bandleader and solo artist is further distinguished by the gold-certified LPs Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (1977) and Bootsy? Player of the Year (1978) plus the number-one R&B single “Bootzilla” (1978). A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, he has continued to collaborate across decades, working in multiple guises with Bill Laswell and forging enduring ties with numerous rap artists, a body of work documented on the animated solo albums Fresh Outta ’P’ University (1997) and The Power of the One (2020).

Born William Earl “Bootsy” Collins in Cincinnati, he took up guitar under the influence of Jimi Hendrix and his older brother Phelps “Catfish” Collins. When the bassist failed to appear for one of Catfish’s gigs, the younger Collins stepped in and stayed with the instrument. The Collins brothers anchored the Pacemakers, whose lineup also included vocalist Philippe Wynne, later known for his work with the Spinners. The group adopted King Records as its local base and served as both studio and touring unit for label artists such as Hank Ballard, Marva Whitney, and Lyn Collins. After most of James Brown’s road musicians quit before a 1970 show in Columbus, Georgia, the Godfather of Soul sent Bobby Byrd to fetch the Pacemakers as emergency replacements; they were soon absorbed into the unit that became the J.B.’s. Collins’ inventive bass patterns proved essential to Brown’s subsequent hits “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine,” “Super Bad,” “Soul Power,” and “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing.”

The Collins brothers left the J.B.’s in 1971 and assembled a core group in Cincinnati that performed under several names—House Guests, House Guest Rated X, and Bootsy Phelps and Gary among them—releasing occasional singles over the next few years. Most of those musicians, the Collins brothers included, moved to Detroit and joined George Clinton’s Funkadelic in 1972. Bootsy Collins eventually divided his time between Funkadelic and Parliament, co-writing such P-Funk classics as the Top Ten R&B singles “Up for the Down Stroke” and “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” as well as the chart-topping “Flash Light.” During the same stretch he formed Bootsy’s Rubber Band. The high-spirited ensemble debuted in 1976 with Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, and Rick Gardner—the Horny Horns—plus Catfish, Leslyn Bailey, Gary “Mudbone” Cooper, Robert “Peanut” Johnson, Frank “Frankie Kash” Waddy, and Frederick “Flintstone” Allen in its original roster. Collins introduced his alter egos Bootzilla and Casper into the stage show. The band’s first two albums, Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy’s Rubber Band and Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!, displayed the same range of musical idioms, sly humor, and extravagant lyrics that marked Clinton’s strongest work. Both Ahh… and the third LP, Bootsy? Player of the Year, reached number 16 on Billboard’s pop albums chart and earned RIAA gold certification; nine singles charted on the R&B list before the decade ended. “The Pinocchio Theory” reached the Top Ten, while “Bootzilla,” one of Collins’ signature pieces, went to number one.

In the 1980s Collins recorded with the Sweat Band—Bootsy’s Rubber Band under a new name after legal action by an unrelated group—and as a solo artist. He also undertook side projects such as the 1984 one-off Bonzo Goes to Washington with Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison, which yielded “5 Minutes,” featuring Ronald Reagan declaring nuclear war on the Soviet Union. He returned in 1988 on Columbia with What’s Bootsy Doin’?, its track “Shock-It-to-Me” co-written and co-produced by Bill Laswell, with whom Collins formed a lasting creative alliance. Across 1989 and the early 1990s he led the Bootzilla Orchestra on Malcolm McLaren’s Waltz Darling, appeared as featured guest with Deee-Lite on the Top Ten pop hit “Groove Is in the Heart,” and toured with a group co-led by longtime associates Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. Bootsy’s Rubber Band resurfaced with the Laswell-assisted EP Jungle Bass for 4th & Broadway. Additional Laswell-related projects filled the late 1990s, including Praxis’ Transmutation and Sacrifist, Bootsy’s New Rubber Band’s two-disc Blasters of the Universe, Zillatron’s Lord of the Harvest, and Axiom Funk’s Funkcronomicon. Collins also issued Fresh Outta ’P’ University (1997), an album featuring MC Lyte, Rodney O, Dru Down, and numerous P-Funk colleagues; around its release he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Parliament-Funkadelic.

Into the new century Collins maintained visibility through touring, reissues, and catalog collections such as the 2001 Rhino double-disc Glory B da Funk’s on Me!: The Bootsy Collins Anthology. He supplied vocals for Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice,” whose video—showing only a dancing Christopher Walken—won the 2001 Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. New studio albums in the 2000s comprised only 2002’s Play with Bootsy and 2006’s Christmas Is 4 Ever. During the same period Collins joined the experimental metal band Science Faxtion and participated in several Fred Wesley projects. His collaborative spirit continued through the 2010s with the adventurous solo sets Tha Funk Capital of the World (2011) and World Wide Funk (2017). As a Parliament-Funkadelic alumnus he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2019, then added The Power of the One to his solo discography the following year.