Parlet

Formed from the ranks of P-Funk’s supporting vocalists, Parlet operated chiefly as a trio—actually two successive lineups, the first featuring Washington, Wright, and Franklin, the second Washington, Hayden, and Evans. In that respect the act resembled the Brides of Funkenstein, yet came across as somewhat less restrained. George Clinton conceived the project as a deliberate counterpart to his early doo-wop ensemble the Parliaments; the working title Parlettes was later abbreviated in an effort to distance the singers from the Motown idiom. When the group stepped forward with its debut album Pleasure Principle in 1978, Clinton declared that “sexual satisfaction guaranteed, that's what this group is all about.” Amid the denser, more vigorous funk supplied by the remaining units of Uncle Jam’s Army, Parlet found limited traction, reaching only number 49 on Billboard’s R&B chart with the single “Ridin’ High” from Invasion of the Booty Snatchers. Live visibility remained scarce, limited to a 1978 European tour and an appearance at the L.A. Funk Festivals the following year; otherwise the singers stayed stationed at backup microphones while the mothership descended. After completing three albums they slipped back into Clinton’s larger collective as session vocalists, though the members occasionally resurfaced for informal, unrecorded performances of their own.