Ray Davis of P-Funk RIP

funky16corners

July 8, 2005Ray Davis, 65, Veteran Member of P-Funk, Is DeadBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSTRENTON, July 7 (AP) - Ray Davis, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, the flamboyant funk band whose music is considered a precursor to modern rap and hip-hop, died on Tuesday in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 65.The cause was respiratory complications, said his son, Derrick.Mr. Davis provided bass vocals on songs like "One Nation Under a Groove" and "Flashlight," which both reached No. 1 on the R&B charts.Under the leadership of George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic fused R&B, jazz, gospel and rock styles and added garish costumes and elaborate stage displays to form one of the most original bands of the 1970's.Born March 29, 1940, in Sumter, S.C., Mr. Davis was a member of the original Parliaments, a vocal group Mr. Clinton formed in the 1950's when he was a junior high school student in Plainfield, N.J. Other members included Clarence Haskins and Grady Thomas.The Parliaments scored a Top 20 pop hit in 1967 with the single "(I Wanna) Testify." In the early 70's, Mr. Clinton changed the vocal group's name from plural to singular and also created Funkadelic, a funk band with a sound more influenced by the electric guitar. The two overlapping groups and other affiliated acts became known collectively as P-Funk.Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.Mr. Davis, who lived in Franklin Park, N.J., remained active musically in recent years, his son said, filling in on bass vocals with the Temptations after the death of Melvin Franklin in the mid-90's and touring since 1998 with Mr. Haskins and Mr. Thomas.

batmon

I CAN HEAR THE MOTHERSHIP CALLIN' FOR MR. DAVIS.