Bernie Worrell, Parliament Fundakelic keyboardist & co-founder dies at 72

Bernie Worrell, keyboardist and co-founder of Parliament/Funkadelic, has passed away.

Worrell died Friday following a battle with cancer.

He was 72.

Statement on his passing

“Bernie transitioned Home to The Great Spirit,” Worrell’s wife Judie wrote on Facebook.

“Rest in peace, my love — you definitely made the world a better place. Till we meet again, vaya con Dios.”

“This is a huge loss,” George Clinton said in a statement to Billboard.

“The world of music will never be the same. Bernie’s influence and contribution — not just to Funk but also Rock and Hip Hop — will forever be felt.

Bernie was a close and personal friend and this is a time of sadness for me personally.

P-Funk stands with his family and fans alike in mourning this loss. The world is a little bit darker and a little less funky without Bernie in it.”

Bernie Worrell the musician

Born in Long Branch, NJ in 1944 and raised in Plainfied, NJ, the Julliard-trained Worrell met Clinton, then leader of a doo-wop act called the Parliaments, in the early 1970s.

Soon after, Worrell, along with the rest of Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic crew, moved to Detroit, where they completed work on their 1970 debut Funkadelic.

Worrell was also a member of Talking Heads and was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

Source : Rolling Stone