FUNKOBIT: Ray Davis

The death has been announced of Ray Davis, the founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic. The 65 year-old died on Tuesday in New Brunswick from respitory complications.

Davis was a member of Parliament from the start, wading in when George Clinton brought the group together in a Plainfield, New Jersey high school. Originally a barbershop quartet with doo-wop overtones, Davis provided the bass vocals and remained active as name changes, sister groups and the whole P-Funk/Funkadelic/Parliament/The Parliaments multiplicity rolled on, including appearances on Funkadelic's Free Your Mind Your And Ass Will Follow; One Nation Under A Groove - a Billboard Number One - and Flashlight.

More recently, Davis turned up for a brief spell in the Temptations and reprised his bass vocals for The Original P, a bunch of former Parliamentarians.

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