Michael Hampton plays guitar on “Susie Saxophone”, “Angeldelic” and “Elixir”. I met him in 2010 or 2011, after a George Clinton & Parliament Funkadlic concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam. We stayed in touch throughout the years. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Hampton (1956) was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and started his professional career when he was recruited as a seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy by the band Funkadelic, which found itself in need of a lead guitarist after original guitarist Eddie Hazel left the band. Hampton impressed Funkadelic's George Clinton by performing a note-for-note rendition of Hazel's ten-minute solo "Maggot Brain". He made his debut with the band's album “Let's Take It to the Stage” in 1975, which is dominated by his guitar. Hampton's playing included fuzzy, Hendrix-inspired licks and wailing harmonics. Due to his young age, Hampton was nicknamed 'Kidd Funkadelic'. Photo: Buffalo Bullet
Hampton became a fixture in Funkadelic, and he continued his role as lead guitarist even during Hazel's sporadic returns to the band. Hampton's performances of "Maggot Brain" — which had become more improvised – became regular features of live Parliament-Funkadelic shows, and the song became his signature concert performance. The bonus-EP of Funkadelic's “One Nation Under a Groove” (1978) included a live version of the song featuring Hampton. The 12" single version of the title track was the first notable Funkadelic song to feature Mike Hampton on lead guitar. One of his most celebrated performances is the lead guitar solo on the Funkadelic hit single "(Not Just) Knee Deep" from 1979, as well the title track to the Brides of Funkenstein's second album “Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy”. La Defense, Paris 2013
In 1981 Clinton was forced to disband the P-Funk musical empire due to financial and legal difficulties. In 1993, he performed on the album “Under the 6” with Slavemaster. Hampton performed on the albums released under Clinton's name, which featured many other P-Funk mainstays as well, and he became a member of the P-Funk All-Stars. In 1998, he released his first solo album entitled “Heavy Metal Funkason” through the P-Vine label in Japan. As of 2014, Hampton continues to perform with the All-Stars, and his performance of "Maggot Brain" remains a staple of their concerts but for the first time in years, he's not on the 2015 tour. (Source: Wikipedia)
So the first time we played the music from Royalty For Real wasn't in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, but in Bengaluru and Mumbai, all the way in India in 2023!Here you'll see me play Au Privave, Classy Cats and Royalty For Real, together with Timothy Banchet (piano), Marius Beets (bass) and Sven Rozier (drums).Au Privave is a well-known blues by Charlie Parker which I often like to start with, almost like a soundcheck tune. Although most of the time a soundcheck is done I found out it's a good idea to play a tune everybody of the band knows very well so we all can get used to the sound of the stage, the presence of the audience and it also gives the sound engineer the chance to adjust microphones last minute. During the soundcheck, the sound of the room is significantly different because of the lack of audience. All that flesh and clothes work a little bit like a totally empty room versus a room with furniture and carpets, if you know what I mean :-)Acoustics are so interesting and full of surprises.. Anyways.. hope you like it! - Paradiso, Amsterdam 2011Michael Hampton plays guitar on “Susie Saxophone”, “Angeldelic” and “Elixir”.I met him in 2010 or 2011, after a George Clinton & Parliament Funkadlic concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam. We stayed in touch throughout the years. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.Hampton (1956) was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and started his professional career when he was recruited as a seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy by the band Funkadelic, which found itself in need of a lead guitarist after original guitarist Eddie Hazel left the band. Hampton impressed Funkadelic's George Clinton by performing a note-for-note rendition of Hazel's ten-minute solo Maggot Brain. He made his debut with the band's album “Let's Take It to the Stage” in 1975, which is dominated by his guitar. Hampton's playing included fuzzy, Hendrix-inspired licks and wailing harmonics. Due to his young age, Hampton was nicknamed 'Kidd Funkadelic'.Photo: Buffalo BulletHampton became a fixture in Funkadelic, and he continued his role as lead guitarist even during Hazel's sporadic returns to the band. Hampton's performances of Maggot Brain — which had become more improvised – became regular features of live Parliament-Funkadelic shows, and the song became his signature concert performance. The bonus-EP of Funkadelic's “One Nation Under a Groove” (1978) included a live version of the song featuring Hampton. The 12 single version of the title track was the first notable Funkadelic song to feature Mike Hampton on lead guitar. One of his most celebrated performances is the lead guitar solo on the Funkadelic hit single (Not Just) Knee Deep from 1979, as well the title track to the Brides of Funkenstein's second album “Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy”.La Defense, Paris 2013In 1981 Clinton was forced to disband the P-Funk musical empire due to financial and legal difficulties. In 1993, he performed on the album “Under the 6” with Slavemaster. Hampton performed on the albums released under Clinton's name, which featured many other P-Funk mainstays as well, and he became a member of the P-Funk All-Stars. In 1998, he released his first solo album entitled “Heavy Metal Funkason” through the P-Vine label in Japan. As of 2014, Hampton continues to perform with the All-Stars, and his performance of Maggot Brain remains a staple of their concerts but for the first time in years, he's not on the 2015 tour.(Source: Wikipedia)Website:http://www.michaelwhampton.com/Here's the whole 96min concert they did at Loreley for Rockpalast in 1985.A video from 21 years later:
