AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Autobiography
Maceo Parker
All rights available
Most famous as James Brown’s band leader for 20 years, Maceo Parker was in all the major funk bands of the 70s and 80s and is the most sampled sax player in history. Throughout the course of an extraordinary life he has worked with pretty much everybody in the field and fans include Bill Clinton (who he was asked to play happy birthday to last autumn), Jude Law, Fat Boy Slim, Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton.
Maceo Parker was born in Kinston, North Carolina in a musically-rich environment. His mother and father sang in a church and both his brothers are accomplished musicians (drums and trombone).He and his brother, drummer Melvin Parker, joined James Brown's band in 1964 and subsequently Parker, Melvin and a few of Brown's band members left to form Maceo & All the King's Men which toured for two years. In 1973, Parker returned to James Brown's band the JBs. He also charted a single "Party - Part I"with Maceo & the Macks that year. In 1975, Parker and some of Brown's band members, including Fred Wesley, left to join George Clinton's band Parliament.
Parker once again joined James Brown from 1984 to 1988 and in the 1990s he established a successful solo career. In 1993, he made guest appearances on rap group De La Soul's album Buhloone Mindstate.In the late 1990s, Parker began contributing semi-regularly to recordings by Prince and accompanying his band, the New Power Generation, on tour. He also played on the Jane's Addiction track "My Cat's Name Is Maceo" (named after him, or Perry Farrell's cat, or both), for their 1997 compilation album Kettle Whistle.
Parker's current touring band includes bassist Rodney Skeet Curtis. They have been billed as "The greatest little funk orchestra on earth" or the "Million dollar support band". He has released seven solo records and his average play time on stage is more than two and a half hours.
Maceo Parker feels that the time is right to tell the story of his amazing career.By definition, his story will be the story of funk music over the last 50 years including all the colourful characters who populated its world.This will be a truly groundbreaking music book.
www.maceoparker.com
