Bernie Worrell

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Biography

George Bernard Worrell, Jr. was an American musician and record producer. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Worrell was a child musical prodigy. He later studied at the Juilliard School and received a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1967. After meeting George Clinton, frontman of the Parliaments, Worrell relocated with them and their backing band, the Funkadelics, to Detroit, Michigan; both groups became collectively known as Parliament-Funkadelic. Worrell co-wrote and played piano and synthesizers on many of their recordings, as well as writing horn and rhythm arrangements. In the 1980s, Worrell performed and recorded with Talking Heads, appearing on the live album The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, the studio album Speaking in Tongues, and in the band's concert film, Stop Making Sense. In 2016, the New England Conservatory of Music awarded Worrell an honorary Doctor of Music degree. Worrell died at his home in Everson, Washington, on June 24, 2016, at the age of 72, from a combination of prostate cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer.