Quick Facts
Biography
Calvin Eugene Simon (born May 22, 1942) is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Simon was born in Beckley, West Virginia, United States, and started out in the late 1950s as one of The Parliaments, a doo wop barbershop quintet led by George Clinton. In 1977, Simon (along with other original Parliaments Fuzzy Haskins and Grady Thomas), left Parliament-Funkadelic after financial and management disputes with Clinton. The trio formed a new funk band and released an album called Connections and Disconnections in 1981, using the name Funkadelic. Other names used in the years to follow would include Original P.
After a hiatus from the music industry, Simon turned to gospel music and now records for his own label, Simon Says Records. In June 2004 he released an album called Share the News, which reached #32 on the "Billboard" Top Gospel Albums chart.