George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic bandleader, announces retirement from touring

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee George Clinton will retire from touring in 2019, the Parliament-Funkadelic bandleader announced Friday, capping off a lengthy live performance career once revered for his legendary stage shows.

“This has been coming a long time,” Mr. Clinton, 76, said in a statement first reported by Billboard. “Anyone who has been to the shows over the past couple of years has noticed that I’ve been out front less and less.”

Mr. Clinton recently underwent pacemaker surgery and plans to officially retire from touring next May, the report said. He currently has over 50 dates booked through the end of 2018, however, and he hinted that his band may continue to tour after his road days are over.

“Truth be told,” he added, “It’s never really been about me. It’s always been about the music and the band. That’s the real P-Funk legacy. They’ll still be funkin’ long after I stop.”

A former barber from Plainfield, New Jersey, Mr. Clinton entered the music industry in the 1960s as a songwriter for Motown before finding fame the following decade as the leader of a group of musicians who performed together under the names Parliament and Funkadelic, or P-Funk, an expansive stable responsible for releasing a slew of influential rock and funk records, including the 1971 Funkadelic album, “Maggot Brain,” and Parliament’s 1975 concept album, “Mothership Connection,” among others.

P-Funk was also widely regarded beyond their records for their legendary live concerts, however, where Mr. Clinton would assume the character of “Dr. Funkenstein” and regularly take the stage by descending from a elaborate spaceship prop known as the Mothership.

“What I had in mind was big: bigger than the Beatles at Shea, bigger than ’Tommy.’ There was nothing to compare it to at the time, and it would be years before bands like Boston came along with comparable arena-rock props,” Mr. Clinton wrote in his 2014 book, “Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?: A Memoir.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted members of P-Funk in 1997, Mr. Clinton included, and the Smithsonian acquired the Mothership in 2011 and later installed it in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In January, meanwhile, Mr. Clinton released his first song under the Parliament name in 38 years, “I’m Gon Make U Sick O’Me.” Parliament’s first full length record since 1980’s “Trombipulation” is scheduled to be released later this year.