One of the ten most important people in the history of funk, William “Bootsy” Collins has exerted immense influence on the genre in multiple ways.  As a teenager, her grounded James Browns’ original JBs and played on some of the Godfather’s most crucial jams:  “Sex Machine, “Talking Loud and Saying Nothing,” The Grunt.” With George Clinton, he propelled Parliament-Funkadelic into the stratosphere of funk nirvana, co-writing and performing while leading his own band.  All the while, his trademark space bass, outlandish fashion sense and multiple musical personalities have helped define the funk aesthetic.