Calvin Simon

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. In 1981, the trio caused confusion when they formed a new band, and released an album called Connections and Disconnections under the name Funkadelic. After a return stint with George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars in the 1990s, Thomas, along with original Parliaments bass vocalist Ray Davis (musician), Haskins, and Simon founded 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.

Military service

Simon was drafted into the United States Army in 1966, and served with C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery Regiment, 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War in 1967-68.[1]

References
  1. Williams, Kari, "From P-Funk to the Mekong Delta", VFW Magazine, vol. 105, no. 5, February 2018, pp. 18-20.
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