Part 3:  George Clinton Files Bankruptcy
(This is Part Three of Three)

On July 16, 2015 – George told reporter, Justin Joffe,  that the “bankruptcy was fictitious”.

“Mr.  Clinton allegedly filed for bankruptcy.  Allegedly because, in Mr. Clinton’s words, the bankruptcy was fictitious—part of a “systematic fraud” to deprive Mr. Clinton millions of dollar owed to him from the highest selling single of his career”.

This is untrue.  How do we know?  Because we were one of the people and/or companies (along with Leber Krebs and many others) who sued George.  In Bernie’s case, it was for unpaid tour money due him as well as for unpaid session/coproduction work.  It was because we were among the list of creditors that we were sent *all* paperwork pertaining to the bankruptcy and this included the bankruptcy papers signed by George Clinton.

“Day One” – Malbiz Music (George’s publishing arm) has “many, many Songwriter agreements” (more about this later).  George is sued by multiple entities.  During bankruptcy, George states he has no assets.

“Day Two”  — Bridgeport Music (Armen Boladian’s publishing arm) allegedly now has “many, many Songwriter Agreements”.  Now, George/Malbiz has no Songwriter Agreements. What George does have is a ranch in Michigan.  This deal, regarding publishing, was initiated by George in a (successful) attempt to defraud his creditors.  Did Bernie ever sign ANY songwriting agreements.  We think he might have before I looked up from whatever I was reading and put a stop to it.  However, when asked to send us copies of the Songwriter Agreements George said he had – only a few were sent and a couple of them are clear forgeries (see below)

George has filed lawsuit after lawsuit to get “his” publishing back.  As the forgeries started in HIS camp (see name of publishing company on the forged Songwriter Agreement below), he is responsible for every single writer losing their publishing…..something many didn’t even find out about until the sampling started.  It was George who set that whole nasty business in motion.  He named his publishing company truthfully: “mal” in French means “bad”.  In effect, Malbiz = bad business!!!  Prophetic much?

“Judge Drops Da Bomb on George Clinton”
By ABC NEWS [link]
T A L L A H A S S E E, Fla., Jan. 30

A judge ruled that American funk music star George Clinton can not keep rights to music he wrote in the late 1970s and early 1980s — work worth more than $100 million in profits, the singer’s Web site said.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said Monday that the music written between 1976 and 1983 belonged to Bridgeport Music, a Michigan-based music publishing company that Clinton signed the rights away to in a 1983 contract.

Hinkle also barred Clinton from profiting from the songs, saying the singer did not disclose them in a 1984 bankruptcy filing as possible future income.

Funkster Was Hoping for Millions

Clinton, 60, argued that he never signed a valid contract. The lawsuit, filed in 1999, also claimed that he lost money from rap music artists using samples of his old songs but not paying fees.  Clinton declined comment as he left the courthouse, the Tallahassee Democrat reported in today’s editions.  “We literally were expecting millions of dollars out of this,” said Don Wilson, Clinton’s attorney. “This just means we regroup and decide how to exploit the songs we do have rights to.”

Clinton signed the deal so the company could retrieve more than a million dollars advanced to him during his financial troubles in the 1980s, Bridgeport Music president Armen Boladian testified.

Handwriting Expert Testifies

A handwriting expert testified that it was likely the signature was indeed Clinton’s, refuting Wilson’s claim that his client did not sign. Wilson added that the agreement was worthless because Clinton’s wife, Stephanie, co-owned the music rights and would have had to also sign the contract.  Clinton, a Tallahassee-area resident, was the founder of the popular funk group Parliament, which later changed its name to Funkadelic. His hits include “One Nation Under a Groove,” “Flashlight” and “Atomic Dog.”

[Read at ABCNews.com]

A few facts:

1. Below is a copy of the bottom of a Songwriter Agreement that Bernie is alleged to have signed.  Who, among you, thinks that college educated (Majoring in Classical Piano at the New England Conservatory of Music) Dr. G. Bernard Worrell, Jr. didn’t know how to spell his own last name?
2. Who, among you, can see the publishing company (Malbiz Music) on the bottom of this and STILL think George was not behind this?
3. How did George think he could get away with claiming that one of his females (Stephanie, in this case) “owned” music rights?  NOT any of Bernie’s!!!!

I have told you all along that the forgery(ies?) started in George’s camp and THIS is your proof.

It’s hard to see above but the forged last name is spelled “Woall”.    THIS is how the publishing of the other writers, including our Mr. Worrell, was first usurped.  No, I was not there.  Neither was Judge Hinkle!!  But he managed to figure out what happened as did Bernie and I.  Now, you’d think all those people who sampled (and continue to sample) Bernie (cause would SOMEONE please tell me what instrument George played???) would have paid him, right?  Well, if they ever paid anyone, it never trickled down to Bernie.

Do any of you remember when George put out “Sample Sum A Dis, Sample Sum a DAT”?  Well, not a ONE of the musicians actually being sampled EVER GOT ONE RED CENT!!!  George kept all profits yet he laments above that “also claimed that he lost money from rap music artists using samples of his old songs but not paying fees.”   

And all of this, ladies and gentlemen, added to the loss of his Artist Royalties, is why Bernie needed to have Benefits done.  Not because Bernie didn’t earn the money, but because it was stolen, misappropriated, misdirected, whatever verbiage floats your boat.

Now, I promised Bernie that once I posted the third installment of what really happened, that I would “slow down and let it go”.  Bernie didn’t speak on this during interviews because it was one of his triggers and he wanted to stay positive.  He said “if I go there, hon, it affects my music”.  So, *I* handled it so Bernie could stay on his AA program because it was more important to keep Bernie contented and happy than to tell the truth UNTIL Bernie finally had enough.

Why isn’t Bernie part of the Bobby Brown documentary?  (Cause we learned from our mistake (my fault) with Phil di Fiore (for which Bernie received one payment of $1,000 and NO statements ever, etc.) we required a “letter agreement stipulating that if/when you release the documentary commercially, Bernie would share”.  Bobby never sent the Letter Agreement; Bernie never participated.

To those of you who don’t want to believe any of the truths Bernie and I have shared with you:

1. The truth is the truth.  Nobody has to believe it — there are some who still believe the sun revolves around the earth.
2. Bernie and I sat in front of a camera while we discussed this because Bernie knew that “some” would “come after you when I’m gone, hon”.
3. Some of you say you want to “keep the funk alive”.  By “burying your heads in the sand”, and not wanting to know the truth, what you are actually keeping alive is the nightmare that George turned everyone’s dream into.

For years, George has toured on the backs of the work of ORIGINAL P-Funk (the ones who actually wrote the songs in the first place) and not a one of them have enjoyed the “fruits of their labors” including the songwriters who came later.  But theirs is not our story to tell.  P-Funk is a musical phenomenon and will go down in history as such.

HOWEVER, IF history reflects the real truth, George Clinton will be rightfully condemned for grand theft, fraud and “black on black crime”.  For those who say “she is tarnishing the P-Funk legacy”, I will tell you what I told George:  “is the saying of it worse than the doing of it?  If YOU stop doing it, George, I will stop talking about it”.  He did NOT stop doing it and I will continue telling the truth.  The person who tarnished the P-Funk legacy is George!!!

I can only speak for Bernie (with his permission) cause THAT is what I KNOW, for sure.  I will now keep my promise to Bernie (as I always have) and “let it go, hon.  After this, please just let it go”

So, in memory of the love of my life:  ok, Bernie.  The truth is now told.  I am done, moving on, letting it go. (unless I need to testify at George’s trial ☺)

This is Part Two of Three.

Have You Read PART ONE?If Not, Click Here To Catch Up

Sessions:  How do musicians make money from sessions and why is the AF of M important? (American Federation of Musicians)

Shortly after being stranded in Detroit, some of the musicians were approached to do session work.  Sessions, basically, are where musicians go into a studio and play their instruments on songs.  However, there were two ways it was done then.

• The best way for musicians is sessions UNDER CONTRACT via the musicians union. This secured their payment according to a scale set up by the union.   This has another added advantage:  Around July of every year, union fees from ALL  sessions done under these contracts are pooled and by some formula with which I am not familiar, all participating musicians share in the Manufacturer’s Special Payments fund where they receive a one lump sum payment.
• The way most of the musicians I know get paid: a lump sum either per day or per song, depending on the deal. This is NOT good for the musicians because they never get to share as per number one above.   And IF the person/people with whom the musician is doing these sessions is unscrupulous, the musician stands to make little to no money at all.  This happened to Bernie ONCE.  Then Management put another deal in place for Bernie which we will get to shortly

Back to original P-Funk  musicians:  when Bernie and the others were approached by Holland-Dozier-Holland to do sessions for their artists, George was angry and told Bernie  he “didn’t want OUR sound getting out there”.  When Bernie told me this, I said “fine, then tell George to pay you the money you would have earned”.  Consider this:  Eddie, Tal, Billy, Tiki and Bernie were working musicians, not getting paid, stranded in another city and while there was no work upcoming from the group, they did these sessions. That’s why you hear Bernie (and others) on Chairmen of the Board, Freda Payne, Ruth Copeland, etc.

When Bernie did sessions for the group, here is what he actually did:  with his perfect pitch, he was invaluable to George (and ANY Producer, engineer, musicians etc.)   Guitarists could walk up to Bernie and he could tell them straight off if they were in tune.  So, he co-produced, co-wrote, arranged and performed on every single song on which you see his name and some for which he was never credited.  By never crediting Bernie’s co-production work, Bernie lost a lot of “Produced by” credit (except for those who could hear the difference) as well as payment.   As time went by, George’s debt to Bernie for unpaid session work, unpaid arrangements, unpaid co-production as well as monies owed while he was on tour with original P-Funk became quite large and THAT, in part, is what led to our suing George.  When served with the papers, George’s comment to me was “get in line behind the IRS”.   We will get back to the infamous bankruptcy in Part Three.

So, now, boys and girls, you see two instances of how Bernie and the original members of Parliament/Funkadelic were (and are) fleeced by George:

• Paying Artist Royalties then stopping – with never an explanation and to this day, not a single songwriter, musician, etc. from original P-Funk gets paid Artist Royalties on the work THEY made famous. Not a one.  Not Bernie, Not Billy, Not Tiki, Not Eddie’s kid(s), not Ray Davis’ kids, Not Grady Thomas, Not Calvin Simon, Not Clarence Haskins, Not Tal – ONLY GEORGE.

So, we ask that you PLEASE stop buying P-Funk records, DVDs and CDs because nobody BUT George ever gets one red cent.  Buy one and share it.  Normally I would HATE that idea.  People streaming and downloading for free HURTS musicians.  But NOBODY has hurt these musicians more than George Clinton has (and does) cause this goes on to this very day.

Record companies should put any royalty payments into an escrow account until George can explain why he has reneged on the verbal contract he had with each and every one of original Parliament-Funkadelic.

Why doesn’t George owe musicians that came after?  Because he hired them as “works for hire”.  That kept him from having to share with anyone who signed it.  When he had that sent to Bernie, I filed it….in the cylindrical file!!!  Garbage to garbage.

Why did the others sign it?  Cause they were told that if they did not sign it, they would not be going on tour (and that tour was in Europe).  So, they were blackmailed (by a black male).  See why I accuse George of “black on black crime”?  Bernie was so important to George that Bernie routinely ignored all of this and told me “no” when I told him what was happening and if he wanted to sign that paper.  As an aside, there have been some who think I’ve had “undue” influence on Bernie.  Let me tell those of you who “think” this:  Bernie has ALWAYS been his own man.   If I was able to exert “undue” influence on Bernie, there are other things more important to a wife that I would have worked on LOL!!!

• Not paying sessions monies to Bernie

So, let’s recap:  by not being a signatory with the Union, George cost them money two ways:  first, by not paying them  union scale and then, because he was not a signatory, none of the sessions they did counted towards the Manufacturer’s Special Payment Fund.

• And this is very important, musicians!!!! There are unscrupulous sub-humans like George (but he is not the only one) who have another “trick” up their dirty sleeves and it is known as “overdubbing”.  Here’s how it works.  Some will put down some tracks and then tell incoming musicians they are being paid for overdubbing.

What’s wrong with that you ask? If YOU write the music you want played and the musician comes in and plays that and ONLY that……..then the musician is overdubbing.  BUT, if the musician comes in and plays what he/she hears in their head — or has written it down themselves, then they are NOT overdubbing.  They are writing!!! and deserve writer/publishing credits in addition to their session $$ as the performing musician of that music!!!  George tried this “overdubbing” garbage with Bernie as he did this routinely to keep from paying musicians what they were rightfully due and to steal their publishing.

When Bernie first joined P-Funk, he’d be up all hours of the night writing out the charts – then they had to be copied.  As I had learned how to read music in high school (played clarinet etc), I helped him by being his copyist.  This was useful – particularly when members of the Detroit Symphony were called in.  It was VERY interesting to watch Bernie, with a joint hanging out of his mouth, conduct these professional musicians (old white men who had no knowledge of  “funk” ) and it was apparent from the start that THEY were not all that enthused…….until they sat down and read the music.   Looked up at Bernie, down to the music and they ALL got busy!!!  They hadn’t realized who was standing in front of them and who brought classically trained chops to the table.  They wanted to do more.

Now, even as recently as October 2014, George wanted Bernie to do a session(s) for his upcoming “shake the gate”.  We were backstage at B B Kings where I was trying to get George to let the Bernie Worrell Orchestra open for him on tour (I knew he wouldn’t cause BW&WW – with five musicians blew George off the stage at Woodstock but I owed it to Bernie and his group to try).  The one thing George did NOT want and would NEVER help facilitate was Bernie being successful on his own cause that would cut into his lies about “everyone comes back”.  BS, Georgie, BS – cause, despite george’s claim to me that night “ I MADE Bernie, I MADE Bernie”, the ENTIRE world knows what Bernie brought to P-Funk and every other group with whom he has played.  What George is trying to do is rebuild the publishing catalog he bargained away.

If you put a piece of paper in front of a musician and say “play this”, THAT is a session and the musician is paid (hopefully) accordingly.  That musician does not share in writing/publishing BECAUSE he or she is playing what is written and adding NOTHING.

If you play part of an unfinished song and tell the musician “add your flavor”, THAT is songwriting and the musician is due writing/publishing credits.  AND it is a session so they should be paid for that as well.

Can you see now how this is just one more way to rip off musicians?  No?  well, tell me how George Clinton can take 50% of an instrumental “Joyful Process”????? WHAT instrument does he play?  Has he EVER played?

This is one of the biggest reasons Management advised against Bernie ever doing anything with George absent a signed agreement – that is what killed the so-called reunion.  In short, everything was going relatively fine until Management, in negotiations, stated that “Bernie will share in all ancillary income – from DVDs, CDs, films and any unknown media now or in the future”.  At that point, George backed off, Management pulled Bernie from the tour (over his vociferous objections until we showed him how much George had already stolen from him by not paying him his fair share of those that had already come out).  Yes, ladies & gentlemen:  while you are plunking down your hard earned dollars to buy your favorite group, George was busy hauling in the funky dollar bills and NOT sharing with those who made the MUSIC possible.  Throughout this, you will hear us mention musicians.    That’s because that is what we KNOW.

So, let’s recap what George stole:

• Artist royalties
• All income from DVDs, CDs, etc. betcha YOU thought you were supporting everyone, right?  Hell to the no – and THIS is the major reason Bernie needed and needs Benefits performed on his behalf.
• Session monies
• Songwriter royalties/publishing royalties

And we are not done yet.  The worse perfidy is to come.

When Bernie was diagnosed with the cancers and the fundraising efforts were started, some of you (justifiably) questioned “why should I donate money to him. He made lots of money from all those P-Funk albums”. Well, he did not. George stole it all and we will show what he did, not only to Bernie but to all members of original Parliament-Funkadelic.

While on tour in Bermuda with Maxine Brown, Bernie received a phone call from George saying he wanted Bernie to join Parliament-Funkadelic . Bernie asked me to go meet with George and negotiate his “deal” – which I did. It was the first of many contracts/agreements that George would go on to break.

Approximately 19??, George told everyone that he’d arranged cars for everyone. This was his idea of a royalty payment as he told the group that he’d gotten a special deal for everyone. While there was some grumbling (“I can buy what I want with my OWN money” – nobody refused. I can’t speak to what was going on in everyone else’s heads but for Bernie, we would buy a car anyway so we accepted and got a Volvo – which was repossessed (along with everyone else’s) a few months later when George neglected to make the payments.

When Bernie joined original Parliament-Funkadelic, the members of Parliament were/are: Calvin Simon, Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins, Grady Thomas and Ray Davis, George C.

The members of original Funkadelic were: Billy “Bass” Nelson, Tal Ross, Eddie Hazel, Tiki Fulwood and Bernie Worrell.

Everyone else came after. The writing team of Bernie and George began at this point. One note: the song “Me & My Folks, You & Your Folks” was co-written by Bill Bass — NOT Judie Jones. “Livng The Life” was co-written by Judie Jones, not Bill Bass. We are working to get these properly credited.