William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himself as one of the leading names and innovators in funk music with his driving basslines and humorous vocals. He later formed his own P-Funk side project known as Bootsy's Rubber Band. He has been a frequent collaborator with musicians from a variety of genres, including dance music (Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart"), electronic big beat (Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" and "The Joker"), (Sammy Hagar's "Would You Do It For Free" & "24365"), and alternative metal (Praxis), among others. In 1997 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Collins number four in its list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time.
Collins was born in Cincinnati, on October 26, 1951. He said that his mother nicknamed him Bootsy. "I asked her why," he explained to a journalist, "and she just said, 'Because you looked like a Bootsy.' I left it at that."
His brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins (1943–2010) was also a musician. He and Bootsy were once part of The Pacemakers.
Collins has maintained a strong connection with Cincinnati.
In 1968 Collins formed The Pacemakers with his elder brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, Frankie "Kash" Waddy, and Philippé Wynne. In March 1970, after most of the members of James Brown's band quit over a pay dispute, The Pacemakers were hired as Brown's backing band and became known as The J.B.'s. They are often referred to as "the original J.B.'s" to distinguish them from later line-ups that went by the same name. Although they worked for Brown for only 11 months, the original J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", "Super Bad", "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved", "Soul Power", "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing", and two instrumental singles, the much-sampled "The Grunt" and "These Are the J.B.'s". In regards to his tenure working for James Brown, Collins stated:
He treated me like a son. And being out of a fatherless home, I needed that father figure and he really played up to it. I mean, Good Lord. Every night after we played a show, he called us back to give us a lecture about how horrible we sounded. [Affects James Brown voice] "Nah, not on it, son. I didn't hear the one. You didn't give me the one." He would tell me this at every show. One night, we knew we wasn't sounding really good – we were off – and he calls us back there and said, "Uh huh, now that's what I'm talkin' about. Y'all was on it tonight. Y'all hit the one." My brother and I looked at each other like, "This mother has got to be crazy." We knew in our heart and soul that we wasn't all that on that show. So then I started figuring out his game, man. By telling me that I wasn't on it, he made me practice harder. So I just absorbed what he said and used it in a positive way.
In 1976 Collins, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson (1953–2018), Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy's Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The group recorded five albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group's 1978 album Bootsy? Player of the Year reached the top of the Billboard R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single "Bootzilla".
Like Clinton, Collins took on several alter egos, from Casper the Funky Ghost to Bootzilla, "the world's only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll," all as parts of the evolving character of an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went on (see P-Funk mythology). He also adopted his trademark "space bass" around this time.
Collins released two albums in 1980: his first "solo" album Ultra Wave on Warner Bros., and Sweat Band, on George Clinton's Uncle Jam label, with a group billed as Bootsy's Sweat Band. He also was credited for co-producing the debut of P-Funk spinoff Zapp.
In 1984, he collaborated with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to produce "Five Minutes", a dance record sampled and edited from Ronald Reagan's infamous "We begin bombing in five minutes" speech. The record was credited to "Bonzo Goes to Washington" (also referenced in the 1985 Ramones song "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg", derived from Reagan's starring role as Professor Peter Boyd in the 1951 comedy film Bedtime for Bonzo).
After a nearly five-year hiatus, Collins had a comeback in 1988 (with some help from producer Bill Laswell). What's Bootsy Doin'? flaunted a new sound that foreshadowed the 1990s, such as the dance floor smash "Party on Plastic". Laswell introduced Collins to Herbie Hancock, resulting in Perfect Machine (1988). The techno-funk they recorded featured turntables for scratch appeal, and smoothly-stylized vocals by Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner of the chart-topping Ohio Players. These were the first of many collaborations between Laswell and Collins on many albums and projects, with the prolific producer using Bootsy mainly as a bassist but sometimes as a rhythm guitarist.
Also in 1988, Collins appeared as a guest artist to play bass on Keith Richards and The X-Pensive Winos album Talk is Cheap. That same year Collins also made a cameo appearance in rapper Eazy-E’s music video for We Want Eazy.
In 1989, Collins played bass on and produced several tracks of Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling, credited to Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra.
In 1990, Collins collaborated with Deee-Lite on their biggest hit "Groove Is in the Heart", and contributed additional vocals. Although he appeared in the music video playing the bass, the bassline in the song is actually a sample of a Herbie Hancock song called "Bring Down the Birds". Bootsy's Rubber Band became the de facto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. The Rubber Band also recorded the EP Jungle Bass, their first recording in 11 years.
Collins joined guitarist Stevie Salas and drummer Buddy Miles to form the funk-metal fusion group Hardware in 1992. The trio released one album, Third Eye Open, before disbanding. In the same year, Collins played bass guitar on the first Praxis album (produced by Laswell): Transmutation, alongside fellow Parliament-Funkadelic member Bernie Worrell, Bryan Mantia and Buckethead.
Bootsy's New Rubber Band formed in 1994, releasing Blasters of the Universe and the live release "Keepin' dah Funk Alive 4-1995", recorded over two nights in Tokyo.
In 1995, Collins played in the remake of Jimi Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9", for Axiom Funk, a Funkadelic-like one-off supergroup produced by Bill Laswell and featuring (Funkadelic members) George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Collins, Eddie Hazel, Gary Shider and Laswell. The group released only one album (Funkcronomicon), and the song also appeared in the soundtrack of the movie Stealing Beauty. He also featured on Jon B.'s song "Simple Melody" from his debut album, "Bonafide".
Collins collaborated with Del McCoury, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman to form The GrooveGrass Boyz. They produced a fusion of bluegrass and funk.