Bernie Worrell

Bernie Worrell

Born: April 19, 1944
Died: June 24, 2016
in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
George Bernard Worrell, Jr. was an American musician and record producer. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Worrell was a child musical prodigy. He later studied at the Juilliard School and received a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1967. After meeting George Clinton, frontman of the Parliaments, Worrell relocated with them and their backing band, the Funkadelics, to Detroit, Michigan; both groups became collectively known as Parliament-Funkadelic. Worrell co-wrote and played piano and synthesizers on many of their recordings, as well as writing horn and rhythm arrangements. In the 1980s, Worrell performed and recorded with Talking Heads, appearing on the live album The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, the studio album Speaking in Tongues, and in the band's concert film, Stop Making Sense. In 2016, the New England Conservatory of Music awarded Worrell an honorary Doctor of Music degree. Worrell died at his home in Everson, Washington, on June 24, 2016, at the age of 72, from a combination of prostate cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer.

Movies for Bernie Worrell...

Does Anybody Have Any Questions: Making Stop Making Sense
Title: Does Anybody Have Any Questions: Making Stop Making Sense
Character: Himself - (Archival)
Released: May 10, 2024
Type: Movie
A short documentary about the making of Stop Making Sense featuring new interviews with Talking Heads members David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz, as well as Stop Making Sense producer Gary Goetzman and editor Lisa Day. This documentary also features never before seen archival footage and photographs.
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Ricki and the Flash
Title: Ricki and the Flash
Character: Billy
Released: July 10, 2015
Type: Movie
Meryl Streep stars as Ricki Rendazzo, a guitar heroine who made a world of mistakes as she followed her dreams of rock-and-roll stardom. Returning home, Ricki gets a shot at redemption and a chance to make things right as she faces the music with her family.
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Finding the Funk
Title: Finding the Funk
Character: Self
Released: January 31, 2014
Type: Movie
Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. Starting with Funk's roots in Jazz and the James Brown bands of the '60s we travel to the Bay Area to celebrate Sly & the Family Stone, then to Dayton the birthplace of so many of Funk's originators, then onto Detroit where from the ashes of Motown, P-Funk's Mothership arose, and then to LA where a new crop of musicians are creating their own Funk history. On our journey into Funk, we talk to legends Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Nona Hendryx, Maceo Parker, Bernie Worrell, and Steve Arrington and their descendants Mike D, D'Angelo, Sheila E, Shock G and Sade's Stuart Matthewman. Narrated by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson of the Roots.
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Beware of Mr. Baker
Title: Beware of Mr. Baker
Character: Self
Released: November 28, 2012
Type: Movie
Ginger Baker is known for playing in Cream and Blind Faith, but the world's greatest drummer didn’t hit his stride until 1972, when he arrived in Nigeria and discovered Fela Kuti's Afrobeat. After leaving Nigeria, Ginger returned to his pattern of drug-induced self-destruction, and countless groundbreaking musical works, eventually settling in South Africa, where the 73-year-old lives with his young bride and 39 polo ponies. This documentary includes interviews with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Carlos Santana and more. Beware of Mr. Baker! With every smash of the drum is a man smashing his way through life.
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Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove
Title: Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove
Character: Himself
Released: April 5, 2005
Type: Movie
One Nation Under A Groove - P-Funk Documentary 2005 Known to its legions of fans simply as P-Funk, Parliament Funkadelic has had a profound impact on the development of contemporary music, aesthetics and culture. PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: One Nation Under a Groove chronicles the unique alchemy of the musical influences that fed into the band`s singular approach to music, documenting P-Funk`s continuing influence on today`s artists and musicians and featuring an in-depth look at the musical and entrepreneurial mastermind of its leader George Clinton.
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Moog
Title: Moog
Character: Self
Released: September 17, 2004
Type: Movie
Best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, and shaped musical culture with some of the most inspiring electronic instruments ever created. This "compelling documentary portrait of a provocative, thoughtful and deeply sympathetic figure" (New York Times) peeks into the inventor's mind and the worldwide phenomenon he fomented.
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Rising Low
Title: Rising Low
Character: Himself
Released: October 8, 2002
Type: Movie
Based on the life and death of Gov't Mule bassist Allen Woody, and the making of a double-disc tribute album (Gov't Mule's The Deep End , Volumes 1 & 2) featuring a host of legendary bass players. Throughout the film, director Mike Gordon (of Phish, who also plays on the album) interviews Woody's family and bandmates and also discusses the philosophy and technique of bass playing with a number of the instrument's legends, including Chris Squire, Les Claypool, John Entwistle, Flea, Bootsy Collins, Mike Watt, Roger Glover and others.
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Talking Heads: Storytelling Giant
Title: Talking Heads: Storytelling Giant
Character: Self
Released: April 13, 1988
Type: Movie
A compilation of ten music videos produced by Talking Heads during the 1980s. The videos are linked by apparently real people (not actors) telling stories from their lives.
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Stop Making Sense
Title: Stop Making Sense
Character: Self - Keyboards
Released: November 16, 1984
Type: Movie
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.
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Talking Heads: Capitol Theatre
Title: Talking Heads: Capitol Theatre
Character: Self - Keyboards
Released: November 4, 1980
Type: Movie
Rare concert footage of Talking Heads performing during their legendary Remain in Light trek has been unearthed after 35 years. Filmed four years before the band's concert film Stop Making Sense, this 80-minute performance was taped in stark black-and-white at Passiac, New Jersey's Capitol Theatre on November 4, 1980. The show came less than a month after the quartet released their landmark Remain in Light, and five of the gig's 14 songs are culled from that album.
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Parliament Funkadelic - The Mothership Connection
Title: Parliament Funkadelic - The Mothership Connection
Character: Himself
Released: October 30, 1976
Type: Movie
The Mothership has landed! Parliament-Funkadelic plays an out-of-this-world set at The Summit in Houston, Texas on Halloween night 1976.