Tiki Fulwood
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood (born May 23, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - died October 29, 1979) was a drummer for the funk 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.
In the late 1960s, Fulwood was the house drummer for the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia when he met guitarist Eddie Hazel. Hazel and bassist Billy Bass Nelson were on tour as musical support for the doo wop vocal group The Parliaments. Hazel and Nelson convinced group leader George Clinton to add Fulwood to the group, where he replaced drummer Harvey McGee. Fulwood, Hazel, and Nelson formed the core of the The Parliaments musical backing group, which later became known as Funkadelic. Fulwood also played drums in the Tyrone Davis band between stints with P-Funk, and later was briefly employed by Miles Davis. Fulwood was officially dismissed from Parliament-Funkadelic in 1971 but did play and record sporadically with those groups in the following years.
Fulwood fathered one child, Stuff Nicole Cleague, who resides in Buffalo, New York. She accepted his award at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and was introduced by George Clinton.
Fulwood died of stomach cancer in 1979.
