Watch the Grady “Shady” Thomas documentary above.

Thomas started out in the late 1950s as one of The Parliaments, a doo wop barbershop quintet led by George Clinton. In 1977, Thomas (along with other original Parliaments Fuzzy Haskins and Calvin Simon), left Parliament-Funkadelic. The trio formed a new funk band and released an album called Connections and Disconnections in 1981, using the name Funkadelic. Other names used in the years to follow would include “Original P”.

Soul Train performance with Grady “Shady” Thomas, Calvin Simon, and Fuzzy Haskins.