Which bandleader founded Parliament and Funkadelic and headed the P-Funk collective?

Which bandleader founded Parliament and Funkadelic and headed the P-Funk collective? George Clinton did. He created Parliament and Funkadelic and became the chief architect of the wide-ranging musical universe known as P-Funk.

Clinton began the project in the 1950s with the doo-wop group the Parliaments, formed while he worked at a barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey. Contract and label problems eventually led to the group’s transformation into Parliament, while Funkadelic developed as a more rock-oriented counterpart. Clinton’s leadership brought the two names together into a large, rotating collective of musicians.

P-Funk fused funk grooves with psychedelic rock, science-fiction imagery and an elaborate cast of characters. Bassist Bootsy Collins, guitarist Eddie Hazel and keyboardist Bernie Worrell were among the musicians associated with the collective, but Clinton remained its leader and primary conceptual force. Parliament’s “Mothership Connection” and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” illustrate the range that often causes listeners to treat the names as separate bands rather than parts of Clinton’s larger P-Funk enterprise.