Early Life & Formation George Edward Clinton was born July 22, 1941 in Kannapolis, North Carolina and grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey. As a teenager, while working in a Plainfield barbershop, he formed a doo‑wop group called The Parliaments, inspired by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. Plainfield’s Silk Palace barbershop — partly owned by Clinton — became a hub for young musicians and future members of Parliament‑Funkadelic, shaping the early proto‑funk scene of the 1950s and