Amp Fiddler

Known foremost as an exemplary collaborator across genres and generations, Amp Fiddler was above all an R&B musician, a keyboardist who put funk into everything with understated elegance and minimal flash, and a singer who could soothe and galvanize in the same verse. A vital Detroit player and connector for over 40 years, Fiddler came up in the '80s as a touring keyboardist with Enchantment, R.J.'s Latest Arrival, and Was (Not Was) before he entered the Parliament-Funkadelic galaxy. A P-Funk associate for well over a decade, he concurrently stretched out as a versatile session hand, enhancing recordings by the likes of Warren Zevon, Seal, and Maxwell, and he closely mentored and championed Jay Dee (aka J Dilla) before the hip-hop producer launched an unparalleled career. Beside brother Bubz, Fiddler temporarily stepped out of the background as one-half of the duo Mr. Fiddler, releasing the uniquely stylish and out-of-step With Respect in 1991. Not until the following decade would Fiddler finally slide into the spotlight as a solo artist. His 2003 full-length debut Waltz of a Ghetto Fly, a hybrid of soul, funk, and house fueled in part by an alliance with Moodymann, was warmly received with two singles landing on the U.K. pop chart. After the follow-up Afro Strut in 2006, side work again took precedence for Fiddler until he put together the party-oriented Motor City Booty in 2016. Live and studio projects with Will Sessions followed soon thereafter, as did Amp Dog Knights, his last solo album, released in 2017. Fiddler's boundless collaborative work continued into the next decade, until his death from cancer in 2023.

From 🇺🇸 United States