S ATORI Shakoor was still Jeanette McGruder when she joined P-Funk’s female offshoot in 1978, first as a backing vocalist on Funk Or Walk (1978), then as a full member on Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy (1979), whose title track is a joyous high point of Clinton’s producing art. Today, she considers the role of these P-Funk women: “The Brides were beautiful, heavenly bodies floating in space, with spandex and foxtails and gyrating bodies – like Beyoncé. We were wild and powerful, and the stages were up high.
“So we were appealing to women, and we were definitely appealing to men. We provided that feminine energy, that female side of P-Funk, that had an elegance and a raunchiness all at the same time. It was a beautiful packaging.”