
Few details are available but US soul sites are reporting the death at age 71 of MICKEY ATKINS, original keyboardist for Funkadelic. Atkins played keys in the first Funkadelic – the backing band for George Clinton’s Parliaments. The two units eventually merged to craft their own kind of soul – a mix of rock, R&B and all kinds of everything. Atkins played on the band’s 1970 eponymous album but he was eventually replaced by Bernie Worrell who passed away himself in 2016.