Garry Shider, 1954–2010

Although Garry Shider was a guitarist of formidable skill and technique, many rock and funk fans remember him primarily for his penchant for taking the stage dressed only in a loincloth. To them, he will always remain “Diaperman.”

Shider, who died last week of cancer, was born in Plainfield, N.J., and “got his start by playing in church,” said the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger. As a teenager, he backed up prominent gospel acts such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy and vocalist Shirley Caesar. At age 16, he moved to Toronto and formed a band called U.S. (United Soul). In the late 1960s, he met his future mentor and collaborator, George Clinton, at a Plainfield barber shop that served as the birthplace of Parliament and Funkadelic—the two Clinton-led bands that laid down the bedrock of 1970s funk music.

While personnel constantly shifted around him, Shider was a mainstay, playing guitar and singing in both bands—collectively known as P-Funk. He also wrote or co-wrote many of their best-known songs, including “Atomic Dog,” “Can You Get to That,” and “Cosmic Slop,” said Rolling Stone. A guitar line he jokingly referred to as “a banjo part” became the rippling backbone of “One Nation Under a Groove,” one of Funkadelic’s biggest hits. Shider continued to play with Clinton and various P-Funk offshoots until March, when he was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer. He’s survived by his wife of 32 years, Linda.

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An interviewer once asked Shider why a grown man would wear a diaper. He replied: “God loves babies and fools. I’m both.”