Joseph “Amp” Fiddler, who played keyboard in Parliament-Funkadelic and mentored a young J Dilla, died December 17, 2023 of cancer at 65.
Fiddler’s family announced his death in an Instagram post while also asking for donations to help fund his funeral.
“Our beloved ‘Amp’ Fiddler, Detroit’s own world renowned ambassador of funk, soul & electronic music, keyboardist, producer, Afro-futurist, and guiding force of light for so many, has transitioned at the age of 65,” the post read. “After an extensive and noble battle with cancer, he now gracefully rests in peace and power.”
After playing piano in Detroit as a kid and studying music in Oakland with jazz pianist Harold McKinney, Fiddler came into the spotlight singing with R&B group Enchantment in the early 1980s, touring with the group and helping craft its later work.
Following the band’s final album “Utopia,” released in 1983, he joined George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic outfit, whom he played with from 1985-1996.
In 1991, he and his brother Thomas “Bubz” Fiddler, who played bass, created a familial duo named Mr. Fiddler and released their first album “With Respect,” blending then-modern drum machines with 1940s-era musical inclinations that had shaped Amp’s ear as a child.
Mr. Fiddler was a versatile keyboardist, equally adept at playing warm Fender Rhodes grooves or squiggly synthesizer arpeggios, skills honed during his decade with P-Funk, from 1986 to 1996. He was also a prolific session player, working with artists like Seal, Maxwell and Raphael Saadiq.
“The thing that I was always keen on as an artist was to leave my ego at home,” Mr. Fiddler said in a 2003 Red Bull Music Academy lecture. “I think that humility, having that sense of just being there for people and giving, is what got me more into getting more.”
Mr. Fiddler had a striking, stylish presence — he favored flamboyantly psychedelic attire and wore his hair either in an expansive Afro or sculpted vertically into a Mohawk — that could make him seem even larger than his 6-foot-2 frame.
In the early 2000s he began recording under his own name on neo-soul albums like “Waltz of a Ghetto Fly” and “Afro Strut,” showcasing his raspy but soothing voice. He also played keyboards for numerous electronic music producers in Detroit, including Moodymann, Theo Parrish and Carl Craig.
But Mr. Fiddler’s most crucial role may have been as a bridge between generations of Detroit musicians — first as a wide-eyed wunderkind among veteran P-Funk players, then as a beloved mentor to the hip-hop and electronic music aspirants of the 1990s and 2000s. “It’s just so rare, especially in the entertainment business, to see figures who give without the expectation of getting something back,” Dan Charnas, the author of the 2022 book “Dilla Time,” said in an interview. “A generation of folks were blessed by Amp’s generosity.”
Mr. Fiddler himself was a protégé of the Parliament-Funkadelic impresario George Clinton. In the mid-1980s, Mr. Clinton heard one of Mr. Fiddler’s demo recordings and offered him the keyboard chair in P-Funk once held by Bernie Worrell. Mr. Fiddler “helped me do amazing things,” Mr. Clinton wrote in his 2014 memoir, “Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?” “Amp was a jazz musician, and he helped create some of these extended pieces.”
While Parliament-Funkadelic was booked for the 1994 Lollapalooza tour, Fiddler ran into Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, and enthusiastically told him about the rising ‘J Dilla and his work with upcoming Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village.
“We got to Detroit, and Amp comes onto the bus with Dilla,” Q-Tip recalled in an episode of the docuseries “Hip-hop Evolution.” “[Dilla] is smiling ear to ear with glasses on, like ‘yo, here’s our tape’... Later, I’m listening to it with Trugoy from [De La Soul].. and we’re like, ‘those beats are crazy. This s— was kind of like what I did, but way better. I played it for Questlove, Common, Pharcyde, I was talking about him to everybody.”
Was (Not Was) brought Mr. Fiddler to Europe for the first time, but the globe-trotting never stopped. Among the experiences he cherished most, were playing at the Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, with the Afrobeat percussionist Tony Allen, and recording at Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare’s studio in Jamaica (for the three men’s 2008 joint project, “Inspiration Information”).
Fiddler also worked with Maxwell, Prince, Raphael Saadiq and a number of other artists in his career.
“Rest easy brother Amp,” Questlove wrote on Instagram. “For all those talks during the Pfunk tour. For all the music. Especially of course mentoring the one who mentored us (Dilla) — thank you brother.”
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