Amp Fiddler, P-Funk keyboardist and mentor to J Dilla, dies at 65

Joseph “Amp” Fiddler, who played keyboard in Parliament-Funkadelic and mentored a young J Dilla, died Sunday of cancer at 65.

Fiddler’s family announced his death in an Instagram post Monday morning, 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.”

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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.

Amp Fiddler onstage in 2004.

(Peter Pakvis / Redferns via Getty Images)

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.

“As a kid in Detroit, I used to listen to be-bop and I saw videos from the ‘40s and I was overwhelmed,” Fiddler told The Times in 1991. “I immersed myself in that era. I even got a 1940 Chrysler and 1946 Plymouth. I was wearing ‘40s clothes too.”

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Fiddler also played an integral role in getting storied producer J Dilla’s career off the ground. 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 Dilla and his work with upcoming Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village.

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“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.”

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.”