Simon will be recognized with the group with the Recording Academy’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. The special award presentation ceremony and concert will take place on May 11, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. “That is incredible. It feels like I’m walking on clouds right now,” he said. “When you start your career, you don’t even think about these things since you are having fun doing what you are doing. These accolades didn’t exist when we started our careers.”
This prestigious “Lifetime Achievement” award honors performers that have made “outstanding contributions of artistic significance” to the field of recording; moreover, Parliament Funkadelic is one of the most sampled acts of the R&B/soul and funk era, which have paved the way for many hip-hop hits.
He noted that he has a new single “Passing Time” that will be released soon. “I’m loving it. I’m still doing things. I’m not resting on my laurels. I am still being a leader, writing music, and creating new things,” he said.
Simon also revealed that he is in the process of writing a book about his life story, which will cover his days before and after Parliament Funkadelic. “I am going to fill in the in-between with the icing on the cake,” he said, with a sweet laugh. “I am going to tell the true story. The uncut version.”
On the recent passage of the Music Modernization Act, Simon said, “I feel that it’s a good thing. It has been a long time coming,” he said. “They always say cream rises to the top. When you love what you are doing and you are being honest about it, that’s all you can do since that’s the only thing you can be responsible for, since we are all given choices. Once you make that choice, you need to own it.”
Calvin Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a founding member of Parliament Funkadelic in 1997. He defined success as feeling “happy, comfortable and healthy.”
For his loyal fans, Simon concluded, “I want to give the fans a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for believing in me and the things I believed in. Stick to the truth and follow your dreams.”
To learn more about Calvin Simon and his music, check out his official website.
