Get ready for some P-Funk

George Clinton. Photo / Supplied

George Clinton had been around in music for many years before the 70s. But when he and his Parliament-Funkadelic crew took the funk of James Brown, added in some psychedelic rock, and took off into space, what came back down to earth in his self-styled mothership was a music called P-Funk.

And that's what the Godfather of P-Funk will be pushing when he returns to New Zealand to play the Powerstation on April 23.

He was last here in 2005 at the St James which, according to the Herald review, was "an unforgettable night of low comedy and bad fashion wrapped in a ball of furiously appealing, smoke-fuelled funk".

It also included a 20-minute version of the hard bopping Flashlight, which should go down a treat at the Powerstation. Tickets go on sale Feb 15 (powerstation.net.nz) and Feb 17 (ticketmaster.co.nz).

Another music legend, although unlike Clinton he has spent much of his life flying underneath the radar, is songwriter, pianist, and guitarist Leon Russell who plays a one-off show at the Powerstation on April 21.

Throughout his 50-year career he has played with everyone from Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lee Lewis to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys, as well as having a prolific, if mostly, unheralded solo career.

He released his first solo album in 1970 (on which three Stones, two Beatles, Joe Cocker, and Eric Clapton also performed), he reached his commercial peak in 1972 with third album Carney, and has written many hit songs including The Carpenters' classic Superstar (with the iconic line "Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby?"). Most recently he collaborated with Elton John on the critically acclaimed album The Union from last year which was a reunion of sorts for the two pianists since Russell was one of John's first champions in the US in the early 70s.

Tickets go on sale Feb 15 (powerstation.net.nz) and Feb 17 (ticketmaster.co.nz).

Meanwhile, American singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked heads to New Zealand for three shows including playing the Powerstation in Auckland on April 12.

Best known for her 1988 album Short Sharp Shocked, and the single Anchorage, she has continued to make music ever since and released her latest album, Soul of My Soul, in 2009.

She also plays Bodega in Wellington on April 14 and the Bedford in Christchurch April 15 with tickets on sale Feb 15 (powerstation.net.nz) and Feb 17 (ticketmaster.co.nz).

-TimeOut