Bootsy Collins played bass for James Brown as a teenager, then joined George Clinton and made the bass the lead instrument in funk. He was 17 when the Godfather hired him -- and fired him more than once, because James fired everybody. But Bootsy learned. The discipline. The one. The groove that didn't stop.

When George Clinton recruited him for P-Funk, everything changed. Bootsy's bass became the center of the groove -- rubbery, elastic, funky in a way that made your hips move before your brain caught up. The star-shaped glasses. The space boots. The voice that introduced every song like a ringmaster. Bootsy's Rubber Band was his own franchise within the P-Funk empire -- Stretchin' Out, I'd Rather Be with You, Body Slam.

He's been sampled by everyone from De La Soul to Snoop Dogg. He still performs, still talks in that cartoon-philosopher voice, still wears the star glasses. The funkiest bass player alive. Still on the one.

Bootsy Collins played bass for James Brown at 17, then invented the rubber-band groove with P-Funk. Star glasses. Space boots. Still on the one.