Joseph Anthony "Amp" Fiddler is an American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the band Enchantment, and as part of George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelic groups from 1985 until 1996. His first solo album Waltz of a Ghetto Fly was released in March 2004. His most recent album, Amp Dog Knights, was released in 2017.
Early career
Fiddler has worked with George Clinton, Moodymann, Stephanie McKay, Jamiroquai, Prince, Was (Not Was), the Brand New Heavies, Fishbone, Corinne Bailey Rae and neo soul artist Maxwell. Working with his brother, Bubz (bass guitarist, producer and songwriter), he released the album With Respect in 1990 on Elektra, recording under the name Mr. Fiddler. Amp Fiddler is credited with introducing hip-hop producer J Dilla to the Akai MPC sampling drum machine and also to A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip, who introduced the young Dilla into the music industry world.
In regards to Dilla's memory, he said:
The first beat he played for me he looped the whole track from cassette player to cassette player. There were a few drops, but for the most part it was pretty damn precise. So I told him he needs to go home and separate all the samples to load into the MPC, and he came back with all the samples separated and mapped out exactly how he wanted it. As time went on, he got better and better. He used to come by the crib to get on the MPC and he would work on it for three or four hours at a time. He used to have a big smile on his face, because he was so excited after finishing a beat.
Albums
With Respect (1990)
Waltz of a Ghetto Fly (2004) - UK #82
Afro Strut (2006) - UK #126
Inspiration Information (2008) - with Sly and Robbie
Basementality 2 (2014)
Bassmentality 3 (2015)
Motor City Booty (2016)
Amp Dog Knights (2017)
The One (2018)
Singles
"Basementality" (2002)
"Love and War" (2003)
"Possibilities" (2003)
"I Believe in You" (2003) - UK #72[8]
"Dreamin" (2004) - UK #71[8]
"Too High" (2004)
"Hope / Dope" (2006)
"Right Where You Are" (2006)
"If I Don't" (2007) - featuring Corinne Bailey Rae
"Take it" (2014) featuring Raphael Saadiq