American funk guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight, (often credited as Blackbird) was born April 17, 1954 in Los Angeles, CA.

Former member of [[artist:The Headhunters]] (1975 to 1978) and [[artist:Parliament]]-[[artist:Funkadelic]] (1978 to 2008).

Filled in with the [[artist:Red Hot Chili Peppers]] after the death of founding member [[artist:Hillel Slovak]] in 1988.

Has continued to work with Parliament-Funkadelic on numerous side projects and has been touring with them again since 2015.