Jeanette McGruder (born November 8, 1954[citation needed]) is a singer, comedian, sketch actress, and writer, who has performed with P-Funk, Brides Of Funkenstein, and Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva.
Taught by her stepmother, she sang in her junior high choir and joined a female trio called New Dawn, which performed at nightclubs and one Black Panthers rally.
In 1972, upon entering the music department of Michigan State University (MSU), McGruder opted against pursuing a career as a violinist, and instead majored in voice.
McGruder returned to Detroit and got a job as a backing singer for Parliament-Funkadelic, and the original Brides of Funkenstein, Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry, whose album Funk the Walk (1978) was in the charts.
[1] At the 13th Gemini Awards in 1998, she and her Thick and Thin castmates Ronnie Edwards, Kedar Brown and Kenny Robinson received an ensemble nomination for Best Performance in a Comedy Program or Series.