Shider was known to millions of fans as Starchild" or Diaperman," the latter because of the loincloth he often wore onstage.
Shider's son, Garrett, says his father died Wednesday at his home in Upper Marlboro, Md. He had been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in March.
He then briefly went on tour one last time but had to stop because of his failing health.
Shider started his career as a young boy, performing gospel music in churches in his native New Jersey.
He was still a teenager when he met P-Funk mastermind George Clinton and soon became a mainstay of that musical family.
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