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Rick James

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Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr; February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004) was an American funk and soul musician, who worked as a singer, keyboardist, bassist, record producer, arranger, and composer during his long career. One of the most popular artists on the Motown label during the late 1970s and early 1980s, James was famous for his wild brand of funk music and his trademark cornrow braids, sporting them well before the style was widely popularized (among caucasians) by actress Bo Derek. As time went on, James was given the unofficial title The King of Punk-Funk.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Born in Buffalo, New York, James was the third of eight children; his father was a disco technician who abandoned the family, and his mother was a former dancer who made a living running numbers. "She raised us strict Catholics", James recalled. His uncle was Melvin Franklin, the bass vocalist of The Temptations.

At age 17, James joined the US Navy after dropping out from high school. He began missing weekend training because it interfered with his music career and was reported AWOL. Fleeing north to Toronto, Canada in the summer of 1964, James continued his musical career. His first band was called The Mynah Birds, which also featured future Steppenwolf member Nick St. Nicholas. In 1965, the group recorded a single for the Canadian arm of Columbia Records. In early 1965, St. Nicholas left the band and was replaced by Bruce Palmer.

Shortly afterwards, James and Palmer formed a new Mynah Birds lineup with guitarists Tom Morgan and John Taylor, and drummer Rickman Mason. In early 1966, the Mynah Birds auditioned for the Motown label in Detroit, Michigan. Morgan was unhappy with the label's attitude towards the musicians and left, with Neil Young taking his place. With Young on board, the Mynah Birds returned to Motown to record an album, but their manager pocketed the advance money the label had given the band. The band fired their manager, who in turn told the label that James was AWOL. Motown told him to give himself up to the FBI, and the Mynah Birds' album was shelved.

James' career continues

James spent a year in the Brooklyn Brig, after which he briefly returned to Toronto. During the summer of 1967, James formed a new version of The Mynah Birds (sometimes spelled "Myna Byrds") with Neil Lillie (later Neil Merryweather). The band returned to Motown and Detroit and recorded a new version of James and Neil Young's "It's My Time" but the band broke up soon afterwards. During early 1968, James returned to Motown and became a songwriter and producer, writing under the name "Terry Johnson" and working with Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers and The Spinners.

In the summer of 1969, he moved to Los Angeles, California and formed a band called Salt 'N' Pepper with Canadians Ed Roth (keyboards), Dave Burt (guitar), and Coffi Hall (drums). Former Buffalo Springfield roadie Chris Sarns played bass for a while, before Ron Johnson from Kaleidoscope stepped in the following year. The group recorded a demo for Atlantic Records, and played at the Fillmore West with Jethro Tull.

In 1971, James and Roth recorded two singles in Toronto for RCA Records "Big Showdown" and "Don't You Worry" with Heaven and Earth, a band that also featured guitarist Stan Endersby, bass player Denny Gerrard, and drummer Pat Little. James left Heaven and Earth later that year; he, Roth, and Gerrard formed a new group called Great White Cane with horn players Bob Doughty and Ian Kojima, drummer Norman Wellbanks, guitarist Nick Balkou, and keyboard player John Cleveland Hughes. The group recorded an album for Lion Records in Los Angeles in March 1972, but by that summer they had disbanded.

At the end of 1972, James and Roth formed the first version of the Stone City Band with Peter Hodgson (bass), Danny Marks (guitar) and Malcolm Tomlinson (drums/vocals). An album's worth of material was recorded in mid-1973 but was never released. James signed to A&M Records the following year and issued a single entitled "My Mama".

Return to Motown and stardom

In 1977, he returned to Motown as a songwriter/producer. He soon began recording for Motown's Gordy label, first with the Hot Lips and then with a new version of the Stone City Band. James' breakthrough single was "You And I", an eight-minute magnum opus from his 1978 debut album Come Get It. The album also featured his ode to marijuana, "Mary Jane".

1979 saw James release two albums: Bustin' Out of L Seven, in January, and Fire It Up that fall. The latter included hits such as the title track and "Spacey Love" a ballad dedicated to R&B legend Patti LaBelle. After 1980's lackluster Garden of Love album, he then recorded a concept album entitled Street Songs. The 1981 release included "Super Freak", James' biggest hit. "Super Freak", which features guest vocals from The Temptations, was sampled for MC Hammer's 1990 Grammy award-winning song "U Can't Touch This". Other hits from Street Songs included "Give it to Me Baby", "Fire & Desire" with protege Teena Marie and "Ghetto Life".

The stream of hits continued into the mid-1980s with "Teardrops", "Cold Blooded", "17", "You Turn Me On" and "Glow." His last R&B hit was "Loosey's Rap" in 1989, featuring a rap by Roxanne Shante. During this period, he also helped launch the careers of R&B singer Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls as well as producing Eddie Murphy's one-hit wonder "Party All The Time."

While he is best known for his up tempo songs in pop circles, the R&B world remembers him as one of the best R&B balladeers in the late seventies and early eighties. He recorded an early eighties hit with Motown legend Smokie Robinson entitled "Ebony Eyes" that captures his voice almost as well as "Fire & Desire".

He guest starred in a episode of the A-Team where he played himself and performed at a prison concert singing "Super Freak"; Issac Hayes also guest starred in this episode.

Personal problems and decline

As the 1980s segued into the 1990s, the dark side of James' life began to overpower his music. He was a recreational drug user, addicted mainly to cocaine, which he often smoked. In 1993, James was convicted of assaulting two women, with the first assault during one of his cocaine binges. Serving two years in Folsom Prison did not stop him from writing new songs, even if he did it behind bars. He was released in 1995, and during interviews for a segment of the VH1 series Behind The Music, he spoke openly about his life and his battle with drugs for the first time.

Rick James attempted a comeback with a new album and tour in 1997, but suffered a mild stroke during a concert in Denver, Colorado, effectively ending his musical career.

Rick James' voice was sampled by Green Lantern and used in Busta Rhymes' newest album entitled "The Big Bang". The track was titled "In The Ghetto" and at the end of the song Green Lantern threw in a sample of a classic phrase from the Chapelle Show "I'm Rick James bitch!". Rick James actually says the phrase himself.

\"Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories\"

On February 11, 2004 (just a few months before Rick's un-timely death), Dave Chappelle aired a sketch called "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories: Rick James" on his sketch comedy television program, Chappelle's Show. The three-part, episode long skit was an E! True Hollywood Story-style retrospective of the alleged love-and-hate friendship between James and Charlie Murphy during James' early-1980s peak. The young James, played by Chappelle, was depicted as an egotistical, misogynistic and violent cocaine addict who picked on Murphy and constantly reminded people "I'm Rick James, bitch!" Charlie Murphy played himself in both the flashback scenes and the interviews. It was written by Murphy himself, and the skit was mostly ad-libbed. It is also the longest skit on Chappelle's Show.

Chappelle was told by James that he used the catchphrase constantly while intoxicated. Rick James' last public performance was at the 2004 BET Music Awards on June 29, 2004. Part of the on-stage routine involved a crowd-pleasing recital of the Chappelle's Show catch phrase by the real James himself.

Death

On August 6, 2004, Rick James was found dead in his Los Angeles home by his caretaker. James had died from pulmonary and cardiac failure with his various health conditions of diabetes, stroke, and a pacemaker being listed as contributing factors. A coroner's report released September 16, 2004 officially ruled his death as accidental, reporting nine drugs found in James' bloodstream:
"Toxicology revealed the presence of the following drugs: Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium), Bupropion (Wellbutrin), Citalopram (Celexa), Hydrocodone (Vicodin), Digoxin, Chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine, and cocaine," the statement said. "None of the drugs or drug combinations were found to be at levels that were life threatening in and of themselves."
On August 11, 2004, a public viewing was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, along with a public funeral service there the following day. Following the Los Angeles services, his remains were transported back to New York for burial where they were interred at the unrelated Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. At the time of his death, he was working on an autobiography, Confessions Of A Superfreak, as well as a new album. He was married (and later divorced). He leaves behind three children, Tazman, Ty, and Rick James, Jr.; and granddaughters Jasmine and Charisma.

Discography

See also

External links

 

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