Rick James

Early life James Ambrose Johnson Jr. was born on February 1, 1948, in Buffalo, New York, to Mabel (née Sims) and James Ambrose Johnson Sr. He was one of eight children. He was an altar boy and choir member at St. Bridget's Catholic Church. Rick James's father, an autoworker, left the family when Rick James was 10. His mother was a dancer for Katherine Dunham, and later worked as a cleaner in the day, and as a numbers-runner for the Buffalo crime family at night to earn a living. Early career In 1964, Rick James dodged the US Military draft by fleeing to Toronto. Soon after his arrival three drunk men tried to attack him outside a club; a trio of other men came to his aid. One of them, Levon Helm, was at the time a member of Ronnie Hawkins' backing band. Helm invited Rick James to their show later that night and he ended up performing onstage with the band. In 1966, a financial dispute in Toronto between Rick James and the Mynah Birds' handler, Morley Shelman led to Motown's learning of Rick James's fugitive status with the Navy. Hoping to prevent any scrutiny, Motown execs told Rick they would not be releasing any more of his material and convinced him to come back and work with them after straightening out his legal issues. Rick James surrendered himself to the FBI, and, in May 1966, was sentenced by the Navy to five months' hard labor for unauthorized absence. He was not yet 19 years old. Rick James escaped from the Brooklyn Naval Brig after only six weeks' confinement, but following another six months as a fugitive, surrendered himself a second time. With help from his mother, Rick James found legal assistance from his cousin, future Congressman Louis Stokes, and another attorney, former Marine Captain John Bracken, who pled Rick James's second court-martial down from a potential five years' hard labor to five months. After his release from Portsmouth Naval Prison in August 1967, Rick James returned to Toronto and endured another detention, initially derailing resumption of his career with Mynah Bird bandmate Neil Merryweather, with whom he would later collaborate, first at Motown and then in Los Angeles. In 1968, again working under the pseudonym Ricky Matthews, Rick James produced and wrote songs at Motown for acts such as The Miracles, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, and The Spinners. It was during this third stint at Motown that Rick James met musician Greg Reeves. Reeves, hoping to find a better situation than the US$38 a week (US$ in dollars) he was earning as a session bassist for Berry Gordy, joined Rick James, looking to "hitch a lift from Neil Young's rising star," and relocated to Los Angeles. On one of his first nights in Los Angeles, Rick James was crashing on musician Stephen Stills' couch. When he awoke, he saw a stoned young man sitting on the floor in the lotus position. The man's wrists were bleeding, so a scared Rick James sought help. Rick James was later formally introduced to the man, who was Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors. After the Doors opened for Buffalo Springfield at the Whisky a Go Go, Morrison tricked Rick James into taking acid. Around this time Rick James formed several versions of the rock band Salt'N'Pepper. During this period, Rick James and Mainline guitarist Mike McKenna co-wrote the song "You Make the Magic", which would later be released by The Chambers Brothers as a B-side to their single "Boogie Children." Solo career " by Rick James In 1973, James signed with A&M Records, under the name Rick James. The first single, "My Mama", was released in 1974, becoming a club hit in Europe. In 1976, Rick James returned to Buffalo and formed the Stone City Band. Shortly thereafter, he recorded "Get Up and Dance!", his second single to be released. In 1977, Rick James and the Stone City Band signed a contract with Motown's Gordy Records imprint and began recording their first album in both New York City and Los Angeles. In April 1978, Rick James released his debut solo album, Come Get It!, which included the Stone City Band. The album launched the top 20 hit, "You and I", which became his first number-one R&B hit. The album also included the hit single, "Mary Jane". It eventually sold a million copies, launching Rick James's musical career to stardom and helping out Motown Records at a time when label fortunes had dwindled. In early 1979, Rick James's second album, ''Bustin' Out of L Seven'', followed the previous album's success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and reached number two on the R&B album charts. A third album, Fire It Up, was released in late 1979. Around that same period, Rick James launched his first headlining tour, the Fire It Up Tour, and agreed to invite the then-upcoming artist, Prince, as well as singer Teena Marie, as his opening act. The Fire It Up Tour was marked by elaborate stage production and increasingly provocative performances, further enhancing James's reputation for flamboyance and excess during the late 1970s. Following the end of the tour in 1980, Rick James released the ballads-heavy Garden of Love, which was a relative flop, only reaching number 83 on the Billboard 200. In 1981, Rick James recorded his best-selling album to date, Street Songs, which, like his previous four albums, was a concept album. Street Songs featured a fusion mix of different genres, including rock and new wave, as well as Rick James's brand of crossover funk, enabling Rick James's own style of "punk funk". The album featured hit singles such as "Ghetto Life", the Teena Marie duet "Fire and Desire", "Give It to Me Baby", and his biggest crossover hit to date, "Super Freak", which peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than a million copies in the United States. Street Songs peaked at number one R&B and number three pop and sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. Rick James finally appeared on MTV a couple years later with Murphy's music video to "Party All the Time". Decline In 1989, Rick James's 11th album, ''Kickin''', was released only in the UK, and only as a promotional release. By 1990, he had lost his deal with Reprise/Warner Bros., and Rick James began struggling with personal and legal troubles. That year, MC Hammer released his hit signature song, "U Can't Touch This", which sampled the prominent opening riff from "Super Freak". Rick James and his co-writer on "Super Freak", Alonzo Miller, sued Hammer for shared songwriting credit, and all three received a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1991. In 1997, Rick James released Urban Rapsody, his first album since his release from prison on assault charges, and he toured to promote the album. That year, he discussed his life and career in interviews for the VH1 musical documentary series Behind the Music, which aired in early 1998. Rick James's musical career slowed again after he suffered a minor stroke during a concert in 1998. He was featured on the song "Love Gravy" with Ike Turner for the 1998 soundtrack album Chef Aid: The South Park Album. Rick James accepted an offer by Eddie Murphy to appear in the comedy-drama Life (1999). Resurgence Rick James enjoyed a career revival after his appearance on the show. He supported Teena Marie's tour of her album La Doña and toured with her in May 2004, playing with her at the KBLX Stone Soul Picnic, Pioneer Amphitheatre, Hayward, California. James gave his last public appearance and performance at the fourth annual BET Awards on June 29, 2004. He performed a live rendition of "Fire & Desire" with Teena Marie. Rick James called out a girl backstage who didn't recognize him by saying, "Never mind who you thought I was, I'm Rick James, bitch!" The audience erupted and gave Rick James a standing ovation as he walked off the stage. Autobiography At the time of his death, Rick James was working on an autobiography, The Confessions of Rick James: Memoirs of a Super Freak, as well as a new album. The book was finally published in 2007 by Colossus Books and features a picture of his tombstone. Noted music journalist/biographer David Ritz, who had been employed by Rick James to work on the book with him, later said that this version did not truly reflect how the musician wanted himself portrayed. In 2014, Ritz published his own, re-edited version, Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James. Music publishing sale In November 2020, Rick James's estate confirmed the sale of a 50% stake in his publishing and masters catalog to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, According to Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary has 100% positive reviews from 13 professional reviewers. Stage musical Rick James's life was depicted in a 2024 touring stage production musical titled Super Freak: A Rick James Story produced by Je'Caryous Johnson and Rick James's daughter Ty James. Stokley Williams of the notable R&B band Mint Condition is set to star in the titular role. ==Personal life==

Relationships and children Rick James had two children with Syville Morgan, a former singer and songwriter. They had a daughter, Tyenza, and a son, Rick Jr. He dated actress Linda Blair from 1982 to 1984. They met after James read an interview where Blair called him sexy. He contacted her and spent time getting to know the actress during a short stint living at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. Early in their relationship, Blair became pregnant and had an abortion. He wrote in his memoir, "I loved Linda and it hurt me that she would choose to abort our child without even wanting to talk to me about it first. I still look back on her choice with sadness and wonder about our baby, and how having that child might have changed my life." His hit song "Cold Blooded" was about his relationship with Blair. "It was about how Linda could freeze my blood," he wrote in his memoir. they married in 1996 and divorced in 2002. Rick James was very close with Teena Marie, whom he met and began collaborating with in 1979. Teena Marie stated they were engaged "for two weeks." Their professional partnership lasted into 2004, when Marie released her comeback album, La Doña, which included her and James's duet "I Got You". When he died, Teena Marie said she was "devastated by his death" and struggled with a painkiller addiction following his passing. Friendships Rick James had a close friendship with Eddie Murphy, whom he met in 1981. He was also close to Murphy's older brother Charlie, who worked as a security guard for his brother. Rick James was good friends with actress Debbie Allen. He said that Allen once invited him to a Broadway show and sent a car to pick him up, but that during the show, he fell asleep due to exhaustion from prior sexual activities. James also said that afterwards, Allen confronted him in the dressing room, pinned him down and pleaded that he was throwing his life away, prompting him to promise to change his ways, but he broke his promise that same night. His relationship with Robinson began shortly after James signed with Motown and, in 1983, the duo recorded the hit "Ebony Eyes". Rick James also idolized former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin and Ruffin's self-proclaimed cousin, bass vocalist Melvin Franklin, and grabbed at the chance to produce the hit "Standing on the Top" for them in 1982. Before that, the then-current lineup of the group recorded background vocals on two Rick James-associated projects—Rick James's Street Songs (singing "Ghetto Life" and "Super Freak") and Teena Marie's It Must Be Magic (singing on the title track). In "Super Freak", "It Must Be Magic", and "Standing on the Top", Rick James famously shouted out, "Temptations, SING!" Drug abuse and health problems Rick James's drug abuse began in his teens, first with marijuana and heroin. He began using cocaine in the late 1960s. Although Rick James claimed that he quit cocaine when he entered prison, his autopsy showed there was a small amount of the drug in his bloodstream at the time of his death. His drug use led to major health problems. In April 1984, he was hospitalized after being found unconscious at his house by a friend. In 1998, Rick James suffered a stroke after a blood vessel ruptured in his neck during a concert at Mile High Stadium in Denver. James faced a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on all charges, which included assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated mayhem, torture, forcible oral copulation, false imprisonment and kidnapping. James was ordered to pay her about $1 million; the hotel and a private security firm were found liable for nearly $750,000 in damages due to negligence. Rick James was released from prison on August 21, 1996, after serving more than two years. In 1998, Rick James was accused of sexually assaulting a 26-year-old woman, but the charges were later dropped. In 2020, his estate was sued for $50 million by a woman who accused him of raping her when she was 15 years old at a group home for troubled youths in Buffalo, New York, in 1979. The suit was later dismissed. ==Death==

On the morning of August 6, 2004, Rick James's caretaker found him dead in his Los Angeles home at the Oakwood Toluca Hills apartment complex, just outside Burbank. He was 56 years old. His longtime publicist, Sujata Murthy, released a statement to the media stating he died of natural causes. Rick James died from pulmonary failure and cardiac failure, associated with his various health conditions of diabetes, a stroke, pacemaker, and heart attack. His autopsy found alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), bupropion (Wellbutrin), citalopram (Celexa), hydrocodone, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine, cocaine and digoxin (Digitalis) in his blood. However, the coroner stated that "none of the drugs or drug combinations were found to be at levels that were life-threatening in and of themselves". A public funeral was held at St. John Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, August 14, 2004, with an estimated 6,000 fans attending the viewing, and cremation following the service; a free tribute concert took place later that day in Martin Luther King Jr. Park. In the 2025 Netflix documentary “Being Eddie”, Eddie Murphy stated that he paid for Rick James's funeral expenses. ==Accolades==

Rick James received the following honors: • 1982: American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Street Songs) • 1996: Inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. • 2025: Inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. Grammy Awards Rick James was nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning one as a co-writer for MC Hammer's song "U Can't Touch This". ==Discography==

;Studio albums • Come Get It! (with The Stone City Band, 1978) • ''Bustin' Out of L Seven'' (1979) • Fire It Up (1979) • Garden of Love (1980) • Street Songs (1981) • ''Throwin' Down'' (1982) • Cold Blooded (1983) • Glow (1985) • The Flag (1986) • Wonderful (1988) • ''Kickin''' (1989) • Urban Rapsody (1997) • Deeper Still (2007) ==References==