Singer, junky, producer extraordinaire, multiple felon, and all-around Super-Freak - Rick James
is the stuff of legend today, but was one of the most colorful personalities of the
70’s and 80’s.
Part musical luminary, part cautionary tale, this is the story of the one and only Rick
James.
"f--- strange!"
Born James Ambrose Johnson Jr., Rick James was the most troublesome of his mother Mabel's
eight children.
Rolling Stone reported that young James filled the family bathtub with stray dogs, dumped
itching powder down his baby sister's back, and lodged a pearl in a brother's ear.
By 13 he had a habit of stealing cars simply for the thrill of it, or sometimes because
he wanted to see, quote, "his women on the other side of town."
In addition to juvenile grand theft auto, he spent his early teens doing heroin and
committing burglary.
Years later, doctors and courts found James to be sane, but there were certainly circumstances
that influenced his early behavior.
James grew up in poverty, and his abusive father abandoned the family when James was
only seven.
His mother, meanwhile, practiced religion but broke the law.
According to James, Mabel was an ardent Catholic who also made most of her money facilitating
illegal gambling for the Italian mob.
James recalled, quote, "crying and carrying numbers books in big shopping bags" for his
mother during the winter.
Rick James dreaded the idea of getting drafted to fight in Vietnam.
So around age 15 he lied his way into the Naval Reserve.
Before long James dodged the Reserves, too.
He told Buffalo News that he couldn't take the, quote, "regimentation and conformity."
Instead, he spent much of his time drumming for jazz groups and doing drugs.
In 1964 he was placed on active duty, but fled to Toronto, Canada.
In Toronto, James met Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, and formed a band called The Mynah
Birds, which Young joined.
The Mynah Birds got signed to Motown Records, where James met Stevie Wonder and performed
for him.
Impressed, Wonder wanted to know his name.
James gave the alias Ricky James Matthews, and Wonder suggested that he shorten it to
Rick James.
Still a fugitive, James ended up serving a year in a military prison for desertion, which
effectively ended The Mynah Birds, but not the career of Rick James.
As detailed in Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James, during his early days in Motown,
James worked as a staff writer, penning songs for The Miracles, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers,
and The Spinners.
However, James still thought himself underpaid.
Enter singer Jimmy Ruffin, the brother of former Temptations lead vocalist David Ruffin.
Jimmy proposed getting into the pimping business and using their respective girlfriends as
employees.
Someone with a normal moral compass would have rejected that suggestion outright.
But James opted in and returned to Canada, where he and Ruffin embarked on their shady
endeavor.
According to James's self-serving account, he didn't have the heart to be good at the
job, or rather, he had too much of a heart.
He didn't force women to work when they were tired.
He loaned them money and beat up violent johns.
Even so, despite quitting when his music career advanced, James never exactly renounced the
attitudes that led him into the flesh trade, instead using his stint as a pimp to build
his legend later on.
After a couple of singles on A&M, Rick James headed back to Buffalo to sign with Motown
subsidiary Gordy Records.
It was here that he dropped his 1978 debut record, Come Get It!, which went double-platinum
on the strength of singles like "You and I."
The label relationship was beneficial for both James and Motown, as the record label
had seen sales drop precipitously as the 70's drew to a close.
Over the next decades, James would release 10 records with Gordy.
His creative streak hit its peak in 1981 with the release of Street Songs, a concept record
with hit singles "Give it to Me Baby," "Fire and Desire," "Ghetto Life," and (of course)
"Super Freak."
The record sold 3 million units in America alone, and was noted for its seamless blending
of diverse genres like rock, new wave, pop, and Parliament-style funk.
James himself referred to his eclectic style as "punk funk."
James had subsequent hits, but never repeated the runaway success of Street Songs.
As the 80’s wore on, the exaggerated sexuality and explicit references to drug use, both
on his records and music videos, and on the stage, did their part to prevent James from
being an A-list superstar like his protege/rival Prince.
As far as the public was concerned, James was an edgy party animal known for drug-fueled
antics, much like those parodied on Chappelle's Show years later.
In addition to being a magnificent musician, James was an accomplished songwriter and producer.
He wrote, produced, and performed on The Temptations' 1982 hit, "Standing on the Top."
He also co-wrote, produced, and performed on Eddie Murphy's biggest hit, "Party All
The Time".
James nearly collaborated with the legendary Diana Ross, too, but a phenomenal up-and-comer
named Teena Marie caught his attention instead and captured his heart.
As James recalled, while walking around Motown's headquarters,
"I heard this girl singing her ass off.
I walked in...I said, 'Wow you're really great."
James would later say,
"Never in my life had I heard such a range with so much passion."
Even so, Marie didn't taste commercial success until she teamed up with James, who produced
her first album.
They would go on to sing a series of duets, including the immensely popular "Fire and
Desire."
Marie and James became lovers, but their romance didn't last.
They were just too different, Marie explained, citing James' ongoing outrageous personality
and behavior.
Even so, they remained close, and James bonded with Marie's daughter.
In 2004, during his final musical performance before passing away that year, Rick James
performed "Fire and Desire" with Teena.
It's hard to believe that there was a time when Prince opened for Rick James, but that’s
exactly what happened in 1980.
In one apocryphal incident, James grabbed Prince by the hair and poured cognac down
his throat, during an on-tour celebration of James' birthday.
Laughing at the reaction from the famously light-drinking Prince, James was later dismayed
when the younger artist stole the show night after night during the "Fire it Up" tour.
James accused Prince of stealing much more than his thunder, though, saying:
"Prince was emulating my mic moves like a motherf---er.
He was calling out my funk chants and even flashing my funk sign."
James allegedly got revenge while opening for Prince.
He supposedly stole Prince's synthesizers, used them on the 1981 album Street Songs,
and then returned the synthesizers with a "thank you" note.
As Rick James’ chart positions sank lower and lower through the 80’s, he helped maintain
his profile with epic intoxication tales co-starring rock's biggest stars, including coke binges
and rehab sessions with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.
Whether with famous company or in solo hotel room sessions, James’ constant companion
was cocaine, along with a varied pharmacopeia of other uppers and downers.
His reputation for drug use led to regular conflicts with law enforcement during tour
stops, and James found himself without a label in 1990 due to poor sales and myriad legal
battles.
Fortunately for Rick James, MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" was one of the biggest songs
of 1990, which featured a prominent sample from James' 1981 hit "Super Freak."
Turns out, Hammer used the sample to great effect, but without permission from James.
Billboard lauded the strategy as a stroke of genius, noting that, quote, "piggybacking
on a well-known hit" helped grab people's attention.
Rick James saw it differently, saying:
"I wasn't impressed with that s---."
He also wasn't impressed with the practice of sampling...at first.
James' lawyers were quick to sue, and MC Hammer was forced to give James and his "Super Freak"
co-writers an ongoing cut of the "U Can’t Touch This" royalties.
These earnings continue to pay out to the Rick James estate to this day!
As James explained:
"'U Can't Touch This' made me a s---load of money [and] did wonders for my appreciation
of sampling."
Nonetheless, he claimed he would have never allowed Hammer to sample "Super Freak" if
the rapper had asked beforehand.
Despite this major victory, the early 90's saw Rick James flush with cash, but with little
public interest in his new music.
By this time, James had been freebasing cocaine for several years, and one anecdote illustrates
the depth of his addiction, hinting at major problems yet to come.
The incident occurred shortly after an MC Hammer concert.
James had recently ended his beef with Hammer and, rather than rip the rapper, joined him
onstage to perform "U Can't Touch This."
As was his wont, James reached for his crack pipe after leaving the stage.
As described by his drug supplier Rayce Newman, things went awry when James set a plate ablaze
in an attempt to burn smokable crack pipe residues.
While walking with the flaming plate he dropped it and his robe caught on fire.
The flames raced up his robe, spreading to his sleeves.
Newman extinguished them with a bedspread and James,
"...still smoldering, picked up the plate as if nothing had happened and took it into
his room."
After 11 solo albums, multiple awards, and seemingly endless songwriting and production
credits, James’ life and career hit the skids.
James wrote that, in 1991, after the death of his mother:
"...there was nothing to keep me from descending into the lowest level of hell."
In 1991, James and his then-girlfriend, Tanya Hijazi, whom he later married, were arrested
for tying up a female guest at their home, burning her roughly 20 times with a crack
pipe and a heated butcher knife, and forcing her to take drugs and perform acts against
her will.
Then, while out on bail in 1992, James and Hijazi reportedly imprisoned music exec Mary
Sauger, who had known James for six years.
Sauger said the couple slapped and choked her repeatedly over the course of 20 hours.
James and Hijazi stood trial for both crimes in 1993.
In court, the singer described spiraling into a deep depression and trying to numb the heartache
with narcotics.
But he also insisted, quote, "I abuse drugs, not women."
Hijazi pleaded guilty to assault and served 15 months.
James was narrowly acquitted in the first case, but convicted of imprisoning and assaulting
Mary Sauger, as well as selling drugs.
He received a five-year sentence.
Rick James only spent a little over two years behind bars, during which he wrote more than
300 songs.
He was then released early, not because of good behavior, but because of misconduct on
the part of an investigator in his case, who bribed a witness with drugs and money to testify
against James.
James was released from prison in 1996, after paying Sauger more than $1 million in damages
from a lost civil suit.
Despite this, James released a somewhat successful comeback album, Urban Rapsody, in 1997, and
continued to make musical and acting appearances intermittently until his brief career revival
following his appearance on Chappelle's Show in early 2004.
"Cocaine is a hell of a drug."
Rick James died on August 6, 2004.
His body was discovered in his home by an assistant.
He was 56.
James had been working on a new album and a memoir at the time of his death.
The memoir, The Confessions of Rick James: Memoirs of a Super Freak, was released in
2007.
James passed away from pulmonary and cardiac failure, driven by a combination of heart
disease, diabetes, stroke, and the effects of chronic drug abuse.
His autopsy revealed 9 drugs in his system at the time of his death, including cocaine,
methamphetamine, hydrocodone, various anti-anxiety drugs, and prescription meds for allergies
and heart issues.
Even so, James’ death was not found to be due to the presence of any drug in particular,
but from their influence on his health over many decades.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Administration's 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
That's 1-800-662-4357.