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Rick James music biography continued...

1948 in Buffalo, New York, James had music in his blood as his uncle, Melvin Franklin, was bass vocalist for the Temptations. James pursued music from an early age and is first band was called The Mynah Birds, which included future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer. They recorded briefly at Motown, but after James moved to Los Angeles, split up. In 1977, James returned to Detroit and Motown and started a solo career. His debut album Come and Get It!, including the singles "You and I" and "Mary Jane," catapulted him to stardom. Two 1979 albums, Fire It Up and Bustin' Out of L Seven were also popular. His biggest hit, the Grammy-nominated "Super Freak," was released in 1981 on the album Street Songs, which included other popular singles like "Give It to Me Baby," "Fire and Desire" and "Ghetto Life." The string of hits continued into the mid-1980s with "Teardrops", "Cold Blooded", "17", "You Turn Me On", "Can't Stop", 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 Mary Jane Girls and produced and wrote Eddie Murphy's one hit, "Party All the Time," which established him as a player behind the scenes as well as in front of the mic.



By the early 1990s, James's cocaine use was spiraling out of control. After being convicted of assaulting two women, he spent two years in prison and paid $2 million in a civil suit. After his release in 1995, he attempted a comeback but suffered a mild stroke in 1997 that ended his career. Rick James died after suffering pulmonary and cardiac failure at his home in Burbank, California, in 2004.