Rick James Bio, Age, Family, Education, Relationship, Children, Career, Nationality, Net Worth, Discography, Death

Rick James  Biography

Rick James was an American artist musician, multi-instrumentalist, and maker. Brought up in Buffalo, New York, James started his melodic vocation in his adolescent years. He was in various different groups and gatherings before entering the U.S. Naval force to abstain from being drafted in the mid-1960s.

In 1965, James left to Toronto, Canada, where he framed the musical gang the Mynah Birds, who in the end marked a chronicle manage Motown Records in 1966.

James’ profession with the gathering stopped after military specialists found his whereabouts and in the long run sentenced James on a one-year jail term identified with the draft charges. In the wake of being discharged, James moved to California where he began an assortment of shake and funk bunches in the late 1960s and mid-1970s.

In the wake of shaping the Stone City Band in the place where he grew up of Buffalo in 1977, James, at last, discovered accomplishment as a chronicle craftsman in the wake of marking with Motown’s Gordy Records, discharging the collection, Come Get It!, in April 1978. It’s from this collection where the hits “You and I” and “Mary Jane”, were discharged, helping the collection go platinum and selling more than 2,000,000 records. This was trailed by three increasingly fruitful collection discharges.

James discharged his best collection, Street Songs, in 1981, which included profession characterizing hits, for example, “Offer It to Me Baby” and “Super Freak”, the last tune turning into his greatest hybrid single, blending components of funk, disco, shake, and new wave.

James was additionally referred to for his deep ditties, for example, “Fire and Desire” and “Midnight Eyes”. What’s more, James additionally had a fruitful vocation as a lyricist and maker for different specialists including Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, The Temptations, Eddie Murphy and Smokey Robinson.

James’ standard achievement had topped by the arrival of his collection Glow in 1985 and his appearance on the prominent TV appear, The A-Team. James’ consequent discharges neglected to sell just like their ancestors.

Rapper MC Hammer inspected James’ “Super Freak” for his 1990 hit, “U Can’t Touch This”, and James turned into the 1991 beneficiary of a Best R&B Song Grammy for creating the melody. James’ vocation was hampered by his chronic drug use by the mid-1990s.

In 1993, James was indicted for two separate occurrences of abducting and tormenting two distinct ladies while affected by rocks, bringing about a three-year sentence at Folsom State Prison. James was discharged on parole in 1996 and discharged the collection, Urban Rapsody, in 1997. James’ medical issues stopped his vocation again after a gentle stroke during a show in 1998 and he reported a semi-retirement.

In 2004, James’ profession came back to the standard after he showed up in a scene of Chappelle’s Show, in a Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories-style fragment that caricaturized James’ wild way of life, bringing about a recharged enthusiasm for James’ music and that year he came back to perform out and about. James kicked the bucket soon thereafter from heart disappointment at age 56.

Rick James   Age

James was born on February 1, 1948, in Buffalo, New York, U.S.

Rick James   Family

He was born to Mabel (née Sims) and James Ambrose Johnson Sr. He was one of eight children. James’s father, an autoworker, left the family when James was 10. His mother was a dancer for Katherine Dunham and later worked as a numbers-runner to earn a living.

James’s mother would take him on her collecting route, and it was in bars where she worked that James saw performers such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Etta James perform. James claimed later, in the autobiography Glow, that he lost his virginity at “age 9 or 10” to a 14-year-old local girl, claiming his “kinky nature came in early”

Rick James    Education

James eventually attended Orchard Park High School and Bennett High School prior to dropping out.

Rick James    Relationship

He was in a relationship with Sayville Morgan, a former singer, and songwriter where they had two children.

James 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. His hit song “Cold Blooded” was about his relationship with Blair. “It was about how Linda could freeze my blood,” he wrote in his autobiography.

In 1989, James met 17-year-old party-goer Tanya Hijazi. The two began a romance in 1990. In 1993, the couple welcomed the arrival of their only child and James’s youngest, Tazman. Following their respective releases from prison for assaulting Mary Sauger and Frances Alley, the couple married in 1996 and divorced in 2002.

James was very close to Teena Marie, whom he met and began collaborating within 1979. Teena Marie stated they were romantically involved for 3 months and engaged “for two weeks”.Their professional partnership lasted until 2004 when Marie released her comeback album, La Doña, which included her and James’s duet “I Got You”.

Rick James    Children

James had three children namely a daughter, Ty, a son, Rick Jr and the youngest Tazman.

Rick James     Career

1965, he fled to Toronto, where he made friends with then-local musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. To avoid being caught by military authorities, James went under the assumed name, “Ricky James Matthews”. That same year, James formed the Mynah Birds, a band that produced a fusion of soul, folk and rock music.

In 1965, the band briefly recorded for the Canadian division of Columbia Records, releasing the single, “Mynah Bird Hop”/”Mynah Bird Song”. At one point, Nick St. Nicholas of later Steppenwolf fame was a member; eventually, bassist Bruce Palmer replaced him by the time “Mynah Bird Hop” was recorded. James and Palmer recruited guitarists Tom Morgan and Xavier Taylor and drummer Rick Mason to form a new Mynah Birds lineup, and soon traveled to Detroit to record with Motown.

Before the group began recording their first songs for the label, Morgan left, unhappy about the label’s attitude towards the musicians. Neil Young eventually took his place. It was while in Detroit that James met his musical heroes, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. After meeting Wonder and telling him his name, Wonder felt the name “Ricky James Matthews” was “too long”, and instead told James to shorten it to “Ricky James”.

In 1966, a financial dispute in Toronto between James and the Mynah Birds’ handler, Morley Shelman led to Motown’s learning of James’s fugitive status with the Navy. Hoping to preempt any scrutiny by the Feds, 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.

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. James actually escaped from the Brooklyn Naval Brig after only six weeks’ confinement, but after six months on the lam surrendered himself a second time and, with help from his mother, found legal assistance from his cousin, Congressman Louis Stokes and an attorney, former Marine Captain John Bracken, who pled James second court-martial down from a potential five years’ hard labor to five months.

After his release from Portsmouth Naval Prison in August 1967, 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, James produced and wrote songs at Motown for acts such as The Miracles, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouver, and The Spinners. According to James, he briefly got involved in pimp activity during this time but stopped because he felt he was not qualified for it due to the harsh activity and the abuse of women there.

It was during this third stint at Motown that James met musician Greg Reeves, who, hoping to find a better situation than the US$38 a week (US$612 in 2018 dollars) he was earning as a session bassist for Berry Gordy, joined James, looking to “hitch a lift from Neil Young’s rising star”, and relocating to Los Angeles during the summer of 1969.

Once in California, James initially worked as a duo with Greg Reeves, but soon after James introduced Reeves to Neil Young, it was Reeves, not James, who was hired as bassist for the newly formed rock supergroup, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  Around this time James formed several versions of the rock band Salt’N’Pepper and got involved with hairstylist Jay Sebring, who agreed to invest in James’s music.

James and Salt’N’Pepper member Ed Roth later were included in Bruce Palmer’s solo album The Cycle is Complete. The duo also recorded as part of the group Heaven and Earth in Toronto. Heaven and Earth eventually changed their name to Great White Cane and recorded an album of the same name for the Los Angeles label, Lion Records, in 1972 & it was released that year.

James formed another band, Hot Lips, afterward. In 1973, James signed with A&M Records, where his first single under the name Rick James, “My Mama”, was released, becoming a club hit in Europe. In 1976, James returned to Buffalo, New York, and formed the Stone City Band and recorded the song “Get Up and Dance!”, which was his second single to be released. In 1977, James and the Stone City Band signed a contract with Motown’s Gordy Records imprint, where they began recording their first album in New York City.

Rick James   Solo  Career

In April 1978, James discharged his introduction solo collection, Come Get It!, which incorporated the Stone City Band. The collection propelled the best 20 hits, “You and I”, which turned into his first number-one R&B hit. The collection additionally incorporated the hit single, “Mary Jane”. It, in the long run, sold 2,000,000 duplicates, propelling James’ melodic career to fame, and assisting Motown Records when mark fortunes had dwindled.

In mid-1979, James’ subsequent collection, Bustin’ Out of L Seven, pursued the past collection’s prosperity, in the long run selling a million duplicates. A third collection, Fire It Up, was discharged in late 1979 going gold. Around that equivalent period, James propelled his initially featuring visit, the Fire It Up Tour, and consented to welcome the then-up and coming craftsman, Prince, just as vocalist Teena Marie, as his opening demonstration.

James had delivered Marie’s effective Motown debut collection, Wild and Peaceful and was highlighted on the hit two-part harmony, “I’m a Sucker (For Your Love)”. James was credited with naming Marie, “Woman Tee”, on the tune, an epithet that stayed with Marie for the remainder of her career. The Fire It Up visit prompted James building up an unpleasant competition with Prince after he blamed the artist for ripping off his demonstration.

Following the part of the bargain in 1980, James discharged the anthem overwhelming Garden of Love, which turned into his fourth gold record. In 1981, James recorded his top-rated collection to date, Street Songs, which like his past four collections, was an idea-collection. Road Songs highlighted a combination blend of various classes, including rock and new wave, just as James’ image of hybrid funk, empowering James’ own style of “punk-funk”.

The collection highlighted hit singles, for example, “Ghetto Life”, the Teena Marie two-part harmony “Fire and Desire”, “Offer It to Me Baby”, and his greatest hybrid hit to date, “Super Freak”, which topped at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and sold more than 1 million duplicates. Road Songs crested at number one R&B and number three pop and sold more than 3 million duplicates alone in the United States. Following up that achievement, James discharged two increasingly gold collections, 1982’s Throwin’ Down and 1983’s Cold Blooded.

During this period, desirous of Prince’s prosperity as maker of different acts including The Time and Vanity 6, James propelled the demonstrations Process and the Doo-Rags, and the Mary Jane Girls, highlighting his previous foundation artist Joanne “Jojo” McDuffie as the lead vocalist and foundation entertainer, discovering accomplishment with the last gathering, because of the hits, “Throughout the Night”, “Treat Man”, and “In My House”. In 1982, James created the Temptations’ Top 10 R&B hit, “Remaining On The Top”.

In 1983, James recorded the hit two-part harmony, “Dark Eyes”, with vocalist Smokey Robinson. In 1985, James delivered another hit for performer Eddie Murphy with the melody “Gathering All the Time”. That equivalent year he showed up on a scene of The A-Team with Isaac Hayes. After the arrival of his ninth solo collection, The Flag, in 1986, James marked with Warner Bros. Records, which discharged the collection Wonderful in 1988, highlighting the hit, “Loosey’s Rap”.

James’ questionable and provocative picture ended up inconvenient now and again. During his prime, James had introduced his melodies to the then-juvenile music video channel, MTV, just to be turned down in light of the fact that James’ music did not fit the system’s shake playlist. James blamed the system for racism.

When MTV and BET both abstained from playing the video for “Loosey’s Rap” as a result of its realistic sexual substance, James considered the systems fraudulent in light of regardless of them playing provocative recordings by Madonna and Cher.

In 1989, James’ eleventh collection, Kickin’, was discharged distinctly in the UK. By 1990, he had lost his arrangement with Warner Bros. what’s more, James started battling with individual and lawful inconveniences.

That year MC Hammer discharged his hit mark melody, “U Can’t Touch This”, which inspected the conspicuous opening riff from “Super Freak”. James and his co-author on “Super Freak”, Alonzo Miller, effectively sued Hammer for shared songwriting credit and each of the three thus got the 1990 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.

In 1997, James discharged Urban Rapsody, his first collection since his discharge from jail on attack charges, and he visited to advance the collection. That equivalent year, he talked about his life and career in meetings for the VH1 melodic narrative arrangement, Behind the Music, which broadcast in mid-1998. James’ melodic career eased back again after he endured a minor stroke during a show. In 1999, James acknowledged an idea by Eddie Murphy to show up in the parody dramatization Life.

Rick James  Friendships

James turned out to be dear companions with Eddie Murphy after the two met in 1981. Following his exit from the United States Navy in 1984, Murphy’s more seasoned sibling Charlie Murphy, whose first post-Navy employment was functioning as security for his popular sibling, started investing energy with James, and he reinforced with the artist.

Murphy would later review on Chappelle’s Show his occasionally stressed association with James, which restored James’ name in the open eye following quite a while of withdrawal, following his mellow stroke in 1998. James additionally showed up in the scene relating his memory of the encounters imparted to Murphy, for example, beginning off the cuff battles with him and recoloring Murphy’s sofa with mud.

James was likewise a companion of individual Motown act entertainers Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, vocalists James venerated as a young person. Moreover, he becomes friends with Gaye’s subsequent spouse, Janis, and he was the adoptive parent of Gaye’s little girl Nona. James’ association with Robinson started not long after James marked with Motown and, in 1983, the team recorded the hit “Coal-black Eyes”.

James likewise revered previous Temptations lead artist David Ruffin and Ruffin’s self-declared cousin, bass vocalist Melvin Franklin, and snatched at the opportunity to create the hit “Remaining on the Top” for them in 1982.

Prior to that, the then-current lineup of the gathering recorded foundation vocals on two James-related tasks—James’ 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 “Remaining On The Top”, James broadly yelled out, “Enticements SING!”

Rick James     Nationality

James Nationality is American.

Rick James     Net Worth

He had a net worth of $35 million at the time of his death.

Rick James     Measurement

This information is under review.

Rick James     Death

On the morning of August 6, 2004, James’s caretaker found him dead in James’s Los Angeles home at the Oakwood Toluca Hills apartment complex, just outside Burbank. He had 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, diazepam, bupropion, citalopram, hydrocodone, digoxin, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine, and cocaine 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”. James was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

Rick James     Digital Releases

James’s entire Motown Records back catalog was released in 2014 on iTunes for the first time in digitally remastered form. This marks the first time many of his albums have been widely available since their initial releases. Physical copies of James’s albums, namely Fire It Up, Garden of Love and The Flag, have become rare and highly sought-after by fans.

Rick James   Discography

-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)

Rick James     Videos

Rick James   Facebook

Rick James   Twitter

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Today, we remember legendary soul artist, Bobby Womack! ⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Womack was featured alongside Snoop Dogg on the 1997 song “Player’s Way” from Rick’s album URBAN RAPSODY. Hit the link in bio to listen to “Player’s Way.”⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Pictured (left to right): Rick, Bobby Womack, @thevalyoung, @SnoopDogg, and @natedoggmusic.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣—⁣ ⁣#RickJames #KingOfPunkFunk #BobbyWomack #SnoopDogg #NateDogg #PlayersWay #NowPlaying

A post shared by Rick James (@rickjames) on Jun 27, 2019 at 1:57pm PDT