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In the late '70s, when the
fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came
along and rescued the company, providing funky hits that updated the
label's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s. Actually, James
had been with Motown earlier, though nothing had come of it. After
growing up in Buffalo and running away to join the Naval Reserves,
he ran away from the Navy to Toronto, where he was in a band with
future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, and
with Goldy McJohn, later of Steppenwolf. As the Mynah Birds, they
signed to Motown and recorded, though no record was ever released.
James had a journeyman's career playing bass in various groups
before signing again to Motown as an artist, songwriter, and
producer. His first single, "You and I" (May 1978), topped the R&B
charts and reached the pop Top 40. "Mary Jane" (September 1978) was
another hit. Both were on James' debut album, Come Get It! (June
1978), which went gold. Subsequent efforts were not as successful,
though Bustin' Out of L Seven (January 1979) featured the R&B hit "Bustin'
Out" (April 1979). James returned to form with the number one R&B
hit "Give It to Me Baby" (March 1981), featured on the
million-selling Street Songs (April 1981), which also featured the
hit "Super Freak."
James turned his production attention to
resuscitating the career of the Temptations, recently returned to
Motown, and "Standing on the Top" (April 1982), credited to the
Temptations featuring Rick James, was an R&B Top Ten. (He also
produced recordings by Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls.) James'
follow-up to Street Songs was the gold-selling Throwin' Down (May
1982), which featured the hit "Dance Wit' Me." The title song of
Cold Blooded (August 1983) became James' third R&B number one, and
the album also featured his hit duet with Smokey Robinson, "Ebony
Eyes." James' greatest-hits album Reflections (August 1984) featured
the new track "17" (June 1984), which also became a hit. Glow (April
1985) contained Top Ten R&B singles in the title track and "Can't
Stop," which was featured in the summer movie blockbuster Beverly
Hills Cop. The Flag (June 1986) featured the hit "Sweet and Sexy
Thing" (May 1986).
James left Motown for the Reprise division
of Warner Bros. Records as of the album Wonderful (July 1988), which
featured his number one R&B hit "Loosey's Rap," on which he was
accompanied by rapper Roxanne Shante. Nevertheless, his "punk funk"
didn't seem to rest comfortably with the trend toward rap/hip-hop.
In 1989, James charted briefly with a medley of the Drifters hits
"This Magic Moment" and "Dance With Me." In 1990, MC Hammer scored a
massive hit with "U Can't Touch This," which consisted of his rap
over the instrumental track of "Super Freak." That should have made
for a career rebirth, but James was plagued by drug and legal
problems that found him more frequently in court and in jail rather
than in the recording studio. The majority of his legal woes behind
him, James returned in 1997 with Urban Rapsody, which didn't yield
any hits but was well accepted by critics. Rick James died of a
heart attack on August 6, 2004, at his Los Angeles home.
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