Rick James was anything but a "one hit wonder." He had numerous Top 10 albums in R&B.
Posted on 08/06/2004 7:48:13 PM PDT by sully777
Funk Singer Rick James Dies in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Funk legend Rick James, best known for the 1981 hit ``Super Freak,'' died Friday, apparently of natural causes, police said.
James died at 9:45 a.m. at a residence near Universal City, said Police Department spokeswoman Esther Reyes.
``We learned of his death after responding to a radio call,'' Reyes said.
After his big hit, James' fame began to fade as he became embroiled in drugs, legal problems and health issues.
James was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first attack occurred in 1991 when he restrained and burned a young woman with a hot pipe during a cocaine binge at his house in West Hollywood. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992 in James' hotel room.
James was sentenced to more than two years in state prison.
In 1997, he released a new album, but a year later he suffered a stroke while performing at Denver's Mammoth Events Center, derailing a comeback tour....
(Excerpt) Read more at channels.netscape.com ...
Now...where were we?
Did you do an article search? There are already two existing threads on the subject.
Never heard of him.
One hit wonder becomes a legend? Who writes this stuff?
Did a prelim. Found nothing. Oh well, that's three threads for one pop icon.
Another giant of the entertainment industry DEAD. It's madness. Is there some conspiracy afoot to rid the world of our entertainers? Elvis Presley, Liberace, Wayne Newton, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, that guy who was in The Clash, and on and on. If this keeps up, we will have nobody left to sing songs and play guitar for us. It's madness. Who is killing all these people? When will it all end?
It's Bush's fault!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Serenity Now!
Wayne Newton? Dead?
Heard Liberace got it in the end (rim shot). Wait a second, Wayne Newton died?
Wayne Newton is still alive. His talent died 30 years ago.
Thread # 4 about a forgotten one hit wonder. Culture wars? We lost!
It was just a month ago that Syreeta Wright died. She's the one who did that "With You I'm Born Again" song with Billy Preston. She was only 58 - practically Rick James' age. It's disturbing how young they die. I wonder if it was all those years of backstage eating. I hear they serve all kinds of junk to touring bands backstage. Deli meat, pizza, hot dogs, bowls of M&Ms and all kinds of other crap. I wonder if this is what is doing them all in.
I will always love his song: "Duncan Donuts Shine"
Ummm...The death of Wayne Newton has been greatly exaggerated.
Now he's super dead, super dead.
Could be, along with the uppers, downers, lines of coke, and copious booze.
Hey Wayne Newton is a Bush supporter!
You meanie. Yes, he's still a singin', kept alive by plastic surgery, corsets and hair dye.
For some reason, Rick was not the kind of guy I wanted to take home to mother. I guess he was just too superfreaky for mom.
I guess I won't be Wang Chunging tonight out of respect.
When are Dylan, Bono, and Yanni scheduled?
Rick James was anything but a "one hit wonder." He had numerous Top 10 albums in R&B.
I guess I won't be Wang Chunging tonight out of respect.
They were called the "Mynah Birds ".
Just my 2 cents worth...
And so "natural" was this death that an autopsy will reveal 3 kilos of rock cocaine was stashed in in James' cranial cavity.
Apparently he had run out of room in his usual hiding stash located in the last ten feet of his lower bowels.
Joe Strummer (Of The Clash). Actually, he came out in support on the Iraq War. A musician who can think. Died of a heart attack, I believe.
I guess it would have helped if the obituaries mentioned a second song instead of repeating "Super Freak" over and over.
How in the HELL could anyone ever get Wayne Newton and Ray Charles mixed up?!?!?!?!? That's like an interior decorator telling you that they got black and white mixed up. Ray Charles had more soul than you could fit on a train, and Wayne Newton is composed of pure anti-soul. If the two had ever done a duet together, the entire music industry would have been annihilated in a burst of sound (V = sc², I believe, where "V" is the Volume, "s" is the absolute value of soul involved, etc.)!
Cocaine is a hellofa drug.
Aren't all deaths natural?
And I suppose that'll be the inscription on James' tombstone.
Lol -- And check out that schnozz!
Elvis Presley, Liberace, Wayne Newton, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, that guy who was in The Clash, and on and on . . . . It's madness.
Who is killing all these people?
Natural selection.
From what I've heard, our servicemen love him.
Wayne is seriously involved in the USO.
The music he's known for isn't really my cup of tea, but from what I've heard, he's one amazing showman, and really knows how to entertain an audience.
Mark
That was a strange episode. Darkness had his number though.
I can't wait till the next season of the Chepelle Show. This is going to be good.
Funk Legend Rick James Found Dead
Singer's body discovered by his live-in housekeeper on Friday.
by MTV News staff report
Funk legend Rick James was found dead at his Hollywood home by his live-in housekeeper on Friday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He was 56.
The LAPD was notified of James' passing at 9:45 a.m. PT. James' physician signed off on his death certificate, explaining that he passed away from an existing medical condition. The singer suffered a stroke in 1998 after a blood vessel broke in the back of his neck during a performance in Denver.
Best known for his 1980s hits "Super Freak" and "Give It to Me Baby," James, who hadn't released a studio album since 1997's Urban Rhapsody, experienced a surge in popularity this year when Dave Chappelle impersonated him on his 'Chappelle's Show...'"
...Born James Johnson Jr. in Buffalo, New York, on February 1, 1948, as a young man he served for a time in the Naval Reserve before running away to Toronto. It was there that James — then calling himself Ricky James Matthews — sang in a band called the Mynah Birds, which featured a pre-Buffalo Springfield Neil Young. The band signed with Motown (one of the first rock acts on the label) but never released a note of music — as James was taken by authorities for going AWOL from the Navy.
James began playing bass and percussion as well as singing in several acts before signing a Motown contract of his own. His debut album, Come Get It!, produced two hit singles, "You and I" and "Mary Jane." The string of hits continued through the late '70s and into the '80s, with "Bustin' Out" and "Give It to Me Baby," and resurrected the failing fortunes of the Motown label. In 1981, James had his most massive hit with "Super Freak."
After his streak of solo successes, James began to produce hits for others. He revived the career of the Temptations with "Standing on the Top," and he produced hits for his protégés Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls. He continued producing and penning hits for himself and others through most of the '80s and eventually left Motown for Reprise Records in 1988. His popularity began to wane shortly after that, but he gained another moment of attention in 1990 when MC Hammer scored a massive smash with "U Can't Touch This," which sampled "Super Freak."
While the '90s started off promisingly for James, things quickly fell apart. He was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first attack occurred when he restrained and burned a young woman with a hot pipe during a cocaine binge at his home. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992, this time in a hotel room. James was sentenced to more than two years in a state prison...
...The singer spoke with MTV News in May and seemed at ease with his larger-than-life reputation. "I'm just now in control of the persona," James said. "I don't have to go out to clubs every night, and I don't have to have 10 women in my bed when I wake up. There's a lot of things I don't have to do anymore because it's passé, you know? It's redundant. I'm just concentrating on my kids, and I'm just working more towards the future and Rick James happiness within himself.
"I'm in a great new part of my life," James added. "I got a great new album coming out, I'm on tour and I'm happy. Me and Teena are back together; that may end tomorrow, but right now it's fine."
This report is [excerpted] and provided by MTV News
http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1488717/20040628/james_rick.jhtml?headlines=true
All the snide comments in the world won't change that.
wayne newton is DEAD!!!???? Oh, man.
i guess i won't go to vegas after all.
oh, man.
are those guys with the tigers still alive?
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