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Rick James

Born in 1948 in Buffalo, NY

Died in 2004 in Los Angeles, CA

Rick James's Genre:

Funk, Urban, Quiet Storm, R&B, Contemporary Pop/Rock

Biography

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. ~ William Ruhlmann

AOL Radio Stations Rick James is Featured on (17)

Funk Classics

Celebrate Father's Day with the fine men who birthed a musical revolution--the fearless fellas that reign as the ultimate fathers of funk! From James Brown to Funkadelic to Rick James, there's a whole lot of rhythm going down.

Ida Maria Showcase

This is the Ida Maria Artist Showcase station on Slacker Radio. Tune in to hear music hand-picked by Ida and her guitarist Stefan Törnby as well as commentary about the songs that influenced their music and their lives.

Funk

The Aqua Boogie can give you More Bounce to the Ounce with the Magic Voice Box and make you Weak at The Knees! Slacker’s Funk Radio delivers top funk artists Like Parliament, Zapp and Roger, The Bar-Kays and more. Get ready for the Return of the Muthaship baby bubba!

55 Nuttiest Artists

The music world is littered with colorful characters and since April is the month of "fools", Slacker decided to continue our monthly Signature Series with a look at the 55 Nuttiest Pop Stars Ever. This is not to say that this illustrious group of artists is foolish, of course, as many of them have ridden their eccentricities to unfathomable heights of superstardom. In this countdown hosted by pop-culture savants Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks (authors of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution) you will meet legends and lunatics, all of whom are beloved by millions. Enjoy.

Old School R&B

Old School R&B on Slacker Radio is the station that will put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip! You'll hear all the classics from Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Motown, to Earth, Wind and Fire, The Gap Band and Kool and the Gang, to Michael Jackson, Prince and Rick James, to Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men. Old School R&B on Slacker Radio will not only keep you singing along with a smile on your face but will make you get up and shake it.

Slow Jamz

Dim the lights and enjoy the most romantic artists of all time, from Marvin Gaye and Barry White to Maxwell and Alicia Keys. Your very own "quiet storm" is right here, on Slacker Slow Jamz...so chill the champagne and groove!

Disco

Wildly popular in clubs and on radio from the early '70s through the early '80s, Disco on Slacker Radio revisits the divas, supergroups, one-hit wonders, producers and DJ's that made you want to dance.

Chicano Old School

Chicano Old School on Slacker means classic Latin Soul, Oldies & R&B. All the rolas you loved over the years, and a soundtrack to chill with while hanging out with the homies. OG Jams from Santana, El Chicano, War, Tierra, Malo, Brenton Wood, Billy Stewart, Earth Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Rose Royce, The Stylistics, Zapp & Roger, and more. Cruise to this- Old School Chicano on Slacker.

Dance Party

Get the party started with Dance Party on Slacker! This station is guaranteed to rock all parties from corporate retreats to living room get-togethers, combining upbeat hip hop, new dance hits, disco classics, and hands-in-the-air favorites. In the immortal words of LMFAO, "Everybody just have a good time."

The Wanted Showcase

This is The Wanted Showcase station on Slacker Radio. Tune in to hear a station built entirely by the members of The Wanted including music hand-picked by Tom, Max, Siva, Jay and Nathan as well as commentary by each about the songs that influenced their music and their lives.

FILTER Magazine

Good music will prevail. These are the words that FILTER lives by. In an ever-evolving musical landscape, we're here to help. Through FILTER Magazine Radio, we want to help you discover your new favorite band.

Classic Soul

Classic Soul on Slacker Radio celebrates some of the greatest music ever made, spanning almost 40 years of smooth, soulful tunes that'll make you feel the true power and passion of music.

'80s Hits

80's Hits takes the biggest hits from the decade of big hair and music videos and puts it together on one station. From the new wave of Duran Duran, to the arena rock of Def Leppard, from the end of disco to the beginning of hip hop (remember Tone Loc?), it's all on 80's Hits.

Classic Hits

Classic Hits on Slacker plays the greatest pop and rock hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.

'70s Hits

The Seventies was both the first and last time 3 Dog Night, Marvin Gaye, KISS and John Denver could all co-exist on one radio station. '70s Hits on Slacker Radio makes every day a nice day with enough music to put guys in platform heels again and women in hot pants with Farrah hair.

The Current

The Current brings you the best authentic new music alongside the music that inspired it, from unique to universal, indie to influential, new to nostalgic. Broadcasting from the musical hotbed that is Minnesota, listen to The Current and you’ll see why we say, “Great Music Lives Here.” Find playlist, interviews and more at thecurrent.org.

Rick James

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Earth, Wind & Fire, The Gap Band, The Isley Brothers, Commodores, Kool & the Gang, Marvin Gaye, The O'Jays, Barry White, Al Green, Stevie Wonder and more.

All Stations

Rick James's Selected Discography (32)

Street Songs

DIGITAL201017 Songs

Artists Related to Rick James (50)

	Earth, Wind & Fire	Earth, Wind & Fire were one of the most musically accomplished, critically acclaimed, and commercially popular funk bands of the '70s.
	The Gap Band	The Gap Band, centered around brothers Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, toiled in obscurity for several years prior to becoming one of the most popular funk groups of the late '70s and 1980s.
	The Isley Brothers	First formed in the early '50s, the Isley Brothers enjoyed one of the longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music -- over the course of nearly a half century of performing, the group's distinguished history spanned not only two generations of Isley siblings but also massive cultural shifts which heralded their music's transformation from gritty R&B to Motown soul to blistering funk.
	Commodores	Renowned for the R&B hits "Just to Be Close to You," "Easy," and "Brickhouse," to name but a few, Commodores were one of the top bands during their long tenure at Motown.
	Kool & the Gang	Formed as a jazz ensemble in the mid-'60s, Kool & the Gang became one of the most inspired and influential funk units during the '70s, and one of the most popular R&B groups of the '80s after their breakout hit "Celebration" in 1979.
	Marvin Gaye	One of the most gifted, visionary, and enduring talents ever launched into orbit by the Motown hit machine, Marvin Gaye blazed the trail for the continued evolution of popular black music.
	The O'Jays	The O'Jays were one of Philadelphia soul's most popular and long-lived outfits, rivaled only by the Spinners as soul's greatest vocal group of the '70s.
	Barry White	Say the name Barry White and you'd be hard pressed to follow it with the name of any other recording artist with such a huge, cross-sectional following.
	Al Green	Al Green was the first great soul singer of the '70s and arguably the last great Southern soul singer.
	Stevie Wonder	Stevie Wonder is a much-beloved American icon and an indisputable genius not only of R&B but popular music in general.
	Zapp	One of the most underrated funk groups of the 1980s, Zapp revolutionized the computer pop of electro with their trademark vocoder talk boxes and bumping grooves, emulating the earthier side of Prince and Cameo, with a leader in Roger Troutman who was more than efficient at polished production.
	Prince	Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock.
	The Temptations	Thanks to their fine-tuned choreography -- and even finer harmonies -- the Temptations became the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s; one of Motown's most elastic acts, they tackled both lush pop and politically charged funk with equal flair, and weathered a steady stream of changes in personnel and consumer tastes with rare dignity and grace.
	Cameo	An outlandish, in-your-face stage presence, a strange sense of humor, and a hard-driving funk sound that criss-crossed a few musical boundaries earned Cameo countless comparisons to Parliament/Funkadelic in their early days.
	The Stylistics	After the Spinners and the O'Jays, the Stylistics were the leading Philly soul group produced by Thom Bell.
	Atlantic Starr	Atlantic Starr was among the top urban contemporary acts of the '80s and fared well in the adult contemporary market as well, but their roots were '70s soul and funk.
	Teddy Pendergrass	Teddy Pendergrass started singing gospel music in Philadelphia churches, becoming an ordained minister at ten years old.
	Chaka Khan	Best known in the mainstream for her superb 1984 cover of Prince's "I Feel for You," R&B singer Chaka Khan enjoyed solo success as well as popularity as a member of the group Rufus.
	The Spinners	The Spinners were the greatest soul group of the early '70s, creating a body of work that defined the lush, seductive sound of Philly soul.
	Luther Vandross	Luther Vandross was one of the most successful R&B artists of the 1980s and '90s. Not only did he score a series of multi-million-selling albums containing chart-topping hit singles and perform sold-out tours of the U.
	Maze	Combining a Philadelphia soul sound with a strong appreciation of Marvin Gaye, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly was among the top R&B acts of the late '70s and '80s.
	The Whispers	The Whispers are a veteran R&B quintet with an impressive 23-year legacy of R&B hits. Formed in Los Angeles by twins Walter and Wallace Scott, Nicholas Caldwell, Marcus Hutson, and Gordy Harmon (who left in 1973), the Whispers turned up on the Dore label in 1964 with "I Was Born When You Kissed Me.
	Teena Marie	No white artist sang R&B more convincingly than Teena Marie, whose big, robust vocals were so black-sounding that when she was starting out, some listeners wondered if she was a light-skinned African-American.
	James Brown	"Soul Brother Number One," "the Godfather of Soul," "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business," "Mr.
	Freddie Jackson	To urban contemporary listeners, Freddie Jackson was one of the biggest stars of the latter half of the '80s, dominating the R&B charts seemingly at will.
	The Ohio Players	With their slinky, horn-powered grooves, impeccable musicianship, and eye-popping album covers, the Ohio Players were among the top funk bands of the mid-'70s.
	Michael Jackson	Michael Jackson was unquestionably the biggest pop star of the '80s, and certainly one of the most popular recording artists of all time.
	Midnight Star	The synth-funk unit Midnight Star scored several times on the charts during the mid-'80s, led by their double-platinum album No Parking on the Dance Floor in 1983.
	Heatwave	Completely cosmopolitan with international grooves to spare, Heatwave emerged as one of the disco era's funkiest dance groups.
	Rose Royce	Rose Royce -- the Los Angeles-based group comprised of Henry Garner (drums); Terral "Terry" Santiel (congas); Lequeint "Duke" Jobe (bass); Michael Moore (saxophone); Gwen Dickey, performing with the group using the stage name Rose Norwalt (lead vocals); Kenny Copeland (trumpet, lead vocals); Kenji Brown (guitar, lead vocals); Freddie Dunn (trumpet); and Michael Nash (keyboards) -- were actually formed by Copeland and Garner.
	L.T.D.	Long-running funk outfit L.T.D. -- Love, Togetherness and Devotion -- was formed in Greensboro, NC in 1968 by keyboardist Jimmie "J.
	The Jackson 5	The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest phenomenons in pop music during the early '70s, and the last great group to come out of the Motown hitmaking machine before Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder shifted the label's focus to more individual visions.
	The Manhattans	The Manhattans were one of those classic R&B vocal groups who manage to achieve incredible career longevity by adapting their style to fit changing times.
	Shalamar	Shalamar was the creation of Dick Griffey, the booking agent for the television R&B program Soul Train, and British R&B producer Simon Soussan.
	The S.O.S. Band	The S.O.S. Band hit with a two-million-selling single, "Take Your Time (Do It Right)," their first time out, before having several hit singles written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
	Aretha Franklin	Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged.
	Anita Baker	With her classy, refined brand of romantic soul, Anita Baker was one of the definitive quiet storm singers of the '80s.
	Gladys Knight & The Pips	One of the great soul singers, Gladys Knight was a performer from her childhood years, forming the Pips with her brother Merald and a couple cousins.
	Smokey Robinson	Berry Gordy founded Motown Records, but one could argue that Smokey Robinson was the man who first pushed America's most iconic soul music label toward greatness.
	Keith Sweat	Keith Sweat, a Harlem-born R&B singer/songwriter known for his distinctive "whining" vocal style, co-produced 1984/1985 singles by GQ and Roberta Gilliam and issued independent singles of his own ("Lucky Seven" and "My Mind Is Made Up"), but he didn't release his debut full-length, Make It Last Forever, until November 1987.
	Stephanie Mills	Stephanie Mills first came to fame as "the little girl with the big voice" as the star of the hit Broadway play, The Wiz, an adaptation of L.
	Sade	When singer Sade and her band of the same name were establishing themselves, their record company, Epic, made a point of printing "Pronounced Shar-day" on the record labels of their releases.
	Smokey Robinson & the Miracles	Scoring over 40 hits in the R&B Top 40 charts, the Miracles started out as the Five Chimes in the mid-'50s while the members were still in high school.
	New Edition	New Edition's early, Jackson 5-inspired material made them the forerunners of two generations of teen pop (most of which was geared to white audiences).
	Parliament	Inspired by Motown's assembly line of sound, George Clinton gradually put together a collective of over 50 musicians and recorded the ensemble during the '70s both as Parliament and Funkadelic.
	The Delfonics	The Delfonics were one of the first groups to sing in the sleek, soulful style that became popularized (thanks to producer Thom Bell) as the "Philadelphia sound.
	Patti LaBelle	Soul diva Patti LaBelle enjoyed one of the longest-lived careers in contemporary music, notching hits in a variety of sounds ranging from girl group pop to space-age funk to lush ballads.
	The Dramatics	Before assuming the name the Dramatics, the vocal sextet comprised of Rob Davis, Ron Banks, Larry Reed, Robert Ellington, Larry "Squirrel" Demps, and Elbert Wilkens initially released two singles as the Dynamics on the Wingate imprint that saw no chart action.
	Con Funk Shun	Con Funk Shun was formed by high-school classmates Michael Cooper and Louis "Tony" McCall, along with Karl Fuller, Paul "Maceo" Harrell, Dennis Johnson, Cedric Martin, and Danny "Sweet Man" Thomas.
	The Time	From their origins as Prince's first pet project to their self-produced funk-rock oeuvre, the Time has been a fascinating and outrageous congregation.