Rick James, RIP

[christsmasher]

It's on CNN now, Rick James was found dead at his home, apparently of natural causes.

Buummmmer.

here's the AP

LOS ANGELES - Funk singer Rick James, best known for the 1981 hit "Super Freak," died Friday, apparently of natural causes, police said.


AP Photo



James, 56, died at 9:45 a.m. at a residence near Universal City, said Officer Esther Reyes, a Police Department spokeswoman.


"He died apparently of natural causes. 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 legal problems and health troubles.


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.


In 1998 he also underwent hip replacement surgery.

[MikeP]

Wow, the funkmeister is gone far too early. That will put an interesting twist on Dave Chapelle portraying him in an upcoming biopic, having already satirized him on his show -- who hasn't heard the infamous "I'm Rick James, bitch!" line whenever someone

[phillyidol]

WOW! That really stinks.I just saw the bit on Chapells show and it was great. I can't believe he died. He was really big in his time and will be missed.

[EchoBeachBunnyBoy]

We went to my grandfather's retirement party in 1981. He had 40+ years on the police force, & my family rented a hall & had a band.
"Superfreak" had just been released & my sister & her friend were going to request that the band play it. I told them that

[phillyidol]

But thats what made him Rick James!

[christsmasher]

It's true, I've been involved in some debate on a few other message boards about this.

Rick James, the person, was a jerk. Rick James, the musician, was a genius. I'm certainly not making excuses for the guy (to err is human), but the music industry

[phillyidol]

That bit on Chapells show was the best. It showed Rick just like he was,I'm rich biotch! He goes over Eddy Murphy's brothers house and rubs his muddy high heals into the white sofa. Then he says get a new sofa, you can afford it! Then they beat him silly.

[wiota]

Rick James' death brought back a couple of memories:

1. He and Neil Young were in the same band. From a Neil Young bio:

Neil Young spent the rest of the year (summer of 1965) playing the Toronto coffeehouse circuit, both as a solo artist and as a

[nowhere girl]

I saw a show about Rick James this weekend, and it said that even though he had a lot of problems in his life, after he got out of jail, he helped fund some programs for recovering crack addicts. It seems like he had put the bad in his life behind him, a

[MikeP]

As far as I can tell, he really did try to turn his life around and be a better person in his final years. In a weird case of "3 degrees of separation" from Rick James, my girlfriend just informed me that her physical therapist's child's godfather died la