Rick James Gone!

[originalbigm]

Don't have any details but there was a brief news update on the local Buffalo TV station stating that Buffalo was mourning the loss of Rick James who was found dead earlier today in his California home.

[nrgbeat]

I just read this too and was shocked. It said he died of natural causes.

[originalbigm]

Here's the news link
Rick James - Fox News

[Videoskooter]

Yes it's on CNN too.

Rick James - CNN News


Another star gone but his music stays with us.

[discohunter]

I've just read about this too. Another person from the music world gone.

How old was he?

discohunter

[K-Bee]

Sad news indeed...another funk innovater gone! :cry:

here's the announcement from the official Rick James website:

----

August 6, 2004
LEGENDARY MOTOWN ARTIST RICK JAMES PASSES AWAY

Rick James passed away this morning at 9:20 AM in his sleep of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, per his spokesperson. He was 56 years old. He is survived by his 3 children (Ty, Rick Jr., Tazman) and 2 grandchildren (Jasmine and Charisma).


Last month, he performed his hit "Fire & Desire" with Teena Marie at the BET Awards. He had finished an album and was preparing for its release next year. He was also in discussion with various studios for a movie based on his life.


Born in Buffalo, NY, known as the King of Punk Funk, and the bad boy of Motown, Rick James blended the hard core funk of his predecessors James Brown, Sly Stone and George Clinton with the Rock and Roll theatrics of the Rolling Stones and Kiss. Rick James was the quintessential "Super Freak," a term he coined in the 1980's with the multi-platinum song he wrote, arranged, produced and performed sharing that same title. The single catapulted the album Street Songs to #1 on the R&B charts and #3 on the pop charts. This mega-talented, multi-Grammy and American Music Award winner played at least five different instruments and had not only sold millions himself, he wrote and produced songs for Eddie Murphy, Mary Jane Girls, The Temptations, Teena Marie and Smokey Robinson, all selling millions as well. He licensed his work for sampling by artists such as Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and MC Hammer, whose sample of "Super Freak" for the hit single "U Can't Touch This" made Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em the biggest selling rap album in history.


Details on the funeral will be announced shortly.


In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society."

[Discovery]

Coincidentally, I was just at a disco the other night dancing to "Give it to me Baby".

[markydefad]

GIVE IT TO ME BABY is one of my alltime faves!!!! :D :D :D :D

He was a a very freaky guy....the kind you don't take home to, mother

R.I.P. Superfreak :cry:

[zeca azevedo]

Well,

RICK JAMES' story is perfect for a movie - drugs, music, sex, violence, money, racial issues, showbiz, all those elements appearing in his life in gigantic doses. He was a talented guy whose superstar status vanished after a few years - he was not prepared for this. The story about his videos being banned from MTV [who promoted his nemesis, Prince, instead of him in the early 80's] just because RICK did some interviews accusing MTV of being racist is well known. He did some ugly things and he paid for those things spending some years in jail. His definitive artistic statement is STREET SONGS, a classic funk album, a true landmark record that gave the world two megahits, SUPERFREAK and GIVE IT TO ME BABY - those songs are floorfillers to this very day. His duets with TEENA MARIE [FIRE AND DESIRE] and SMOKEY ROBINSON [EBONY EYES] are superb and immortal. And YOU AND I still is a great disco-funk record, one of the best of it's kind and it's era. MARY JANE GIRLS' first album, produced and mostly composed by RICK JAMES, is another winner. However, his musical output after STREET SONGS is uneven, with some high points here and there.

R.I.P., Rick.

zeca azevedo, superfreak #2 8)

[Mixmachine]

Yes, Rick is gone; I sure thank him for all the enjoyment spinning his music gave me through the years. I’ll never forget the day he was dining across the booth while I played my usual early 'dinner music' jazzy stuff sets, he was intensely listening and motioning towards me during this song and finally sent someone over to find out the name of the tune, it was “Night Birds” by Shakatak and when he got the info back he flashed a thumbs up and a big smile…. RIP Rick, and thanks for the memories..

[vienne]

Well thank you for the insight. I listen to the news day in and day out here and not a word have I heard of Rick James' death here in the UK. Haven't bought a newspaper in a week now, so maybe I would have gleaned it from the papers - who knows.

Sad news indeed - RIP Rick. Funnily enough I was listening to "Give It To Me Baby" earlier - fantastic it is.

Rick James may you rest in peace.

[QUINNY]

Well, there have been mentions and mini tributes on UK radio. I've heard 3.

My wife is a big, big fan of the man and she was shocked when I told her the sad news, about 20 minutes after it was released stateside (I was listening to a radio show).

I loved Rick's commercial funk sound on his hit singles like the ones already mentioned and the one track I used to love playing in my latter years as a DJ was the Temptations - Treat Her like A Lady that he produced for them.

Wonder if he was commercial enough for his musical legacy to be raided and exploited, now he's gone?

RIP Rick James.

[K-Bee]

Well thank you for the insight. I listen to the news day in and day out here and not a word have I heard of Rick James' death here in the UK. Haven't bought a newspaper in a week now, so maybe I would have gleaned it from the papers - who knows.

Sad news indeed - RIP Rick. Funnily enough I was listening to "Give It To Me Baby" earlier - fantastic it is.

Rick James may you rest in peace.

No news of Rick's passing in danish news either. But then again, they didn't notice when Barry White died either.
Still, if Janet or Britney flashes a boob, it's all over the tabloids :lol: - a total lack of respect for musical innovaters seems to be the order of the day over here! :x

[Videoskooter]

Sad, very sad but what do you expect from a musicbiz that's almost only promoting fakers and no-talents.

I love all his discostuff but he made some good songs in a later period too. "Lucy" was excellent stuff! And not to forget "Standin' on the top" with the Temptations.

And I'm quite sure that he had some influence on Prince too.

Vanity 6 was modelled after "Mary Jane Girls"

Now I'm gonna play his ultimate floorfiller: "You and I" :)

[jazz_pilgrim]

Friday night was a sad night .....

I had just started playing some tunes on my Hi-Fi and I happened to catch the ten pm news on Jazz FM as I changed a CD. Jazzamataz I think it was. And I heard the unbelievably sad news - RICK JAMES has died! Oh no - what a tragedy! So Friday night turned into a night of remembrance - a mega Rick James tribute. I went and dug out all his tunes and played 'em all:

You and I
Big Time
I'm Just A Sucker for Your Love (with Lady T)
Street Songs - the entire LP
Standing On The Top (with the wonderful Temps)
and finaly Glow

then I played Give It To Me Baby once more ...

What a great artist he was! And what a sad loss! Great is not enugh - a true legend, more like.

STREET SONGS was one of those rare ten albums that YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO HAVE in your collection. The best LP of the 80Ts, maybe? I think so! It was the COMPLETENESS of the LP as an ENTIRE PACKAGE that made it so special. A collection of Street Songs that somehow gelled together. A truly inspirational LP. Had I had the LP sleeve in front of me, I would have typed out the poem Street Songs that Rick wrote and which is to be found on the LP sleeve.....

Outside of the soul world, Rick James was unknown over here in the UK .... if I ask anybody in the office if they have heard of Rick James - they will all say no. They would all reply in the affirmative if I mentioned Prince. Rick was similar to Prince in some ways - they started off at the same time, both in a funky vein but whilst Prince became a mega pop star amd household name over here, Rick did not. I always preferred Rick James. I heard the one mention on Jazz FM and that was it. Two sentences was all I got in my weekend paper.

We all have our different favourites. I llved 'em all. The raw gritty funk of You And I. The exhilarating Get Down and Boogie Funk with Give It To Me Baby, Super Freak, Standing On The Top. The remix of Dance Wit' Me was in similar style, but had the added bonus of Roy Ayers on vibes! :) If you wanted serious ghetto music - Ghetto Life fitted the bill perfectly. The superb teaming up with Teena Marie including the glorious ballad Fire and Desire or Lady T's funks I'm Just A Sucker. And Glow was a welcome return to form in 85 - a record to make you think with an exhilarating accapella end.

Rick James. Thank you for your music. Rest in Peace.


:(

[Pizzazz]

I was stunned to learn of Rick's untimely death on returning from a few days away ! He'd been to drugs hell and back and lately seemed to be revelling in his new role as a senior spokesman for 'The Funk'. When i got home this evening i had to put on the Mary Jane Girls 'Candy Man', not the most obvious choice for most maybe but one of my fave Rick James productions.

[originalbigm]

Came across this article on Rick James that describes his early roots.It is interesting in the fact that I do remember The Mynah Byrds from my days of hanging out in Yorkville,which was Toronto's version of Haight-Ashbury.They took their name from a famous local coffee house called The Mynah Byrd.However my memory fails me as recalling Rick James being in the band.

http://www.hispeed.rogers.com/entert...usic_notes.jsp

[vienne]

Gosh, well, Pizzaz and K-Bee, your as stunned as I am by the lack of acknowledgement the press (and let's be specific here too - the "music press") has given Rick James' death. Its quite appalling when you think of the contributions he has made. Yeah that's true, Prince did indeed fashion himself after Rick. Rick James was certainly innovative and a leader in the fashion and music stakes, albeit, both were edgy :D

Hey, thanks Oriinalbigm for the link to Comedy Central - I laffed so much. In fact, I haven't seen a current picture of Rick James in a long time, so I was really glad to have had a peak at this.

RICK JAMES IS DEAD - LONG LIVE RICK JAMES!!!!