Rick James

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Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr; February 1, 1948 - August 6, 2004) was an American funk and soul musician from Buffalo New York, who worked as a singer, keyboardist, bassist, record producer, arranger, and composer during his long career. One of the most popular artists on the Motown label during the late 1970s and early 1980s, James was famous for his wild brand of funk music and his trademark cornrow braids. As time went on, James was given the unofficial title The King of Punk-Funk.

After dropping out of high school and joining the US Naval Reserve, he eventually went AWOL to concentrate on music. He fled to Canada in 1964 and started using the name Ricky Matthews. In Toronto, he led various incarnations of Mynah Birds, some of which included Neil Young and Bruce Palmer (who would go on to form Buffalo Springfield) and Nick St. Nicholas (later of Steppenwolf). After scoring a deal with Motown, the band was swindled by their manager and the label discovered James was on the lam, and the band split up.

After serving time for desertion, James tried to rekindle the Mynah Birds, but eventually found a role as a writer and producer at Motown, using the name Terry Johnson on tunes for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Bobby Taylor And The Vancouvers and The Spinners. He moved to California in 1969 and formed Salt ‘n’ Pepper (not to be confused with Salt-N-Pepa) and worked with a number of bands (Heaven and Earth, Great White Cane, and Stone City Band) before returning to Motown, where he developed the gritty funk sound that would bring him hits and notoriety.

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• Street Songs
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• Greatest Hits
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• Anthology
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• Motown Legends: Give It To Me, Baby - Cold Blooded
  Rick James

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1		Super Freak			1,439
2		Give It To Me Baby			589
3		Mary Jane			572
4		Ghetto Life			337
5		Superfreak			244
6		Cold Blooded			222
7		You And I			153
8		Fire And Desire			104
9		Make Love To Me			69
10		Love Gun			68
11		Dance Wit' Me			65
12		Ebony Eyes			52
13		Bustin' Out (On Funk)			51
14		Mr. Policeman			50
15		Below the Funk (Pass The J)			40

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