WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Entertainer Rick James dead of natural causes

Entertainer Rick James dead of natural causes

(Los Angeles-AP) Aug. 6, 2004 - Police say funk singer Rick James has died in Los Angeles of apparent natural causes. The Associated Press reports he was 52. Police say he was found dead Friday morning at a residence near Universal City.

James was best known for the 1981 hit "Super Freak," which became a number one smash.

After that, his 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. A year later he suffered a stroke while performing in Denver, derailing a comeback tour. In 1998 he also underwent hip replacement surgery.

James was born as "James Johnson" on February 1st, 1948, in Buffalo, New York, the third of eight children.

James credits his mother for working two jobs and raising all eight kids by herself. James joined the US Navy at the age of 15, but went awol and then fled to Canada. 

While in Canada he formed his first band, "The Mynah Birds." He later went solo and led the "punk-funk" revolution that swept America in late 1970s and early 1980s.

posted 3:26pm by Chris Rees