James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Rick James began his musical career in his teenage years. He was in various bands before entering the U.S. Naval Reserve to avoid being drafted into the Army. In 1964, James moved to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band The Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James' career with the group halted after military authorities discovered his whereabouts and eventually convicted him of desertion related charges. He served several months in jail.
After being released, James moved back to Toronto to pull together a new version of the Mynah Birds, with whom he returned to Motown to record. When that lineup folded, he moved to California, where he took over an existing group of Toronto ex-pats, Merryweather, added a new bassist and changed the group's name to Salt and Pepper. After a strong start and some recording for the Atlantic label, the group split and Rick and the group's keyboardist returned to Toronto to form Heaven and Earth with local players. They later merged with a local horn group, Milestone, and continued under a new name, Great White Cane. That group went to Los Angeles, signed to MGM Records' Lion subsidiary. Their ensuing self-titled LP, released in 1972, was well received critically but sold poorly and was out of print very quickly.
After forming the locally popular Stone City Band in his hometown of Buffalo in 1977, James found success as a recording artist after signing with Motown's Gordy Records, releasing the album Come Get It! in 1978 which produced the hits "You and I" and "Mary Jane". In 1981, James released his most successful album, Street Songs, which included career-defining hits such as "Give It to Me Baby" and "Super Freak", the latter song becoming his biggest crossover single, mixing elements of funk, disco, rock, and new wave. James was also known for his soulful ballads such as "Fire & Desire" and "Ebony Eyes". He also had a successful career as a songwriter and producer for other artists, including Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, The Temptations, Eddie Murphy, and Smokey Robinson.
James' mainstream success peaked by the release of his album Glow in 1985 and his appearance on the popular TV show, The A-Team. His subsequent album releases failed to sell as well as their predecessors. Rapper MC Hammer sampled "Super Freak" for his breakout 1990 hit, "U Can't Touch This", which won Best R&B Song at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards in 1991. James received his only Grammy for composing the song. By the early 1990s, James' career was hampered by his drug addiction, and he was embroiled in legal issues. In 1993, he was convicted of two separate instances of kidnapping and assaulting two different women while under the influence of crack cocaine, resulting in a three-year sentence at Folsom State Prison. He was released on parole in 1996. His health problems halted his career again after he had a mild stroke during a concert in 1998, and he announced a semi-retirement.
In 2004, James returned to pop culture notoriety after he appeared in an episode of Chappelle's Show. The segment involved a Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories-style sketch that satirized James' wild lifestyle in the 1980s. This resulted in renewed interest in his music, and that year he returned to perform on the road. He died later that year from heart failure at age 56.
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. was born on February 1, 1948, in Buffalo, New York, to Mabel (née Sims) and James Ambrose Johnson Sr. He was one of eight children. He was an altar boy and choir member at St. Bridget's Catholic Church. Rick James' father, an autoworker, left the family when Rick James was 10. His mother was a dancer for Katherine Dunham, and later worked as a cleaner in the day, and as a numbers-runner for the Buffalo crime family at night to earn a living.
In 1964, Rick James dodged the US Military draft by fleeing to Toronto. Soon after his arrival three drunk men tried to attack him outside a club; a trio of other men came to his aid. One of them, Levon Helm, was at the time a member of Ronnie Hawkins' backing band. Helm invited Rick James to their show later that night and he ended up performing onstage with the band. To evade US military authorities, Rick James went under the assumed name "Ricky James Matthews". That same year, Rick James formed The Mynah Birds, a band that produced a fusion of soul, folk, and rock music. In 1965, the band briefly recorded for the Canadian division of Columbia Records, releasing a single, "Mynah Bird Hop"/"Mynah Bird Song". At one point, Nick St. Nicholas, later of Steppenwolf fame, was a member; by the time "Mynah Bird Hop" was recorded, bassist Bruce Palmer had replaced him. Rick James and Palmer recruited guitarists Tom Morgan and Xavier Taylor and drummer Rick Mason to form a new Mynah Birds lineup, and soon traveled to Detroit to record with Motown. Before the group began recording their first songs for the label, Morgan left, unhappy about the label's attitude toward the musicians. Neil Young eventually took Morgan's place. It was while in Detroit that Rick James met his musical heroes, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. After meeting Wonder and telling him his name, Wonder felt the name "Ricky James Matthews" was "too long" and told Rick James to shorten it to "Ricky James".
In 1966, a financial dispute in Toronto between Rick James and the Mynah Birds' handler, Morley Shelman led to Motown's learning of Rick James' fugitive status with the Navy. Hoping to prevent any scrutiny, Motown execs told Rick they would not be releasing any more of his material and convinced him to come back and work with them after straightening out his legal issues. Rick James surrendered himself to the FBI, and, in May 1966, was sentenced by the Navy to five months' hard labor for unauthorized absence. He was not yet 19 years old. Rick James escaped from the Brooklyn Naval Brig after only six weeks' confinement, but following another six months as a fugitive, surrendered himself a second time. With help from his mother, Rick James found legal assistance from his cousin, future Congressman Louis Stokes, and another attorney, former Marine Captain John Bracken, who pled Rick James' second court-martial down from a potential five years' hard labor to five months. After his release from Portsmouth Naval Prison in August 1967, Rick James returned to Toronto and endured another detention, initially derailing resumption of his career with Mynah Bird bandmate Neil Merryweather, with whom he would later collaborate, first at Motown and then in Los Angeles.
In 1968, again working under the pseudonym Ricky Matthews, Rick James produced and wrote songs at Motown for acts such as The Miracles, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, and The Spinners. It was during this third stint at Motown that Rick James met musician Greg Reeves. Reeves, hoping to find a better situation than the US$38 a week (US$787 in 2025 dollars) he was earning as a session bassist for Berry Gordy, joined Rick James, looking to "hitch a lift from Neil Young's rising star," and relocated to Los Angeles.
On one of his first nights in Los Angeles, Rick James was crashing on musician Stephen Stills' couch. When he awoke, he saw a stoned young man sitting on the floor in the lotus position. The man's wrists were bleeding, so a scared Rick James sought help. Rick James was later formally introduced to the man, who was Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors. After the Doors opened for Buffalo Springfield at the Whisky a Go Go, Morrison tricked Rick James into taking acid.
In California, Rick James initially worked as a duo with Greg Reeves, but soon after Rick James introduced Reeves to Neil Young, it was Reeves, not Rick James, who was hired as bassist for the newly formed rock supergroup, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Around this time Rick James formed several versions of the rock band Salt'N'Pepper. Rick James claimed that in 1969 friend and hairstylist Jay Sebring invited him to attend a party at actress Sharon Tate’s house, but he was too hungover to get out of bed. The next morning, he discovered that Sebring had been murdered when he saw the Los Angeles Times headline "Sharon Tate, Four Others Murdered."