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Rick James

Rick James

33 articles

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Rick James: The Punk Funk Of Rick James

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 12 September 1978

Rick's style has been dubbed Punk Funk in some quarters. He himself agrees the term might be apt as it signifies the rebellious aspect of ...

Rick James's Punk Funk

Profile by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 9 October 1978

HOT ON THE gold certification of his first single, 'You and I', Rick James has been going around making the preposterous claim that he is ...

Rick James: Bustin' Out Of L Seven (Motown STML 12104)

Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 13 March 1979

WITHOUT A shadow of doubt, Canadian Rick James was one of the most significant discoveries of 1978. His 'You And I' and 'Mary Jane' singles ...

Rick James: Bustin' out of L7 (Motown)

Review by Tom Vickers, Ampersand, May 1979

JAMES BURST upon the scene with one of last year's biggest crossover hits, 'You and I'. As the funk movement has gained strength as black ...

Rick James

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 4 December 1979

"TO ME, a punk is someone who says what's on his mind and who doesn't take no shit!" So says Rick James, one of our ...

Rick James' Case Of Life Or Death

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 October 1980

Our Punk Funk hero has a new perspective on life following his recent hospitalisation. He's had to readjust his lifestyle as it became a case ...

Rick James: Garden Of Love (Motown)

Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 October 1980

'Big Time'; 'Don't Give Up On Love'; 'Island Lady'; 'Gettin' It On'; 'Summer Love'; 'Mary-Go-Round'; 'Gettin' It On (In The Sunshine) Reprise' ...

Rick James: Punk's Flashy Funkster

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 5 October 1981

Rick James: Braided and Brassy Superstar Finds All That Glitters Turns to Platinum ...

Rick James: Stone City Burns

Interview by Dave DiMartino, Creem, December 1981

While Rick James & all his Women laugh... ...

Rick James: Blowing Out Tinsel Town

Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 10 April 1982

Not So Long Ago:THERE WAS a time when nearly everybody in the world owned a Motown record. Motown was like a baby's security blanket, warm, ...

Touring Talent Sacrifices Luxury For Livelihood

Report by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 5 June 1982

Revert To '60s Packaging ...

Rick James: Sex, Street Smarts and Success

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 24 June 1982

SAUSALITO, CA — Rick James Lies sleeping on the plush burgundy velvet seat in the back of the long black limousine. It has been forty-eight ...

Rick James, Ray Parker Jr.: Forum, Inglewood CA

Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 23 August 1982

RICK JAMES AND THE FUNK CAPADES ...

Rick James: Throwin' Down (Gordy)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, September 1982

HE HAS A VOICE that's like a Looney Tunes imitation of Edward G. Robinson. His priorities (or those of the character he's created) are getting ...

Rick James: Too much to do to get messed up now...

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 September 1982

STREET SONGS sold excess of a million and was easily the biggest R&B-based album of 1981 and is, in fact, still on the charts after ...

Why MTV Is Shaking the Music Industry

Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 1983

HUEY LEWIS, leader of the Marin County-based Huey Lewis and the News, loves MTV: "Everywhere I go," he says in a promo spot on the ...

The Mary Jane Girls: Rick's Chicks

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 31 May 1983

Any Rick James backing group is sure to be talented, suggestive and female! However, there's more to the Mary Jane Girls than at first meets ...

There's No Town Like Motown

Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 July 1983

25 years on the dancefloor, Tamla Motown is still the black music label. In the '60s, their motto was 'The Sound Of Young America' — then hard ...

Rick James: Cold Blooded (Motown)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983

IN THE freak funk stakes, high-livin’ devil-may-care Rick James rates as a bit of a clown. As you’ll know if you caught his Rockpalast TV ...

Rick James' Perfection

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Musician, 1 November 1983

THE FOUR women stood in the semi-dark recording studio. "Okay, let's go," said the producer. ...

Teena Marie: Groovin' With Confidence

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 27 December 1983

Teena Marie's debut set for Epic is a concept album. She tells B&S how Rick James built her confidence to try something new... ...

Rick James: A Rant

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984

BARNEY HOSKYNS dials a late night dateline to RICK JAMES at Motown's LA offices. ...

Rick James: Reflections (Motown)

Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984

ACCEPTING THE press stereotype of Rick James as a total prat whose releases served only as excuses for another dig, I completely ignored the man ...

Rick James: Glow (Motown)

Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985

POOR RICK has never been taken very seriously - a self-obsessed prima-donna of sophistifunk, as lascivious as Richard Pryor’s ear-screwing monkey. But the slick Dick ...

The Rick James Interview: The Buffalo Man Takes Aim...

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 9 July 1985

David Nathan conducts a very sober and enlightening interview with the former Wild Man of Funk whose drug and alcohol abuse took him to the ...

Rick James: "I Was Having Seizures"

Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 13 July 1985

...this is a public admission by Rick James, naughty boy of soul who up till now has been getting high on more than the charts, ...

Rick James: Glow (Motown)/Mary Jane Girls: Only Four You (Gordy)

Review by Roy Trakin, Creem, August 1985

TO CROSSOVER or not to crossover, that is the question. Just a few short years ago, it looked like Buffalo-born Rick James would parlay his ...

Rick James: Glow (Gordy)

Review by Davitt Sigerson, Rolling Stone, 15 August 1985

OH, SLICK RICK, you can trade your beads for a hennaed perm, but they still won't put you on MTV. As Dylan said of George ...

Motown: Designer label

Report by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 9 May 1991

Lloyd Bradley on the changing fortunes of the Motown label ...

Rick James: The Untold Story

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Vibe, April 1994

While Rick James was ruling the charts with hits like 'Super Freak' and 'Give It To Me Baby', he was descending into the drug addiction ...

Rick James: Anthology

Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2002

CATEGORISING RICK James isn't as easy as one might think. Sure, he's the bad boy of black pop, a groove-minded funkster with a nasty attitude, ...

Rick James: The Super Freak

Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2004

Rick James died on August 6, after last month's MOJO went to press. Andria Lisle pays belated tribute. ...

"There's a lot to unpack": the dark, difficult life of Rick James

Retrospective by Jim Farber, The Guardian, 2 September 2021

In a new documentary, the defining funk artist's ups and many downs are examined with a clear eye and a lack of sugar-coating. ...

see also Mary Jane Girls, The

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