Rick James
33 articles
List of articles in the library
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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... ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Report by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 9 May 1991
Lloyd Bradley on the changing fortunes of the Motown label ...
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 ...
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, ...
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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