Rick James passed 19 years ago

James Ambrose Johnson Jr whose stage name was Rick James died on this day in 2004 as the result of lifestyle habits for which he apparently had no control.

Soon after my departure from the Navy I was known to listen to some of his music occasionally. My musical tastes are something which has continually evolved and some of the black people among my friends at that time were surprised to hear his music coming across my Pioneer car stereo tape deck. My favorite song by him was "Superfreak".

My favorite performance by him was on the Chapelle Show's Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories featuring "I'm Rick James, bitch" where he admonished the world regarding the fact that "Cocaine is a hell of a drug".

He was born February 1, 1948 in Buffalo, New York.
He died August 6, 2004 at age 56 in Los Angeles, California.

He was AKA Ricky Matthews.

His claims to fame were singer, musician, record producer, and dancer.

He was known for vocals and playing the bass guitar, the keytar, drums, and various percussion instruments.

His musical sets were typically in the genres of R&B, soul, funk, rock, disco, doo-wop, with a smattering of post-disco in those productions.

He had his moments of stardom, took his licks and downfall with dignity, and lived fast, died young, but I'm afraid his corpse was far less than it might have been otherwise — and I failed to recognize him after his passing.

Rest in peace.