Rick James

Bizarrely enough, funk singer Rick James' first brush with music came as a member of The Mynah Birds, a band featuring Neil Young, future Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer, and two future Steppenwolf members. The Mynah Birds signed to Motown in 1966 and recorded an album for them, but it was never released.

In the late 70s, James signed to Motown again, this time as a solo artist, and helped to revive the flagging label. His 1978 album, Come Get It!, featured two big hit singles, "You And I" and "Mary Jane". In 1981, his fifth album Street Songs became a big critical and commercial success, aided by hit singles "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak" (the latter was famously sampled by MC Hammer on his international smash-hit single "U Can't Touch This"). James continued to record, and while his albums were rarely so well-thought of again, he had a number of minor hit-singles, such as "Dance Wit' Me", "Cold Blooded", "Ebony Eyes", "17", "Glow", "Can't Stop" and "Sweet and Sexy Thing".

James had been known as a regular cocaine user since the 70s, but in the 90s his addiction started to get the better of him. In 1993 James was jailed for two counts of assaulting women while on cocaine binges. Though he tried to make a come-back after his release, he suffered a stroke during a concert in 1997, and never performed again. In August 2004, Rick James died of heart failure, at the age of 56.