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Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his teenage years. He was in various bands before entering the U.S. Navy Reserve to avoid being drafted into the army. In 1964, James deserted to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band the Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James's 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 to California, where he started a variety of rock and funk groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After forming the locally popular Stone City Band in his hometown of Buffalo in 1977, James finally found success as a recording artist after signin ...
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You And I (Rick James Song)
"You and I" is the debut single by R&B/funk musician Rick James, released in 1978 from his debut album, ''Come Get It!''. It spent two weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' R&B charts and reached number thirteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "You and I" also peaked at number three on the disco chart. Personnel *Rick James - vocals, keyboards, synthesizers *Levi Ruffin, Jr. - keyboards *Billy Nunn – keyboards * Bobby Nunn – keyboards *Freddie Rappilo – guitar *Andy Rapillo – bass *Richard Shaw – bass *Lorenzo Shaw – drums *Mike Caputy – drums *Randy and Mike Brecker – horns *Flick, Berry, Steve Williams - horns *Levi and Jackie Ruffin, Bobby and Billy Nunn, Sascha Meeks, Richard Shaw, Vanessa Brooks Nunn, Joey Diggs, Anthony Ceasar, Roger Brown, Calvin Moore, Bennie McCullough - background vocals * Art Stewart Arthur Stewart (February 6, 1927 – November 11, 2021) was an American baseball front-office executive and scout. He began his Major League Baseball ...
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Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'' is an American television series that aired in syndication from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes, socialites and magnates. It was hosted by Robin Leach for the majority of its run. When Leach was joined by Shari Belafonte in 1994, the show was renamed ''Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte''. Leach ended each episode with a wish for his viewers that became his signature catchphrase, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams." The theme song, titled "Come with Me Now" and performed by Bill Conti, is from a 1978 film called ''Five Days from Home''. It had also been used as one of the theme songs for local morning program ''AM Los Angeles'' on KABC-TV. Synopsis ''Lifestyles'' was one of the first shows to feature the lives of the wealthy. Later shows such as VH1's '' The Fabulous Life of...'' continued this trend. The show was largely intended to be an insight into the opule ...
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The Mynah Birds
The Mynah Birds was a Canadian R&B band formed in Toronto, Ontario, that was active from 1964 to 1967.Chong. 2005. Although the band never released an album, it is notable as featuring a number of musicians, such as Rick James and Neil Young, who went on to have successful careers in rock, folk rock and funk. Over its short lifespan, the group featured many members in its many different configurations. Its most memorable lineup included Rick James, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, Rickman Mason and John Taylor. Rick James would later become a major funk star in the 1970s and 1980s. Young and Palmer went on to become two of the founding members in the popular West Coast folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. After leaving Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Neil Young would go on to achieve fame as a solo artist. Goldy McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas would later become members of the rock band Steppenwolf. Also, a late-running 1967 version of the Mynah Birds featured ...
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Ebony Eyes (Rick James Song)
"Ebony Eyes" is a song recorded by American singers Rick James and Smokey Robinson for the Gordy (Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...) label. It was released in November 1983 as the third single from James' seventh studio album '' Cold Blooded''. The song was produced and arranged by James. It peaked at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.
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Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa. It also had a resurgence with artists like Erykah Badu under the genre neo-soul. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-Ameri ...
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New Wave Music
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, ska revival, and more specific forms of punk rock that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop/rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave". Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the artists were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter s ...
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Crossover Music
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience. This can be seen, for example, (especially in the United States) when a song appears on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical styles or genres. If the second chart combines genres, such as a "Hot 100" list, the work is not a ''crossover''. In some contexts the term "crossover" can have negative connotations associated with cultural appropriation, implying the dilution of a music's distinctive qualities to appeal to mass tastes. For example, in the early years of rock and roll, many songs originally recorded by African-American musicians were re-recorded by white artists such as Pat Boone in a more toned-down style, often with changed lyrics, that lacked the hard edge of the original versions. These covers were popular with a much broader audience. Crossover frequently results from the appearance of the music in a film soundtrack. For instance, Sacre ...
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Super Freak
"Super Freak" is a 1981 single produced and performed by American singer Rick James. The song, co-written by James and Alonzo Miller, was first released on James' fifth album, '' Street Songs'' (1981) and became one of James' signature songs. "Freak" is a slang term for the sexually adventurous, as described in the song's lyrics, "She's a very kinky girl / The kind you don't take home to mother". ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked the song number 477 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, number 481 in 2010, and number 153 in an updated list in 2021. The song was nominated for the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1982 Grammys. The song has been sampled by MC Hammer in 1990 and by Nicki Minaj in 2022. Recording "Super Freak" was recorded with other tracks for the '' Street Songs'' album between December 1980 – January 1981 at the Record Plant, in Sausalito, California and Motown / Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California ...
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Give It To Me Baby
"Give It to Me Baby" is a song written by American singer Rick James. Taken from his album '' Street Songs'', the song charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, spending two weeks at No. 40 and spent five weeks at No. 1 on the R&B chart. Two other tracks from ''Street Songs'', "Super Freak" and " Ghetto Life", topped the American dance chart for three weeks in the summer of 1981. The song proved to be even more successful with R&B and dance club audiences. Part of the background vocals were sung by former Temptations member Melvin Franklin. The song appears in the 2013 video game '' Grand Theft Auto V '' in the fictional radio station Space 103.2. Charts See also *List of Billboard number-one dance club songs This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by '' Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It is ... * List of number-one ...
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Street Songs (album)
''Street Songs'' is the fifth studio album by American musician Rick James, released in April 1981 on Gordy Records. "Give It to Me Baby", the lead single from the album, became James' second number one single on the R&B chart, spending five weeks at the top spot. The fifth song on the album, "Super Freak", was also one of James' biggest hits. A Deluxe Edition was released in 2001 containing an additional 17 mixes and live versions of the album tracks. Although the song "Fire and Desire" (a duet he performed with singer Teena Marie) was not originally released as a single, the song itself received much airplay on R&B radio stations and has since become a classic hit (James and Marie would reunite to perform the song at the 2004 BET Awards 5 weeks before James' death). Reception The album became an immediate success upon its release, eventually reaching number three on the US Pop chart—James's highest-charting album during his career—and spending twenty weeks at number one o ...
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Mary Jane (Rick James Song)
"Mary Jane" is a song by American musician Rick James. It was released on September 9, 1978 as the second single from his debut album ''Come Get It!''. The song peaked in the top five on the R&B charts in the United States in 1978, and crossed over to the US Hot 100. Background As one of his earliest hits as a solo artist, it is one of his most notable songs. It was composed by James, along with keyboardist Billy Nunn, who was credited for the keyboards, strings, background vocals, helping to compose the song, arranging flute parts, and other instrumentation work. The lyrics of the song are a thinly-veiled ode to James' love of marijuana aka "Mary Jane". During live performances of the song, James frequently had stage props that looked like giant joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology ...
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Come Get It!
''Come Get It!'' is the debut album by Rick James and the Stone City Band. It was released in April 1978 via the Motown sub-label Gordy Records. The singles " You and I" and " Mary Jane" propelled ''Come Get It!'' to gold status. Critical reception ''Rolling Stone'', in a retrospective, praised "You and I", writing that "James unleashed his brash 'punk-funk' movement with this gloriously strutting single, which boasted a colossal synth-bass groove, James' boa-tossing vocal panache and double-entendres directed at his ex-wife." Track listing All tracks composed and arranged by Rick James Side A # "Stone City Band, Hi!" – 3:30 # " You and I" – 8:04 # "Sexy Lady" – 3:52 # "Dream Maker" – 5:16 Side B # "Be My Lady" – 4:48 # " Mary Jane" – 4:57 # "Hollywood" – 7:27 # "Stone City Band, Bye!" – 1:10 2014 digital remaster bonus track # "You and I" (Extended M+M Mix) – 9:55 2014 ''Complete Motown Albums'' bonus tracks # "You and I" (Extended M+M Mix) – 9:55 # " ...
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