SUPERFREAK, Rick James, found dead....

[ontheEdgeof17]

....in his LA home by his caretaker today. I don't know the details....just saw it across the screen on CNN.



-Curtis

[Merf]

WHAT???

That is unexpected.

[estranged4life]

just saw it mentioned on MSNBC.

[Livia]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Funk singer Rick James, best known for the 1981 hit "Super Freak," died Friday, apparently of natural causes, police said.

James, 56, died at 9:45 a.m. at a residence near Universal City, said Officer Esther Reyes, a Police Department spokeswoman.

"He died apparently of natural causes. We learned of his death after responding to a radio call," Reyes said.

After his big hit, James' fame began to fade as he became embroiled in legal problems and health troubles.

James was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first attack occurred in 1991 when he restrained and burned a young woman with a hot pipe during a cocaine binge at his house in West Hollywood. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992 in James' hotel room.

James was sentenced to more than two years in state prison.

In 1997, he released a new album, but a year later he suffered a stroke while performing at Denver's Mammoth Events Center, derailing a comeback tour.

In 1998 he also underwent hip replacement surgery.

[Patti]

Wow. I loved Super Freak. I know he had a lot of health problems (most likely due to the cocaine binging). That's sad.

[DeeGeMe]

I'm Rick James--bitch!

Damn--the man was the funkiest--and he gave hysterically funny interviews too. . . .

[gldstwmn]

Hope in the afterlife Rick gets to

Party all the time
Party all the time
Party all the time

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Patti

Wow. I loved Super Freak. I know he had a lot of health problems (most likely due to the cocaine binging). That's sad.

Oh God, what a new. That's really sad.

And yes, I knew he had a big cocaine problem. Don't kow if he had gotten over it. I remember him in the E! True Hollywood Storey about STUDIO 54. Lot of cocaine stories.

Besides Superfreak, I remember the song with Temptations (during the 80s). Cool guy

[dissention]

Can't say I'll miss a man who imprisoned and sexually tortured a woman.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Hope in the afterlife Rick gets to

Party all the time
Party all the time
Party all the time

with a very kinky girl - get her off the street Yooowwwwwwww

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Livia

In 1997, he released a new album, but a year later he suffered a stroke while performing at Denver's Mammoth Events Center, derailing a comeback tour.

Lotta bad juju at that place.

[Hawkeye]

This deathe is really shocking since Rick James has been like all over the place the past few years. But it's really not a sad shocking like John Ritter and Isabel Samford. This is just shocking shocking. I'm not really saddened by this. He wasn't the greatest guy.

[Wild_Heart03]

That is a big shock... I watch CNN all the time and I never saw it today. Really too bad... Superfreak is one of my favorite 80s songs.

[Johnny Stew]

When I told my mother, she said, "That's not really a surprise... 'cocaine is a powerful drug.'" (It's a Rick James quote, from an episode of 'The Chappelle Show.')

[golddustwoman77]

This came as a surprise to me yesterday. I really like "Superfreak," and "Give It to Me Baby." That was his cool side, but he had a very dark side when he was on drugs which will not be missed. Serious drugs can make people do things they wouldn't normally do; I think. Like Johnny Stew quoted "Cocaine is a powerful drug."

I guess Dave Chappelle won't be able to make jokes about Rick James anymore which really sucks. I love "I'm Rick James, bitch!" and all the skits with or about Rick James.

RIP Rick.