Few American superstar stories are richer, wilder, or more excessive
than Rick James's. He played in a band with Neil Young, spent years in
jail, produced his first album (which was then picked up by Motown) with
money from shadowy sources, crossed rock and funk to come up with one of
the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop star
of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B
superstar, displayed an outrageously sex and drug-filled lifestyle, was
tried and found guilty of assaulting and imprisoning a young woman, went
on to record new music that was compared to the Beatles' White Album,
and ended his life as a punch line for Dave Chappelle. And along the
way, he scored a large number of major hits, sold tens of millions of
albums and became intimate with dozens of big-name celebrities.
Rick James attempted to tell his own story--in two different books--but
left out many incidents that showed what he was really like. Nobody has
written the full truth about his life. Now, based on court records,
newspaper archives, and extensive interviews with dozens of family
members, band members, friends, and lovers, here is the definitive
biography of Motown's most controversial superstar.
