Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr; February 1, 1948 - August 6, 2004) was an American funk and soul musician, whoworked as a singer,
keyboardist, bassist, record producer, arranger, and composer during his long career. One of the mostpopular artists on the Motown label during the
late 1970s and early 1980s, James was famous for his wild brand of funk musicand his trademark cornrow braids, sporting them well before the style
was widely popularized (among caucasians) by actress BoDerek. As time went on, James was given the unofficial title The King of Punk-Funk.
