Peter Benjaminson - Super Freak ; The Life of Rick James

M y wife, Susan Harrigan , has played all her life-altering roles with great love and kindness. In her role of editor, Susan brought her considerable skills to bear on my first book about the Motown Record Corporation, The Story of Motown, and my third, Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motowns First Superstar. She also did the initial edit of this book. In doing so, she helped raise the level of my writing from near incompetence to, dare I say it, competence-plus, a level I otherwise could not have achieved. Thank you, Susan, for everything.

Additional special thanks are due to:

Our daughter, Annie, for suggesting Rick James as a subject for a book and for giving birth to our first granddaughter in 2015, and to her husband, Greg Naarden, for helping to make that birth possible.

Our grandchildren, Leo Alexander Naarden and Abigail Susan Naarden, for filling out the family in fine form.

My sister, Wendy Benjaminson, who has helped me greatly on this and previous projects, and to my brother, retired United States ambassador Eric Benjaminson, a fellow author and consultant, who keeps me laughing.

Yuval Taylor, a fellow author and an editor who with great skill has edited both this book and my two previous Chicago Review Press books about Motown musicians, Cynthia Sherry, publisher of Chicago Review Press, who has been working tirelessly with me to bring movie versions of those books to fruition, and Michelle Williams, who line edited both this book and my biography of Mary Wells.

LeRoi Johnson, Ricks brother and a very informative interviewee, who made it possible for me to interview many of Ricks other family members and many of Ricks former employees and associates.

Nick Warburton, a prolific author who very generously gave me full access to his research and writing on Ricks early career and recommended me to his sources. Nick is now working on a documentary covering Ricks rise to fame and the musicians who helped him make his big breakthrough.

Stan Endersby, a great interviewee and one of Nicks sources, who convinced many of Nicks other sources to meet me over a two-day period in a Toronto hotel, and in his own apartment, so I could interview them in person.

The other members of Ricks family who graciously shared their memories of Rick: Camille Hudson, Lori Stokes, Chuck Stokes, Louis Stokes, and Shelley Stokes-Hammond.

My other sources and interviewees, who, although not related to Rick, gave generously of their time and knowledge, either in person, over the telephone, or via e-mail, to make this book as accurate and complete as possible: Rick Abel, Nick Balkou, John Bracken, Dan R. Bruggeman, David Colin Burt, Jim Bush, Michael Carr, Bob Doughty, William G. Downey, Joanne McDuffie Funderburg, William Gersten, Richard Grand, Les Greenbaum, Joe Jackson, Andre Jardine, Peter Kelly, Daniel LeMelle, Pat Little, Rick Mason, Peter McGraw, Neil Merryweather, Kelly Misener, Syville Morgan, Tony Nolasco, Sade Oyinade, Dick Romer, Ed Roth, Levi Ruffin, Mike Rummans, Chris Sarns, George Semkiw, Robert Sheahen, Malcolm Tomlinson, Artie Wayne, Harry Weinger, Stanley Weisman, and Richard Wesley.

Margaret Acquista, judicial assistant to United States District Judge Robert W. Sweet, who aided me greatly in my quest to locate and fully examine the records of Motown Record Corporation v. Mary Jane Girls, a federal case in which Rick was a major player as well as a major target; Jennie Thomas, head archivist of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Library and Archives in Cleveland, her fellow archivist Anastasia Karel, and their fellow staffers, who helped me immensely with my research in the librarys LeRoi C. Johnson Collection on Rick James; the equally cooperative staffs of the New York Public Librarys Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Library for the Performing Arts, Mid-Manhattan Library, and Stephen A. Schwarzman main branch, and the staff of Columbia Universitys Nicholas Murray Butler Library.

Dr. Richard Duke Hagerty and Dr. Robert Shalhoub, who helped me sort out the causes of Ricks death; Barbara Hagerty, who urged me to write an article about my attempt to make my Lost Supreme book into a movie; Roger Allen, a former high school classmate of mine, now an attorney, who helped me understand the legalese of various legal allegations; Greil Marcus, another former high school classmate of mine and Americas major rock n roll critic, who read the manuscripts for my last two books and helped me place an article in Rolling Stone about my efforts to make one of them into a movie; and my assiduous Los Angeles researcher, Lynne Bronstein.

The cooperative, hardworking, and efficient officers and staff members of the US Navy Judge Advocate Generals Corps, who provided me with the records of Ricks court-martials and agreed to my requests that I be allowed to see previously censored material within those records: Capt. Robert J. Crow, Lt. G. T. Farris, Lt. Denise L. Romeo, Thomas Gauzer, G. E. Lattin, and Tomiko Thompson.

Mario Echemendia of www.GoDaddy.com, who helped me obtain the domains www.imrickjamesbitchbook.com and www.superfreakbook.com, which will allow me to keep in touch electronically with the readers of this book and berate and hector any who dont buy it and read it.

Michelle Bega, who was able to plumb actor Danny Glovers knowledge on my behalf.

My longtime friends who have supported me on numerous previous projects over the years and have continued to support me on this project: the late Al Abrams, Paul Berardino, Rick Bueche, Stephanie Campbell, Liam Castro, Calhoun Cornwell, Sheila Anne Feeney, Ron Ishoy, Elaine Jesmer, Sara Jordan-Heintz, David Kirby, Dorothy Klein, Kurt Krug, M. L. Liebler, John Oppedahl, Sade Oyinade, Roger Pearson, Gerald Posner, Tim Sheard, John Smyntek, Bill Staiger, and Marc Taylor.

God took a little extra time to make Rick James. He said, Ive got to make him interesting. Ive got to make him intriguing.

Actor Jamie Foxx, speaking at one of Ricks funerals

I n February 2004 Dave Chappelle iconically portrayed Rick James as an obnoxious, coked-up lunatic on Chappelles Show on Comedy Central, giving a boost to Jamess legendary status. Ricks out-of-control drug use and crimes against women in the 1990s had received widespread publicity, informing Chappelles characterization.