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It often seems that the most successful and/or innovative artists are plagued with personal problems, whether it’s alcoholism or depression. For popular funk musician and 70s icon, Rick James, that problem was drugs.
Already off to a wild start – indulging in pot, heroin and even burglary as a teen – James then joined the Navy Reserve to evade the draft to ‘Nam and started drumming for small-time jazz bands. But when you’re committed to a band (along with drugs and sex) you’ve got a pretty full plate; James soon forgot to attend his Navy meetings and, once more, ‘Nam reared its ugly head.
James escaped to Toronto, where he truly began to make it big – although there was a slight minor setback on his path to wealth and fame, in the form of a one-year stretch in jail. That will happen when you beat up your band’s financier.
Fast-forward to Rick James at his peak: albums selling by the millions, classic singles such as ‘Super Freak’ and ‘Give It to Me Baby.’ Sadly, this is also where the real issues kicked in. With money now in his pocket, James essentially went full-blown Tony Montana with a new love: cocaine. Come the 90s, his downward spiral had begun. Affairs with princesses, sexual assaults, more jail time, covering his windows with tin foil to keep out the light, drug-addled live performances and lacklustre album sales.
After this shit-storm of troubles, James supposedly got clean. In 2004, however, he was found dead in his LA residence – his autopsy revealed alprazolam, diazepam, bupropion, citalopram, hydrocodone, digoxin, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine, and cocaine in his blood. Jesus Christ, the man swallowed an entire pharmacy.
The range of drugs consumed by James is perhaps what truly highlights the tragedy and extent of his downfall. Let this article serve, if you will, as either a cautionary tale or an insight into the fascinating and dangerous connection between drug use and the production of art. So long as we appreciate that art.
To be utterly shocked by the pre-writing drug and booze routine of legendary writer and journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, click here.
