Rick James, the funk star of the 1970s and '80s, was found dead Friday of apparently natural causes in his home near Universal City. He was 56. Born James Johnson in Buffalo, N.Y., he was the nephew of singer Melvin Franklin of the Temptations. James was active on the Toronto music scene in the mid-'60s as a member of the Mynah Birds, which also included future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer. After that project collapsed when James was arrested for draft evasion, James relocated in the early '70s to Britain, where he formed the group Main Line. Signed to Motown in 1977, James Drew inspiration from the rocked-up avant-funk of George Clinton and Sly Stone. He scored his first No. 1 R&B hit and top 20 pop hit for Gordy Records with "You and I" in 1978. The lubricious top five R&B hits "Mary Jane" and "Bustin' Out" quickly followed.
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