Rick James

Rick: During the Throwin' Down tour I went to see Dizzy Gillespie at the Blue Note in New York. Man, I loved Dizzy. He was a guru, a beautiful man filled with the spirit of compassion, the father I never had. Diz was never judgmental. He used to say I was too serious and warn me not to look at life so black and white. He saw I was wild. "Rick," he said, "you remind me of Bird. Boy, you better slow down." But even Dizzy, for all his wisdom, couldn't change my reckless ways.

Rick (talking about his hit single "Super Freak"): "Super Freak" came about after "Street Songs" was complete. I was listening to the tracks, just riffing on my bass, when I hit on this punky-funky sounding line. Reminded me of how punkers look funny when they try to dance. I heard it as a goof and never dreamed it'd take off. The lyrics were silly. The line about "she's the kind of girl you don't take home to mother" was jive. I could take any girl home to mother. Anyway, the song came together, I had the Temps singing behind me, and next thing I know it's a smash.

Rick: I have to establish myself again, but I have to be careful. I don't want to lose the fans I had, and I want to attract new fans, but I don't want to lose my musical integrity either. I don't want to make the same mistakes I made before, but I don't want to blow people away with something foreign or alien to what they expect. I have to find a happy medium. The album is out, yeah, but I'm still in search of that happy medium.