Super Freak

Super Freak
Author: Peter Benjaminson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-03-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1613749600

Rick James played with Neil Young, self-produced his first album (later picked up by Motown), crossed rock and funk to come up with one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop stars of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B superstar, displayed an outrageously sex- and drug-filled lifestyle, was tried and found guilty of assaulting and imprisoning a young woman, went on to record new music that was compared to the Beatles' White Album, and ended his life as a punch line for Dave Chappelle. James attempted to tell his own story—in two different books—but left out many incidents that reflected badly on his character. Now, based on court records, newspaper archives, and extensive interviews with dozens of family members, band members, friends, and lovers, here is the definitive biography of Motown's most controversial superstar.

The Super Freak

The Super Freak
Author: Brian Leston Falkner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2015-10-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781329588172

Jacob is tired of getting into trouble. He's fed up with being pushed around and hassled by Blocker - the school bully. But then he discovers he has a special power. Will he use it to be a superhero? Or a supervillain? Either way, life for Jacob is never going to be the same. A mind-bending adventure.

Glow

Glow
Author: Rick James
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1476764166

Best known for his 1980s hit songs “Super Freak,” “Give it to Me Baby,” and “Mary Jane,” the late singer and funk music pioneer Rick James collaborated with acclaimed music biographer David Ritz in this posthumously published, no-holds-barred memoir of a rock star’s life and soul. He was the nephew of Temptations singer Melvin Franklin; a boy who watched and listened, mesmerized from underneath cocktail tables at the shows of Etta James and Miles Davis. He was a vagrant hippie who wandered to Toronto, where he ended up playing with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, and he became a household name in the 1980s with his hit song “Super Freak.” Later in life, he was a bad boy who got caught up in drug smuggling and ended up in prison. But since his passing in August 2004, Rick James has remained a legendary icon whose name is nearly synonymous with funk music—and who popularized the genre, creating a lasting influence on pop artists from Prince to Jay-Z to Snoop Dogg, among countless others. In Glow, Rick James and acclaimed music biographer David Ritz collaborated to write a no-holds-barred memoir about the boy and the man who became a music superstar in America’s disco age. It tells of James’s upbringing and how his mother introduced him to musical geniuses of the time. And it reveals details on many universally revered artists, from Marvin Gaye and Prince to Nash, Teena Marie, and Berry Gordy. James himself said, “My journey has taken me through hell and back. It’s all in my music—the parties, the pain, the oversized ego, the insane obsessions.” But despite his bad boy behavior, James was a tremendous talent and a unique, unforgettable human being. His “glow” was an overriding quality that one of his mentors saw in him—and one that will stay with this legendary figure who left an indelible mark on American popular music.

The Confessions of Rick James

The Confessions of Rick James
Author: Rick James
Publisher: Amber Communications Group, Incorporated
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Rick James is a pop-culture icon, unforgettable for his outrageous style, drug and legal problems who passed away in 2004 after being blessed with new cool in an infamous sketch by comedian Dave Chapelle.

The Best of Rick James

The Best of Rick James
Author: Rick James
Publisher: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002-12
Genre: Funk (Music)
ISBN: 9780634050398

This super-freaky collection contains 12 top hits from the King of Punk Funk, plus a biography. Songs: Can't Stop * Cold Blooded * Dance Wit' Me * Ebony Eyes * Give It to Me Baby * Glow * Loosey's Rap * Seventeen * Standing on the Top * Super Freak * Sweet and Sexy Thing * You and I. Includes photos.

SuperFreakonomics LP

SuperFreakonomics LP
Author: Steven D. Levitt
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2009-11-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0061927570

Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies. Now Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with SuperFreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that this freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, with such questions as: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa? What's the best way to catch a terrorist? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Are people hardwired for altruism or selfishness? Can eating kangaroo save the planet? Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else, whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically.

Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty
Author: Rodman Philbrick
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2015-04-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1409591050

Max is used to being called Stupid. And he is used to everyone being scared of him. On account of his size and looking like his dad. Kevin is used to being called Dwarf. And he is used to everyone laughing at him. On account of his size and being some cripple kid. But greatness comes in all sizes, and together Max and Kevin become Freak The Mighty and walk high above the world. An inspiring, heartbreaking, multi-award winning international bestseller.

Lead With Your Life

Lead With Your Life
Author: Almon W. Gunter Jr
Publisher: Super Freak Way
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2020-01-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780999326626

In Lead With Your Life, Almon discusses the seven principles of outstanding leadership. This presentation provides detail information on what it takes for leaders to take action, inspire, and elevate each member of the team to be the best version of himself or herself. Lead With Your Life is written with easy to follow concepts that will prepare you for your finest hour. Successful leaders know to have overall success, the following 7 principles are essential: People of Character, Vision, Communicate the Vision, People Skills, Competent, Boldness, and Servant. When these 7 principles are consistently present and mastered by an individual, the end result will always be outstanding leadership that individuals will gladly respect, trust, embrace, and follow.

Scary Monsters and Super Freaks

Scary Monsters and Super Freaks
Author: Mike Sager
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2003-12-24
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 9781560255635

Mike Sager is to drugs, porn, and crimes of desperate delusion what Dominic Dunne is to the society murder. In addition to his long-classic Rolling Stone story "The Devil and John Holmes" (which helped inspire the upcoming Val Kilmer film, Wonderland) and his groundbreaking GQ piece about murdered Irish investigative reporter Veronica Guerin (also the subject of a major film starring Cate Blanchett), Scary Monsters and Super Freaks is a wonderful rogue's gallery of up-close pieces about the most public failures of the American dream. From Rick James and his drug-fueled detour into white slavery to the life and suicide of porn starlet Savannah, from deep inside the beating of Rodney King and the Heaven's Gate cult suicides to Chuck Berry's sexual predilections, this book brings to high-profile true crime a highly identifiable voice and style. Currently Esquire's Writer-at-Large, Sager takes us along for the ride with a raft of other figures including the late NWA Rapper Easy E. Winner, the FBI agent who fell in love with his informant, and the highest ranking DEA agent to be busted for drug trafficking. This is a brilliant debut collection by one of America's most respected and stylish crime writers.

Le Freak

Le Freak
Author: Nile Rodgers
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2011-10-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0679644032

NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 10 ROCK MEMOIRS OF ALL TIME BY ROLLING STONE From Chic to Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers is the creative force behind some of the biggest hits ever recorded. Here is the story of how global pop’s greatest genius transformed his own dramatic life into the brilliantly joyful playlist of a generation. You will hear a Nile Rodgers song today. It will make you happy. In the 1970s and 1980s, Nile Rodgers wrote and produced the songs that defined the era and everything that came after: “Le Freak,” “Good Times,” “We Are Family,” “Like a Virgin,” “Let’s Dance,” “I’m Coming Out,” “Rapper’s Delight”—and worked with every influential pop star to create a string of enduring hits, from Diana Ross and Madonna to Duran Duran and David Bowie. Even today, he is still musically relevant: writing and performing record-breaking hits like “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk and Pharrell. But before he reinvented pop music, Nile Rodgers invented himself. From jamming with Jimi Hendrix in a Greenwich Village haze to the decadence of the disco era to witnessing the birth of Madonna on the Danceteria dance floor, Le Freak traces one of the greatest musical journeys of our time. Praise for Le Freak “[An] amazing memoir . . . steeped in the incestuous energy of the times: Punk, funk and art rock mixed it up in the downtown clubs, where musicians partied together and shared ideas. . . . Le Freak has plenty of sex and drugs. But it’s the music that makes it essential. . . . Rodgers gave those dreams a beat—and helped invent pop as we know it today.”—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone “This book is an absolute knockout: exhilarating, warm, and courageous, deeply moving and deeply funny. Le Freak is as much about the greatness of life as it is about Nile Rodgers’s extraordinary musical journey. As Rodgers well knows, the best music is the stuff we feel, the stuff that speaks to us and won’t let go. Le Freak does all that and much more. This is truly one of the best books ever written about art, music, life, and the way we grow to be exactly who we are. Actually, one of the best books period.”—Cameron Crowe “A coming-of-age tale every bit as impressive as the musical insights and star-time chronicles that follow.”—The New York Times Book Review “Consistently entertaining . . . His legacy as a funk-rock visionary is assured, and his autobiography serves as further proof that disco does not suck.”—San Francisco Chronicle “An unforgettable, gripping book.”—The Sunday Times (UK) “Name a star and you can bet they’re in this book, playing or partying with Rodgers. But far from being a succession of name-dropping anecdotes, this autobiography is a wonderfully funny, moving and wise reflection upon the important things in life: the people you love and the things you create.”—The Sunday Telegraph (UK) “Rodgers’s page-turning memoir is packed with emotionally charged vignettes of a tumultuous childhood and equally dramatic adulthood that found him awash in cash, cars, and celebrities. . . . His storytelling skills propel the reader through the book, making the ending all the more jarring. Remarkable for its candor, this rags-to-riches story is on the year’s shortlist of celebrity memoirs.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)