Made for Showtime, airing September 3rd in the US.
Filming location(s) unknown.
The story: One of eight children, born in Brooklyn in 1948, James "Rick" Ambrose Johnson grew up listening to and being influenced by jazz music.
Rick hated school but loved music and always knew he wanted to be a musician.
He got into lots of trouble with the law early on and when the Vietnam war began, Rick found himself being drafted.
But the discipline of Military life was not for Rick. He went AWOL.
Relocating to Toronto, Canada, Rick found that segregation wasn't as bad as he had prior experienced and, after some white people befriended him, he found himself collaborating with them musically.
This is when he worked with and met Neil Young and the two wrote many songs together.
But when the band got popular, were signed to Motown, and then fired their manager, Rick was ratted out and sent to the brig.
That was the end of that band.
Years later, Rick went back home to Brooklyn to rethink his actions. He still wanted to play music so that's what he concentrated on.
Hooking up with a local bass player, the two hit the road to California.
Both auditioned for many bands but only the bass player got a gig with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Rick couldn't get a gig.
Rick found himself back at Motown, working behind the scenes but he needed to branch out on his own due to competition and direction differences.
He fronted many local bands in California but none stuck.
Once again Rick found himself back in Brooklyn with his mom.
He continued writing and decided to get some neighborhood musicians together to record a demo.
Then he set out to California once again for a deal and this time he got one, coincidentally enough through Motown.
Rick's new sound changed things up for Motown, bringing a whole new audience which worked.
He called his new sound Punk Funk and after performing in 1979 at a large Funk Festival Rick and his Stone City Band were on the rise.
An overnight sensation, Rick's great showmanship shown through.
When his 5th album 'Street Sounds' was released, everything changed.
The album went multi-platinum and Motown wanted more of his magic.
Motown allowed Rick to produce many other artists' hit songs/albums and it seemed he was only getting better.
But when his ego began to take over as well as more and more drugs, Rick became irrational and difficult to work with.
Stars Tyenza James, Conway, Carmin Sims, Stan Weisman, Syville Morgan, Levi Ruffin Jr, David Ritz, Harry Weinger, JoJo McDuffie, Rickman Mason, Nancy Leiviska, Kerry Gordy, Norwood Fisher, Gail Mitchell, Ice Cube, Bootsy Collins, Big Daddy Kane, Steven Ivory, Lanise Hughes, Oscar Alston, Tommy McDermott, Nate Hughes, Lisa Sarna, Nile Rodgers, Tanya Hijazi, Mark Weiss, Val Young
Directed by Sacha Jenkins
Not Rated
BIOGRAPHY/DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY/MUSIC
"My teacher used to say I was going to be a hoodlum or a great entertainer."
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