Rick James Death Due to Heart Attack, Drugs

Reuters

LOS ANGELES - Rick James, the flamboyant funk musician who died suddenly in August, had nine drugs in his system including cocaine, methamphetamine, valium and vicodin, according to a coroner's report on Thursday.

James, 56, died in his sleep on Aug. 6 in his Los Angeles home of a heart attack, but the drugs in his system likely contributed to the organ's failure, the report said.

James, best known for his 1981 hit "Super Freak," suffered from diabetes, had a pacemaker and had been in fragile health after a stroke in 1998. He had been hooked on crack cocaine and once proclaimed himself an "icon of drug use and eroticism."

His family attributed his death to natural causes, but the Los Angeles County coroner took over the case because James had not seen a doctor in recent weeks. An autopsy failed to establish the cause and toxicology tests were ordered.

The coroner listed nine drugs, including prescription medications for anxiety, pain relief and heart failure, along with cocaine and methamphetamine that were found in James's body.

"None of the drugs or drug combinations were found to be at levels that were life-threatening in and of themselves," the report said. It gave the cause of death as a heart attack and ruled the death accidental.

James, who received a lifetime achievement award in June, had recently finished recording an album and was in talks with Hollywood studios for a movie about his life.

Thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear this. May he rest in peace.peacesign: :(

That's a lot of drugs for anyone's system. It's a shame he couldn't overcome his problems. He paid the ultimate price, the poor guy.

I thought he gave up drugs before he died? He was a sad brother. I loved his music but he was a pathetic human being for continuing to use drugs. I read in The Enquirer recently that his family & his ex wife is fighting over his estate. He also left a lot of money in his will which they're also feuding over. It's a damn shame when people die & the only thing people care about is how much money somebody left in their will for the family. Rick looked really bad on that Dave Chappelle skit when he kept saying cocaine is a hell of a drug & he was laughin about it. What's funny about doing drugs? I don't see the humor in that.

I thought he was off and was just kind of laughing at how stupid he had been.

I think the saddest death to me had to be David Ruffin of the Temptation, who was found in the streets of an overdose, and no one recognized who he was. :(

Drugs is the downfall of a lot of entertainers & a lot of them have died of drugs. It's so sickening to see entertainers continue to use drugs. I read a long time ago that David Ruffin died in a crackhouse in Philadelphia. In The Temptations movie, this drug dealer who David was trying to buy drugs from, David told him that he was David Ruffin & the drug dealer said, so who are u hahahahahahahahahahahaha. So David tried to give the drug dealer some concert tickets for some drugs since he didn't have enough money to buy the drugs. So when he gave the concert tickets to the drug dealer, the date had already passed on the tickets LOL. Then David gave the guy the keys to his car outside the crackhouse for some drugs. I thought that scene was so depressing cause it's a shame to see a talented singer waste his life away on drugs. The Temptations members Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Paul Williams died too early. Eddie died of cancer so at least he wasn't a drug addict or a alcoholic like Paul & David was.