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Speaker 1: All right, you know this song? Yeah, yea nah nah.

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Speaker 1: She's a very kinky girl, the kind you don't take

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Speaker 1: home to mother. She's a super freak. Okay, Suffice it

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Speaker 1: to say, I do not have a future in the

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Speaker 1: music business. But that song from the legendary funk artist

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Speaker 1: Rick James was out forty four years ago this month

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Speaker 1: on his Street Songs album, and it was sampled by

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Speaker 1: other huge artists. But in the ensuing years he got

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Speaker 1: involved in heavy drug use and wound up in prison

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Speaker 1: on kidnapping charges. I'm Hatty Steele, the super freaky guy

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Speaker 1: behind super Freak. That's next on the backstory. The backstory

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Speaker 1: is back. In April of nineteen eighty one, funk artist

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Speaker 1: Rick James put out his biggest album, Street Songs. It

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Speaker 1: included one of his biggest hits, super Freak. The song

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Speaker 1: begins with the lyric She's a very kinky girl, the

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Speaker 1: kind you don't bring home to mother. She's a super freak.

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Speaker 1: Starting in the late seventies, he'd had other big hits

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Speaker 1: like You and I, but super Freak was super successful.

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Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, Rolling Stone named it number one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three on the Top five hundred Greatest

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Speaker 1: Songs of All Time. It went on to be sampled

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Speaker 1: on songs like mc Hammer's nineteen eighty nine top ten

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Speaker 1: hit Can't Touch This, jay Z's song in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and six, Kingdom Come, and Nicki Minaj's number one hit

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Speaker 1: from twenty twenty two called super Freaky Girl. But Rick

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Speaker 1: James was the original super Freak. His story included a

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Speaker 1: meteoric rise and a devastating fall. Born in Buffalo, New

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Speaker 1: York in nineteen forty eight, he had everything going for

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Speaker 1: him as he launched his music career with a fusion

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Speaker 1: of funk, soul, and rock. He was twenty nine years

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Speaker 1: old when he had his first huge hit, You and I.

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Speaker 1: By the early eighties, he was dating Linda Blair, you

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Speaker 1: know her from the Exorcist. As a kid, he was

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Speaker 1: friends with stars like Eddie Murphy, Debbie Allen, Smokey Robinson,

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Speaker 1: and Marvin Gaye. But the success was more than he

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Speaker 1: could handle. His music and his personality were tied to

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Speaker 1: one another. He gave fans electrifying performances and hits like

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Speaker 1: super Freak and Give It to Me Baby. But Rick

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Speaker 1: James flamboyant, glitzy, and rebellious reputation had a quieter and

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Speaker 1: much darker sub narrative. By the early nineteen nineties, his

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Speaker 1: life was pretty much out of control. His addiction to

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Speaker 1: cocaine and other drugs had him spending an insane seven

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars a week with drug dealers. We're talking thirty

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Speaker 1: five years ago too, and he was becoming more and

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Speaker 1: more reckless and violent. Then came the beginning of the end.

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Speaker 1: In July nineteen ninety one, Rick James and his ex

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Speaker 1: wife Tanya were accused of holding twenty four year old

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Speaker 1: Francis Alley captive in Rix Hollywood Hills home. They kept

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Speaker 1: her there for days during a week long cocaine binge.

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Speaker 1: Court records say Francis was severely abused by them, including

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Speaker 1: being tied up, burned over twenty times with the hot

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Speaker 1: end of a crack pipe, and forced to perform sex acts.

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Speaker 1: That got crazier when he accused Francis of stealing his drugs.

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Speaker 1: That's when he pointed a gun at her and threatened

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Speaker 1: to kill her if she tried to leave. Rick James

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Speaker 1: finally untied Francis and she managed to escape. She was

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Speaker 1: treated at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in LA and the

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Speaker 1: cops were called. Rick and Tanya were arrested. Fast forward

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Speaker 1: more than a year to November of nineteen ninety two.

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Speaker 1: While out on bail, finally ready to go to trial

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Speaker 1: in this case, Rick got involved in another violent situation.

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Speaker 1: This time it was Mary Sauger, a thirty four year

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Speaker 1: old music executive from West Hollywood. She had a professional

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Speaker 1: relationship with Rick and Tanya and they had all agreed

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Speaker 1: to meet up to talk business at an upscale club

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Speaker 1: and hotel in West Hollywood. Mary arrives at the hotel

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Speaker 1: around ten o'clock at night and meets Rick and Tanya

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Speaker 1: in their They drink a bottle of wine. She says,

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Speaker 1: Rick then basically forced her to take a hit of cocaine. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So the evening moves on as they discuss Rick's new

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Speaker 1: record label. Now it's two am. Rick and Tanya get

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Speaker 1: into a really heated argument. It gets uncomfortable, so that's

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Speaker 1: when Mary decides she's going to leave. She gets into

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Speaker 1: the elevator and exhausted and maybe a little high, rests

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Speaker 1: her head against the wall with her eyes closed. She

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Speaker 1: says she must have dozed off because suddenly the door's open.

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Speaker 1: She's back on the eleventh floor and Tanya is waiting

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Speaker 1: for her. She apologizes to Mary and talks her into

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Speaker 1: coming back to the suite. Now they're back in the room,

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Speaker 1: but things go from bad to worse. Tanya walks out

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Speaker 1: for a moment, but when she comes back, she's wearing

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Speaker 1: only her underwear. She starts coming on to Rick while

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Speaker 1: Mary is sitting there. Oddly, they all start chatting about

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Speaker 1: the challenges faced by women involved professiontionally and personally with musicians,

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Speaker 1: especially the constant harassment. That's when Tanya's attitude suddenly changes.

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Speaker 1: She starts slapping Mary and then Rick joins in. It

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Speaker 1: gets so intense Mary passes out. She comes too when

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Speaker 1: they drench her with water. Then they begin to beat

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Speaker 1: her violently. This goes on for several hours. Rick finally

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Speaker 1: takes Mary to another room on the eighth floor, where

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Speaker 1: he eventually fell asleep himself. That night, at around seven

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Speaker 1: point thirty, Tanya calls a cab from Mary and hands

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Speaker 1: her five bucks for the fair. Despite her crazy injuries.

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Speaker 1: Her left eye is swollen shut and the right nearly so.

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Speaker 1: Mary waits for two days to get medical attention and

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Speaker 1: report the incident. To cops. She only does that after

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Speaker 1: a lawyer friend tells her she has to do it.

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Speaker 1: She later testified that the ordeal left her in constant

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Speaker 1: pain with throbbing behind her eye. Of course, this whole

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Speaker 1: mess led to a cascade of legal troubles for Rick

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Speaker 1: and Tanya. Rick was charged with a slew of felonies,

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Speaker 1: including assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated mayhem, torture, forcible

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Speaker 1: oral copulation, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. He could have gotten

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Speaker 1: life on all those charges. Tanya got four years for

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Speaker 1: pleading guilty to assault. During Rick's trial, Mary Sauger gave

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Speaker 1: heartfelt emotional testimony about her torture by the pair. In

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Speaker 1: a bizarre turn of events, during the trial, Rick fell

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Speaker 1: asleep and started to snore loudly, prompting the judge to

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Speaker 1: call a recess. His lawyer blamed the stress of the trial. Okay. Finally,

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Speaker 1: Rick was found guilty of both offenses, but was acquitted

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Speaker 1: of the torture charge and was sentenced to five years.

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Speaker 1: Wealthy and famous people often got away with crimes, and

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Speaker 1: I guests unfortunately still do. But while in prison, Rick

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Speaker 1: composed over three hundred songs, calling jail a blessing in

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Speaker 1: disguise that probably saved him from a fatal overdose. Mary

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Speaker 1: Sawager got a settlement of one point seven million dollars,

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Speaker 1: with the hotel paying seven hundred thousand of that since

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Speaker 1: the hotel staff were apparently aware of what was happening.

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Speaker 1: Rick's reputation never recovered. By two thousand and four, Rick

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Speaker 1: was a walking drug store when he died of heart

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Speaker 1: failure complicated by a stroke, diabetes, and a heart attack.

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Speaker 1: In his blood the corner found xanax, valium, two different antidepressants,

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Speaker 1: as well as hydrocodone, digitalis, methamphetamine, and cocaine. Rick james

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Speaker 1: musical genius had long been overshadowed by his own drive

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Speaker 1: towards self destruction. Doesn't it make you wonder why we're

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Speaker 1: all so hungry to hit the big time? He was

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Speaker 1: just fifty six years old when he died. Hope you

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Speaker 1: like the backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it

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Speaker 1: if you'd subscribe or follow for free to get new

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Speaker 1: episodes delivered automatically and free to DM me if you

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Speaker 1: have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook,

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Speaker 1: It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm

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Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,

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Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer

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Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new

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Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out

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Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram

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Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the

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Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.