"Today the world mourns a musician and performer of the funkiest kind," said Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. "Grammy winner Rick James was a singer, songwriter and producer whose performances were always as dynamic as his personality. The 'Super Freak' of funk will be missed."

Not only was "Super Freak" a hit in its own right, but its bassline formed the basis for MC Hammer's smash "U Can't Touch This," which earned Hammer and James the best R&B song Grammy in 1990.

A native of Buffalo, NY, James called his sound--which drew from funk artists like James Brown, Sly Stone and George Clinton--"punk-funk." His professional music career began with The Mynah Birds, a band he formed in Toronto after he went AWOL from the U.S. Navy in the mid-'60s. Though The Mynah Birds--which also featured Neil Young--recorded an album, it was never issued.

"Finding the album will be virtually impossible, impossible to find me and Neil's stuff," James told liveDaily in a 2001 interview. "If I ever run into Neil, I want to talk to him about us doing a record together."

After playing bass in various funk groups in North America and the U.K., James' career began to take off after he returned to the U.S. in the mid-'70s and formed the Stone City Band. The group's 1978 debut, "Come Get It," spawned the disco hit "You and I."

The three albums that followed didn't meet with the same success, but his 1981 album, "Street Songs," propelled him into stardom thanks to its first single, "Give It To Me Baby," and its follow-up, "Super Freak," on which the Temptations contributed back-up vocals.

While James continued to release commercially successful albums through the '80s, his music was becoming overshadowed by drug, legal and health problems.

He served more than two years in prison after he was convicted in 1993 of burning a woman with a crack pipe during a cocaine binge, and assaulting another woman while he was out on bail.

That period of James' life has been parodied by comic Dave Chapelle on Comedy Central's "The Dave Chapelle Show," and ironically has given the funk star a much higher profile in recent months.

This year was shaping up to be one of James' most active in recent memory. He told BET last month that he was at work with rapper/producer Kanye West on a double album, and that he was hoping that Andre 3000 of OutKast would help with the project. He was also scheduled to play some co-headlining dates with De La Soul and to appear at various multi-act shows.

James is survived by three children and two grandchildren.