And only Rick James has left behind an incredible legacy. And now his life story will be shared on stage. A show about his life is coming to the Hobby Center right here in Houston called Super Freak the Rick James Story. Tickets are on sale now at Rick James Super Freak
Live .com performances are scheduled for March 14th through the 17th. Joining us to talk about it, playwright and producer Zakariyah Johnson and Ty James, who is Rick James daughter. Welcome to the factory. Glad to have you here. How difficult was it for you, Ty, to trust someone with your father’s legacy? That’s always
Difficult. It’s very difficult. I’m a daddy’s girl to the heart. So through and through, it’s just important for me to deliver something that I know he would be proud of. And so when Zacharias approached me with the opportunity and his passion and the genius that he possesses, it
Just it made sense. I knew it would be magic. And Zakariyah is what made you pick Rick James? Obviously a legend, a superstar. He’s a bad, man. He’s the best. Yes. No, man. He’s great. He’s great, a legend and just. It was so much that I learned about him
That no one really knew. Everybody think it’s just kind of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but as a whole, other side to this guy that people are going to discover in this play, you know who he was as a young artist, his inspiration and how
He came up with the alter ego of Rick James. So it’s just a fascinating story. And so we have Stokely, who’s playing Rick James from Mint Condition in this. So did you have to say, let me check your voice out, because my father had quite a range. He was, you know, R&B
Singer, rock star and a hell of a crooner. You know, one of the last big crooners to come out of Motown. We can remember Fire and Desire, Ebony eyes, where you hear the bravado. What the? What Oh, you made it. And Stokely, a rock and era out of the blue. So
We were talking about the range of Rick James voice. Are you ready for that work? Absolutely. I grew up listening to it. Grew up studying it. Absolutely And so when they when you got the call saying, Stokely, you will be Rick James. What was that like? Amazing. I mean, it was
Kind of surreal because, again, I grew up listening to him roller skating, you know, in school, listening and just really, you know, he has the same, a lot of the same people that he listened to. We listen to in the neighborhood. So, you know, I can hear, like, is he
Has the inflections of, like, the O’Jays, Eddie LeVert, you know, he’s got this really strong, masculine voice that he’s a well trained voice, well trained, you know, and he got this kind of opera thing to it. He goes into just amazing, just blows everybody away. So I’ve always been attracted to that.
And just. And you were never nervous. And we know you are an RB and star on your own. Right. But you were never nervous about approaching this. For different reasons. You know, there’s big shoes to fill. There’s some big shoes, you know, there’s some big boots, right? Absolutely. So. And Zakariyah what can
People expect in the stage play? Are we going through stages of his life? Just one part of his life? What can we expect, the whole gamut from front to back. I mean, it’s just so much you you don’t know about him. I mean, you mentioned Motown. Well, you know, honestly, if
Without Rick doing some of the things that he did and some of the conflicts that he had, there’d be no Lionel Richie, right? You know, Prince getting his style from Rick James, you know. Absolutely. Like so you’re going to get the you’re going to get everything all the inside
Scoop, the behind the scenes things that was going on. Because we got it. We got it right here from the from the family. Right And you’re the consultant on the scene. Have you seen any rehearsals that made you tear up or like, that’s my dad. Oh, gosh. So crazy that
You asked that because there have been a number of times that I’ve just had to leave the room because I was just overwhelmed with emotion, it’s touching. It’s deep, the depth is like. It’s like a roller coaster, you know? So and most importantly, that means they’re doing an amazing job. And most
Importantly for you, are you proud of what they have created? So proud. And it’s an honor just to be able to honor my dad in such a way. All right. Once again, for those who are interested in seeing the show and we need Houstonians, get your out and go see this
Zakariyah is a Houstonian, so. Right. Tell us about the details really quick. Where you can get tickets and where the show will be again, the show is at the Hobby Center. It’s March the 14th through the 17th. You can get tickets at Ticketmaster. You can go to Superfreak live.com.
You can go to Rick James live.com. So I want to see everybody out there. So all of Houston come out. This is a hit. This is a special one. And it’s for everybody. All right. So we’re going to look for
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