Singer Rick James is under investigation by police for an alleged sexual assault of a woman at his home. James, 50, best known for his 1981 hit “Super Freak,” had a search warrant served on his Woodland Hills, Calif., home on Monday night. Police said a 26-year-old woman claims she was sexually assaulted by James over the weekend.
“They are allegations of a sexual nature,” said police Capt. Jim Tatreau, who said James has cooperated with police.
James was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first attack occurred two years earlier when he restrained and burned a young woman with a hot pipe during a cocaine binge at his house in West Hollywood. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992 in a hotel room. James was sentenced to more than two years in state prison. A jury acquitted him on a torture charge.
In 1997, the singer released a new album, “Urban Rapsody,” but a year later he suffered a stroke that derailed a comeback tour. James performed in Los Angeles as recently as May.
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