The Mynah Birds

Origins: Rick James Goes AWOL

Rick James (né James Ambrose Johnson Jr.) was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. He joined the US Naval Reserve as a teenager to avoid being drafted into the US Army during the Vietnam War. But in 1964, at the age of 16, he was transferred for active service on the USS Enterprise. Not wanting to be sent to Vietnam, James went AWOL (absent without leave) from the US Navy and fled to Canada.

James was attracted to Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood. In the mid-1960s, it had a reputation as the “music Mecca of Canada” and the “Greenwich Village of the North.” Soon after his arrival in Toronto, James was attacked by a group of drunks who identified him as a draft dodger and called him a racist slur. James was saved by a group of musicians that included drummer Levon Helm, a future member of The Band. James — who called himself Ricky James Matthews and went by Little Ricky — accompanied Helm and other musicians back to a bar and performed on stage with them that night. This was James’s entry into the Toronto music scene.

From Sailorboys to The Mynah Birds

Prior to his involvement with The Mynah Birds, James performed at Café El Patio with bassist Nick St. Nicholas (later a founding member of Steppenwolf) in a band called the Sailorboys. Keyboard player Goldy McJohn, also later of Steppenwolf, joined the band in late 1964. The band attracted the attention of entrepreneur Colin Kerr, who owned a nightclub called The Mynah Bird. Kerr offered the band his services as a manager and convinced them to change their name to that of his favourite pet, a mynah bird named Raja. In their earliest performances, Kerr attempted to get the band to adopt Raja as their mascot and to dress in colours emblematic of the tropical bird.

The Mynah Birds caught the attention of the Canadian arm of Columbia Records and released two songs in January 1965. Despite drawing considerable attention to their live performances, the band’s single did not receive much airplay.

By February of 1965, Bruce Palmer — later of Buffalo Springfield — had joined the band as its bassist, replacing Nick St. Nicholas. (St. Nicholas then joined a band called Jack London & The Sparrows, which evolved into Steppenwolf.) All members except for James and Palmer quit to pursue other projects shortly thereafter.

James and Palmer reformed a new version of The Mynah Birds without the influence of Kerr from mid-1965 onward. John Morgan, John Taylor and Rickman Mason joined the band. Around this time, the new version of The Mynah Birds recorded a demo in a Cabbagetown barn. The band was also filmed by the CBC performing at a club called the Devil’s Den.

By the summer of 1965, the band was performing regularly at the Sapphire Tavern. (See also Jackie Shane.) They also undertook several regional tours, including one through Northern Ontario. The band’s fortunes changed in late 1965 when John Craig Eaton, heir to the Eaton family fortune, became the band’s benefactor, providing them with an expense account as well as new equipment. It was also around this time that the band began to be managed by Morley Shelman. Shelman introduced the band to Motown Records, where James impressed Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson.

Neil Young Joins the Band

The other members of The Mynah Birds were concerned that Motown would only be interested in Rick James. This tension caused Morgan to refuse to sign the contract and quit the band. Not long after, James saw a struggling folk-rocker named Neil Young play in a coffee shop in Yorkville. James invited Young to join the band and then shifted their sound to folk-R&B. He was inspired to do so by another band with Yorkville roots, The Lovin’ Spoonful (see Zal Yanovsky). Infusing R&B with folk and country influences proved a successful mix. Young has noted how his introduction of Floyd Cramer-style riffs into the band’s R&B songs was a real attention-getter.

With Young in the fold, the band went to Detroit to record an album for Motown under the direction of Smokey Robinson. Songwriting duties were spread out among the band members and further involved the input of Motown employees. The song “I’ll Wait Forever” is believed to be the only songwriting collaboration between Neil Young and Rick James.

In addition to being in the same band, Young and James were also close friends. They lived together for about a year in a basement apartment on Isabella Street. Recalling their crazy, youthful days in an interview with Howard Stern, Young said, “We did some wild things in there. It was all very hazy to me now. I’m glad that I made it through that stage. It was a little dicey.”

End of The Mynah Birds

After several songs were recorded, the band discovered that manager Morley Shelman had pocketed the advance provided by Motown Records. When confronted with this information, Shelman informed Motown executives that James was AWOL from the US Navy. This sank the record deal. The band returned to Toronto, while Motown convinced James to return to Buffalo and turn himself in. James spent about a year in the brig (US Navy prison) for the crime of desertion.

After The Mynah Birds

Neil Young and Bruce Palmer decided to go to Los Angeles, since the folk-country-psychedelic rock sound developing there was more in line with their tastes. Soon after arriving, they formed Buffalo Springfield, one of the most successful folk-rock bands of the late 1960s. Buffalo Springfield in turn spawned several other bands, most notably Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY). Buffalo Springfield and CSNY were both inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

The Mynah Birds were effectively over by the spring of 1967. They completed a contractual requirement to continue performing for another six months, even though James was incarcerated. The band took on and lost several more members. Rick James eventually returned to Toronto and tried to form a new version of the band, though he was unsuccessful. James was arrested on a subsequent breaking and entering charge and was deported back to the United States.

James embarked on a solo career in 1974. He was best known for the international hit song “Super Freak.” It was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1982 and has since been sampled by MC Hammer, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj.