Mary Jane Girls ~ In My House 1985 Funky Purrfection Version

Something funky to counter your funk for a back to work Motown Monday!

Rick James started the Mary Jane Girls as a solo project for Joanne "Jojo" McDuffie who had been a backing singer for James in the studio and on tour. Enlisting the vocal talents of professional backing vocalists Maxine & Julia Waters, they all went into the studio to record some original Rick James songs.

James was already signed to Motown, so approached the label with the tapes along with is concept of the group and got the green light. He then set about finding suitable members to complete the Mary Jane Girls line up with Cheryl "Cheri" Bailey (the valley girl), Candice "Candi" Ghent (seductress) and Kimberly "Maxi" Wuletich (dominatrix), a little something for everyone in 1979.

Their self titled debut album was released in 1983, with the sexy "All Night Long" becoming an R&B radio staple. The song peaked at #8 Dance/Disco, #11 R&B but did not make the Hot 100. It did not matter, that song became an example of the new R&B jazz fusion thing going on and has been sampled by The Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, LL Cool J, Mary J Blige, Jay-Z, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube, Onar and Redman who sampled it on three of his songs.

Rick was big into symbolism. "In My House" seems to be full of sexual innuendo, but the band maintains that it is still about love. The fact was it could have gone either way depending what kind of day I had. . Where did James come up with the group name? Well, he chose the name Mary Jane to reference marijuana, which Rick had a fondness for.

In 1985 they released "In My House", a big crossover success peaking at #7 on the Hot100, topping the disco dance chart for two weeks, and peaking at #3 R&B. It was also their last appearance on any chart. To my knowledge, their last great single was the girl group spin on their cover version of "Walk Like A Man" from the "A Fine Mess" soundtrack from 1986. It's fun!