Do we like to funk on a sunny summer’s day? Yes we do. And we very much do when the soundtrack is Big Time by Rick James.

It’s one of the most exuberant tunes you’ll ever hear, with James proclaiming that he was “born to funk and roll in the big time.”

It’s just so uplifting, especially on this extended version, with the blasts of brass, the female backing singers, and Daniel Lemelle’s glorious sax solo.

Listening to this glorious funkfest today, you might feel that it sounds a lot like Prince, whose support slot on Rick’s 38-date US tour in 1980 generated a longstanding rivalry between the two.

Both of them had released their debut albums a couple of years earlier but James was already a big star – hence this song, recorded straight after the tour, celebrating his arrival in The Big Time.

The rivalry bega when James became convinced that Prince was borrowing elements of his style, from stagecraft to visual presentation, causing tensions that would carry on afterwards.

Unlike Prince, whose day would come – and whose career would surpass his – James was already living the life of  superstar, partying on yachts in the Caribbean surrounded by women and drugs.

It was a long time coming for the boy who ran away from home in Buffalo to join the US Navy, then moved to Toronto and played in a band with Neil Young (and future members of Buffalo Springfield and Steppenwolf).

The Mynah Birds signed to Motown but never released a record, after which James played bass in various groups before signing again with Motown, this time as an artist, songwriter and producer.

His debut album Come Get It produced the hit singles You And I and Mary Jane, and the next two brought Bustin’ Out and Give It To Me Baby, from the million-selling album Street Songs – which produced his biggest hit Super Freak.

But his brand of what he called “punk funk” did not sit comfortbly with the emerging trend of hip-hop, though he must have made a tidy sum when MC Hammer’s huge hit U Can’t Touch This used Super Freak as the backing track.

It might have relaunched his career but behind the scenes he was plagued by drug and legal problems that kept him from the recording studio..

A stroke during a concert in 1998 led to his semi-retirement. He died of a heart attack on 2004 at his Los Angeles home.