Rick James may have died of “natural causes,” as his label announced the day after his death, but a Los Angeles county coroner’s report released Thursday confirms the singer’s last few days may have been anything but homeopathic.
The coroner’s office officially ruled James’ Aug. 6 death “accidental,” but also noted that no fewer than nine drugs were found in his system, including methamphetamine and cocaine.
As E! exclusively reported Aug. 7, James was spotted just days prior to his death at a Hollywood party using cocaine, and many of his friends privately were concerned that the former “Superfreak” was back to his partying ways before his untimely death.
James and his family had maintained that the R&B/funk star successfully kicked his cocaine habit and was sober after years spent battling a crack addiction.
The “Give It to Me Baby” singer spent time in a Los Angeles jail during the mid 1990s for a 1991 crack-fueled assault and had said in past interviews that his time behind bars had convinced him to stay clean.
In addition to cocaine and crystal meth, the Los Angeles county coroner’s report noted the presence of seven other drugs found during the autopsy–specifically Xanax, Valium, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Digoxin, Chlorpheniramine and Vicodin. No single drug was found in quantities that would establish lethal quantities, hence the accidental death ruling.