[1] Rick James was frequently backed in his studio recordings by vocalists Joanne "Jojo" McDuffie and the sisters Maxine and Julia Waters.
For live performances, starting in 1979, James was backed by McDuffie along with Cheryl Bailey (who used the stage name Cheri Wells), Candice "Candi" Ghant, and Kimberly "Maxi" Wuletich.
[2] In 1983, James proposed to Motown that McDuffie be offered a solo career but miscommunication caused the label to sign an all-female group, which he determined would be the Mary Jane Girls.
Often compared to the protégées of his rival Prince, Vanity 6, who debuted in 1982, James told Jet that he had come up with the concept six years prior but shelved it for a lack of time.
"[4] The Waters sisters and McDuffie sang all the parts on the group's debut album, Mary Jane Girls, released in April 1983.
The album yielded their first R&B hits: "Candy Man", "All Night Long" (which was later included in the soundtrack of the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City), and "Boys".
A third album was recorded by the group, the project called Conversation, but it was shelved for decades, finally released in 2014 as part of a larger retrospective of James's work.
[7] However, a single was released from the project in 1986, a cover of The Four Seasons hit "Walk Like a Man", which was heard in the film A Fine Mess.
[8] Ghant obtained other work in 1986 when James and Motown were in dispute, since the Mary Jane Girls had no label support.
In 1991, Marine sued Virgin Records, claiming that she had shared lead vocals on the songs "Opposites Attract", "Knocked Out", and "I Need You", on Paula Abdul's debut album Forever Your Girl.
In 2009, McDuffie's husband Robert Funderburg applied for control of the trademark "Mary Jane Girls", but the application was abandoned in 2010.
[15] In 2014, the Mary Jane Girls (Candice Ghant, Val Young, and Farah Melanson) received an honorary HAL Award.