The Mynah Birds
(from allmusic.com)
It seems impossible to believe, but it really happened: for a short time in early 1966, Rick James and Neil Young were in the same band. The group, called the Mynah Birds, also included bassist Bruce Palmer, who, with Young, would go on to Buffalo Springfield shortly after the Mynah Birds split. It is difficult to determine exactly what the Mynah Birds might have sounded like, though, because although they did an album's worth of material for Motown, nothing from those sessions has ever been released.
It would appear Rick was a bit of a superfreak then too...
Shortly after Young joined, the Mynah Birds were signed by Motown, in one of its very first ventures into the rock band market. They recorded 16 songs, according to Bruce Palmer, but the sessions were abruptly halted when Rick James was taken away by authorities for being AWOL from the U.S. Navy. The rest of the band, although they had known James was American, had no idea that he was evading the military. That spelled the end of the Mynah Birds, who broke up in March 1966. Fortunately for the musicians, although they had signed a long-term contract with Motown, this was canceled, freeing Young and Palmer to record with Buffalo Springfield with no complications.
more bio stuff at allmuic.com
