Singer Rick James, arrested for allegedly torturing a woman with a hot cocaine pipe, was released on bail Saturday night from the Los Angeles County Central Jail, more than three weeks after he was arrested, sheriff’s deputies said.

James, 43, known as the “king of funk,” was arrested Aug. 2 with his girlfriend, Tanya Hijazi, 21, on suspicion of torturing and sexually assaulting a Santa Monica woman while holding her hostage in the singer’s Hollywood Hills home last month.

James allegedly forced the 24-year old woman to smoke crack cocaine and orally copulate Hijazi. The woman told police that, when she resisted, James pistol-whipped her and burned her repeatedly with a cocaine pipe.

James, whose original $1-million bail was reduced by half on Wednesday, left the jail Saturday about 9:40 p.m., Deputy Hal Grant said.


Hijazi, whose bail was set at $200,000, was expected to be released later, Grant said.