The song is about actress Linda Blair, star of the iconic horror classic The Exorcist, whom James dated for two years (1982 - 84). She became pregnant with his baby but decided to have an abortion. Blair didn't inform James about the pregnancy until after the procedure. He was reportedly hurt by the decision. James wrote in his memoir, “It was about how Linda could freeze my blood.” The song’s genesis came about when Blair told James she was interested in learning about writing music. He brought her into his recording studio to give her a firsthand look at the recording process. He began noodling around on some keyboards and came up with the bass line, and the song just grew from there.
James wrote, produced, and arranged “Cold Blooded” as well as played all the instruments. It was the title track of his seventh studio album, released on Gordy Records, a subsidiary of Motown Records. The song dropped on July 5, 1983. It was a major hit, occupying the top spot on Billboard’s R&B singles chart for six weeks. It peaked at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to #17 on Billboard’s dance chart.
“Cold Blooded” has been sampled on 16 songs, including “Got Your Money” (Ol’ Dirty Bastard, featuring Kelis), “Sophisticated Lady” (Mýa), and “Fantasy” (Yo-Yo). It has been featured on the TV series Atlanta (season 4, episode 2, 2022) and Fame (season 1, episode 2, 1982, and season 3, episode 11, 1984). It was also featured on the soundtrack of the BAFTA Award-winning action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).
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