People Weekly; 8/8/1988; Dougherty, Steve

And you thought nude album-cover boy Prince (Lovesexy) Nelson and Michael
''My Best Friend's a Monkey'' Jackson were weird. Now comes Prince's sister,
Tyka Nelson, ready to explore new frontiers of eccentricity in pursuit of
her own career. Arriving for dinner at a tony Minneapolis restaurant, Tyka
politely orders a baby booster and place setting for Jazz -- a stuffed
dinosaur she keeps on a leash and hugs during interviews. ''I'm very shy,
and I get nervous when I have to do something like this,'' she says. ''Jazz
is my friend, and he goes everywhere with me. He helps me.'' So does Marc
Anthony -- 28-year-old Tyka's imaginary lover.

Just because she wears two watches, one set to ''Marc Anthony time,''
doesn't mean Tyka is crazy. But maybe she was nuts not to accept big brother
Prince's offer to lend her his proven platinum expertise and free run of his
$10 million Paisley Park recording studio outside Minneapolis. Tyka chose
instead to write and record her first album on her own. The result is Royal
Blue, a collection of light ballads and easy-listening funk that has
produced a black top-40 single, ''Marc Anthony's Tune.'' Though the Los
Angeles Times noted that the lyrics ''seem written by someone who sees life
as one big Harlequin romance,'' Billboard decreed that Tyka's ''pure,
angelic voice ((and)) fine songwriting'' should ''dispel the talk'' that she
is merely cruising on her brother's name.

That, says Tyka, is just what she had in mind three years ago when she began
shopping her own demo tapes, financed with money borrowed from a friend.
Peter Edge, the British producer who signed her, claims that Tyka earned her
Chrysalis Records contract on the strength of her own talents. ''I was
skeptical because she was Prince's sister,'' says Edge. ''But when I heard
her tape I was pleasantly surprised. I think she's a great songwriter -- and
wise to do it on her own.''

''I didn't want it written that 'she made it because of Prince. He wrote it,
played it, sang it, told her what to sing, how to dress,' '' says Tyka. ''I
didn't want to be the next Vanity.''

Even so, it's a wonder Royal Blue got made at all. Too shy to sing for
family and friends, when Tyka started recording, she insisted that ''big
partitions be put up in the studio for me to stand behind. Now I just make
them turn off the lights.''

Tyka has a thing about lights. At home, where she is the single parent of
two well-behaved, though oddly monikered sons, Sir Montece Laeil Nelson, 8,
and President LenNard Laeil Nelson, 6, Tyka covers her bedroom windows with
aluminum foil to keep it dark, perchance to dream.

''I just have a wild imagination,'' she says of her oddities. ''I've always
believed there is a better place somewhere. I feel like I'm E.T. and I'm
just passing through. I'm definitely not afraid of death. It's like I'm
looking forward to it, really. I'm probably a little more afraid of
living.''

Tyka's fears date back to a traumatic event -- the 1965 separation of her
parents, Mattie Shaw, now remarried and a social worker in the Minneapolis
school system, and John Lewis Nelson, a reti red Honeywell Inc. machinist
who moonlighted as pianist Prince Rogers and gave his stage name to Mattie's
firstborn. ''My father was this great big wonderful guy to me,'' Tyka says.
''When he left home, I felt totally alone. I remember everything about my
childhood, but the year he left is blank; I blacked it all out.''

Though her parents went on to have six more children with other spouses,
Tyka remembers ''just me and Prince. He wasn't the type that grabbed snakes
or put spiders on my pillow. He was always playing piano and basketball. Mom
was working three jobs, and I was left alone. I grew up in a bubble. I just
watched TV. I thought that's what you were supposed to do in life: sing and
dance and act.''

After graduating from Minneapolis' North High, Tyka packed some songs and
headed for California. ''It was the same year ((1977)) Prince got his record
deal,'' she says. ''I thought I'd be a star. I met Jimmy Durante's piano
tuner. That's as close as I got to the stars.''

Returning to Minneapolis, Tyka spent a year in college studying art and
psychology. While working as a bank teller, she became pregnant by a former
classmate. Never married, she won't reveal her sons' father's name, saying
only that he left when she was pregnant with their second son and, unlike
Uncle Prince, who always remembers the boys' birthdays, rarely calls.

''Inside of me, it was like my soul and what I had to do to feed my family
was always split,'' Tyka says. ''I was writing lyrics while I was supposed
to be working. I'd look up and there's my supervisor.'' Now that she can
feed her family through the fruits of her soul, Tyka is hunkering down with
''Jazz and the kids,'' watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie. ''It
always makes me cry,'' she says.

Though she will soon leave this domestic cocoon for a national tour, Tyka
does not expect to spark the vocal adoration accorded her brother. ''I've
seen the whole balcony screaming,'' she says. ''I'm like, 'Why? I don't get
it.' I could see it if it was Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson. But it's
just Prince. He's just my brother.''

COPYRIGHT 1988 Time, Inc.[/

quote]


[color=darkred][/color]Does anyone have this??? I would love to hear if she is as talented as her brother is. Anyone???

T
[Edited 6/24/05 13:40pm]

lovesexy123 said:

Maybe this isn't what you wanted to hear. Hopefully, this worked out for the best.



PRINCE HELPS SISTER CLEAN UP

PRINCE's sister has paid tribute to the pop superstar for helping her kick her addiction to crack cocaine.

Mother-of-two TYKA NELSON, 43, fears she wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for her brother's help and generosity.

Nelson claims the PURPLE RAIN hitmaker helped her financially and recently enrolled her in a drug rehabilitation programme once he realised how much trouble she was in.

She says, "I relapsed once, but I've been clean for three months now. It's the longest I've been sober and drug-free in years."

16/09/2003 09:20
Here's the article.
http://www.contactmusic.c...clean%20up

...

Solaris said:

am really surprised p did that for his sister considering he was self centered.

I am glad that she got better. Prince stepfather must have really been mean for her to block out those years. Will we ever know the truth?

Didn't Tyka move to Raleigh, North Carolina some time back? I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

Yes, Tyka moved to Raleigh, NC. In fact, at the aftershow at Plum Crazy on 8/16/99, Prince mentioned that Tyka was a Raleighite. I have no idea if she still lives in the "Oak City."