Vanity/Apollonia 6 – A brief history.

June 1981.

In the summer of '81 Prince began working on material for a girl group he was planning called The Hookers. Prince came up with the concept for the group, and began working on tracks in his home studio before the group was even assembled. Two early songs he recorded for the project were Wet Dream and Make Up. At this stage The Hookers only consisted of Prince's personal assistant Jamie Shoop and Prince's friend Susan Moonsie. At one point Susan's sister was also considered for the group. As prince worked on the music he recorded his own “scratch” vocals and then had the girls replace them with their own vocals.

The recordings for The Hookers were put on hold as Prince embarked on the Controversy tour in November 1981.

January 1982.

While attending The American Music Awards show, Prince meets Denise Matthews, a beautiful model, and aspiring actress and singer. She then replaced Jamie Shoop in Prince's all girl group The Hookers, which became Vanity 6 after Denise's name was changed to Vanity. Prince had originally wanted to name her Vagina, but Denise refused, so Vanity was born.

Prince found another girl for the group on the Controversy tour, Brenda Bennett, who was accompanying her husband Roy, who was Prince's set and lighting designer. Brenda was working as a wardrobe girl on the tour.

The group was now the intended trio, consisting of Denise Matthews, Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie.

March 1982.

Prince records more songs for the Vanity 6 album after the Controversy tour ends. He recorded Nasty Girl and Bite The Beat at his home studio, and he also recorded He's So Dull with Dez Dickerson.

Late March 1982.

Prince records two more songs for the album Vanity 6 at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A. They are If A Girl Answers(Don't Hang Up) and 3x2=6.

Late April 1982.

Prince completes work on the Vanity 6 album at Sunset Sound Studio L.A.

11^th August 1982.

Vanity 6's self titled album is released on WB records. Starr Company split the production and arrangement credits with Vanity 6 for the album. Prince (as Jamie Starr) is registered as writer of seven of the albums eight tracks, with Dez Dickerson being responsible for the eighth track He's So Dull. Two of the album tracks are also listed as being a collaboration, with Jesse Johnson on Bite The Beat, and Terry Lewis on If A Girl Answers(Don't Hang Up). The Time are credited as musicians, but the reality is that Prince recorded and performed almost everything on the album.

Four singles were released from the album with very little to no success, though Nasty Girl became a dance club favourite.

Vanity 6 eventually sold close to 500,000 copies and was certified gold in 1985.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/vanity-vanity.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/f9e97220eca0f1367c1c6010_L.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-225344-1144419691.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-143573-1254618941.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-592299-1254619137.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover

11^th November 1982.

Vanity 6 begin a support slot (along with The Time) on Prince's tour for 1999.

Vanity 6 opened the shows with a brief 20 minute set, usually playing 4 or 5 songs. The girls were accompanied by The Time who performed unseen behind a pink curtain. Jill Jones also provided backing vocals for the duration of the Vanity 6 set.

12^th November 1982.

Prince and Vanity 6 make an appearance at a record store in Atlanta drawing a crowd of more than 2000 fans.

7^th January 1983.

Prince spends time at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A working on (among other recordings) a 12-inch version of the Vanity 6 track Drive Me Wild.

Late January 1983.

A video is shot for the Vanity 6 track Drive Me Wild during rehearsals for the second leg of the 1999 tour. Brian Greenberg directed the video.

August 1983.

Vanity (Denise Matthews) quits Prince's forthcoming film project (Purple Rain) and Vanity 6.

Many reasons have been attributed for the split, including her often stormy relationship with Prince and matters concerning money.

Prince was already in the middle of recording a second Vanity 6 album when Denise quit. He had recorded 17 Days, Promise To Be True, Vibrator, Sex Shooter and an incomplete song dubbed Wet Dream's Cousin. Another track for Vanity 6 called G-Spot was eventually given to Jill Jones for her 1987 album.

September 1983.

Vanity 6 become Apollonia 6 after Prince chooses 22 year old Patricia Kotero for the lead female role in the Purple Rain movie, and to take the place of Denise Matthews in Vanity 6. Prince suggested the name Apollonia for her after a character in The Godfather, hence Vanity 6 became Apollonia 6.

Late December 1983.

Work begins (among other recordings) on the Apollonia 6 album at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A.

29^th February 1984.

An early version of Apollonia 6 is compiled. The album included Take Me With U and Manic Monday, both songs were later reclaimed by Prince along with 17 Days. 3 other songs intended for the album were also withdrawn and later given to Sheila E, they were The Glamorous Life, Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar and Olivers House.

15^th April 1984.

Prince records Blue limousine for Apollonia 6 at Sunset Sound Studio L.A as a replacement for Take Me With U.

June 1984.

Prince completes the Apollonia 6 album by recording Happy Birthday Mr Christian, which replaced Manic Monday. Manic Monday was included on a WB pre-release cassette tape of the album, the song was later given to The Bangles.

1^st October 1984.

Apollonia 6's self titled album is released on WB. The tracks are attributed to various members of Apollonia 6, Sheila E and The Revolution, however as with Vanity 6 the album is for all purposes a Prince production with prince also writing all the songs. Prince gave Lisa Coleman a co-writing credit on A Million Miles(I Love You) and Brenda Bennett a co-credit on Some Kind Of Lover.

Sex Shooter was the only Apollonia 6 song to be included in the Purple Rain Movie. Though Prince plays almost everything on the album, there are contributions from Jill Jones, Sheila E, Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin.

It is said that Prince lost interest in the album during the recordings, and took off many first rate songs and used them for other projects.

Sex Shooter was released as a single with little success, a video was also made for the song. Blue Limousine was planned as a second single but was not released in the USA. No other singles were released and despite the success of the Purple Rain movie, the Apollonia 6 project slowly faded away.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/apollo-apollo.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/apollonia6_2a.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover

The cover for the Sex Shooter single is identical to that of the album cover, but with the words Sex Shooter printed at the bottom of the photograph.

[Edited 9/20/10 16:26pm]

Just wanted to add that this is a thread about the MUSIC of Vanity6 and Apollonia6, NOT about the religious or sexual beliefs of Denise Matthews.

Thanks.

[Edited 9/20/10 17:25pm]

cool thread.

what was the 4th Vanity 6 single? "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "He's So Dull" and ?

The Apollonia 6 album is one of my all time favorite albums. It is my guiltiest of guitly pleasures. Near-awful to slightly-above-mediocre singing and great great fun music. It is awesome through and through.

[Edited 9/20/10 20:01pm]

mimi2 said:

cool thread.

what was the 4th Vanity 6 single? "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "He's So Dull" and ?

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

johnart said:

The Apollonia 6 album is one of my all time favorite albums. It is my guiltiest of guitly pleasures. Near-awful to slightly-above-mediocre singing and great great fun music. It is awesome through and through.

[Edited 9/20/10 20:01pm]

You are more than entitled to your pleasure johnart. I am like that with the Mayte album, (though i would not say it is one of my all time favourites) i really enyoy it, always have, and i even listen to the outtakes from time to time, some of them are awful, but i like the majority of the tracks.

As for the Apollonia album? I think that the Vanity album is the better of the two, but both are interesting as regards to Prince's involvement. They are both cool items.

Apollonia was sweet, beautiful and cute but Vanity was a diva. She was STAR!

Vanity 6 LP is better tnx to Prince's bad work on Apollonia 6 LP, it's like he wanted do a bored album without true hit songs.

johnart said:

The Apollonia 6 album is one of my all time favorite albums. It is my guiltiest of guitly pleasures. Near-awful to slightly-above-mediocre singing and great great fun music. It is awesome through and through.

[Edited 9/20/10 20:01pm]

I agree. I love the album (love the Vanity 6 album too). I think Apollonia 6 is a fantastic example of the Minneapolis Sound. Some Kind of Lover and A Million Miles are jams, not to mention Blue Limousine, which is just awesome.

MikeyB71 said:

mimi2 said:

cool thread.

what was the 4th Vanity 6 single? "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "He's So Dull" and ?

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

oh ok never knew that Since the single obviously went nowhere, I assume there's no rare music video or single lp for it?

mimi2 said:

MikeyB71 said:

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

oh ok never knew that Since the single obviously went nowhere, I assume there's no rare music video or single lp for it?

The only video that i have information on is for "Drive Me Wild."

[Edited 9/21/10 13:20pm]

Vanity 6 "Nasty Girl" on Soul Train.

mimi2 said:

MikeyB71 said:

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

oh ok never knew that Since the single obviously went nowhere, I assume there's no rare music video or single lp for it?

Found this.

there was a short film project around the material on apollonia 6 which included happy birthday mr christian, ooh she she wa wa, blue limousine and a different video version for sex shooter

L4OATheOriginal said:

there was a short film project around the material on apollonia 6 which included happy birthday mr christian, ooh she she wa wa, blue limousine and a different video version for sex shooter

Yes, the film short is on YT but the embed code has been disabled.

Nice footage though.

LaAmi said:

Vanity 6 LP is better tnx to Prince's bad work on Apollonia 6 LP, it's like he wanted do a bored album without true hit songs.

WTF was Prince thinking? The Apollonia 6 LP might have been kick-ass if he kept the original songs(Take Me with U, Manic Monday, 17 Days and The Glamorous Life).

uPtoWnNY said:

LaAmi said:

Vanity 6 LP is better tnx to Prince's bad work on Apollonia 6 LP, it's like he wanted do a bored album without true hit songs.

WTF was Prince thinking? The Apollonia 6 LP might have been kick-ass if he kept the original songs(Take Me with U, Manic Monday, 17 Days and The Glamorous Life).

It is said that Prince lost interest in the Apollonia album when it was revealed to him that Patricia Kotero had no plans to extend her career as Apollonia after the album and the Purple Rain movie.

As a result Prince then completed the project but many of the albums stronger songs were taken off and used either for Prince himself or for other projects.

Another great thread.

I had this poter on my bedroom wall all through high school:

[img:$uid]http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/squirrelgrease2009/Vanity_6_Drive_Me_Wild_12INCH_3.jpg[/img:$uid]

MikeyB71 said:

johnart said:

The Apollonia 6 album is one of my all time favorite albums. It is my guiltiest of guitly pleasures. Near-awful to slightly-above-mediocre singing and great great fun music. It is awesome through and through.

[Edited 9/20/10 20:01pm]

You are more than entitled to your pleasure johnart. I am like that with the Mayte album, (though i would not say it is one of my all time favourites) i really enyoy it, always have, and i even listen to the outtakes from time to time, some of them are awful, but i like the majority of the tracks.

As for the Apollonia album? I think that the Vanity album is the better of the two, but both are interesting as regards to Prince's involvement. They are both cool items.

While I still prefer the A6 album all around I do like the music on the Vanity 6 album, but just can't deal with her voice. I play it once in a while still though.

uPtoWnNY said:

LaAmi said:

Vanity 6 LP is better tnx to Prince's bad work on Apollonia 6 LP, it's like he wanted do a bored album without true hit songs.

WTF was Prince thinking? The Apollonia 6 LP might have been kick-ass if he kept the original songs(Take Me with U, Manic Monday, 17 Days and The Glamorous Life).

Are you serious?? You'd rather Apollonia had done Glamorous Life over Sheila??

I could maybe see a campier 17 Days by them, but only if Prince still released his version.

MikeyB71 said:

mimi2 said:

cool thread.

what was the 4th Vanity 6 single? "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "He's So Dull" and ?

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

It's interesting that four singles were released from the Vanity 6 album.This shows that Prince and Warners had alot of confidence in the project.They released "He's So Dull" as the first single,obviously trying to market them to pop audiences.I'm surprised that this song didn't catch on with the pop crowd.The video should have been on MTV.

"Bite The Beat" was a weird choice for a single.I knew that radio wouldn 't touch that song,because of its X-rated subject matter

squirrelgrease said:

Another great thread.

I had this poter on my bedroom wall all through high school:

[img:$uid]http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/squirrelgrease2009/Vanity_6_Drive_Me_Wild_12INCH_3.jpg[/img:$uid]

Nice item, do you still have it?

I would imagine it would be a bit of a collectors item these days.

johnart said:

uPtoWnNY said:

WTF was Prince thinking? The Apollonia 6 LP might have been kick-ass if he kept the original songs(Take Me with U, Manic Monday, 17 Days and The Glamorous Life).

Are you serious?? You'd rather Apollonia had done Glamorous Life over Sheila??

I could maybe see a campier 17 Days by them, but only if Prince still released his version.

I rather had perfect Apollonia 6 hits album!

I think problem was Apollonia didnt have much talent and she didnt sleep with Prince, he didnt care about her anymore. He didnt have reason why

while there are a few songs on the Apollonia 6 album that I like, I think the Vanity 6 album is much better Vanity was never a good singer but she was better than Apollonia and more convincing as a "nasty girl"

SoulAlive said:

MikeyB71 said:

The other single was "Bite The Beat."

It's interesting that four singles were released from the Vanity 6 album.This shows that Prince and Warners had alot of confidence in the project.They released "He's So Dull" as the first single,obviously trying to market them to pop audiences.I'm surprised that this song didn't catch on with the pop crowd.The video should have been on MTV.

"Bite The Beat" was a weird choice for a single.I knew that radio wouldn 't touch that song,because of its X-rated subject matter

I think "Wet Dream" is a catchier song and would have been a better choice for a single

mimi2 said:

while there are a few songs on the Apollonia 6 album that I like, I think the Vanity 6 album is much better Vanity was never a good singer but she was better than Apollonia and more convincing as a "nasty girl"

SoulAlive said:

It's interesting that four singles were released from the Vanity 6 album.This shows that Prince and Warners had alot of confidence in the project.They released "He's So Dull" as the first single,obviously trying to market them to pop audiences.I'm surprised that this song didn't catch on with the pop crowd.The video should have been on MTV.

"Bite The Beat" was a weird choice for a single.I knew that radio wouldn 't touch that song,because of its X-rated subject matter

I think "Wet Dream" is a catchier song and would have been a better choice for a single

I agree! "Wet Dream" should have been a single.It's catchy and fun.

SoulAlive said:

mimi2 said:

while there are a few songs on the Apollonia 6 album that I like, I think the Vanity 6 album is much better Vanity was never a good singer but she was better than Apollonia and more convincing as a "nasty girl"

I think "Wet Dream" is a catchier song and would have been a better choice for a single

I agree! "Wet Dream" should have been a single.It's catchy and fun.

Good track, but with the title "Wet Dream" it would probably have received even less airplay than "Bite The Beat."

SoulAlive said:

They released "He's So Dull" as the first single,obviously trying to market them to pop audiences.I'm surprised that this song didn't catch on with the pop crowd.The video should have been on MTV.

I don't understand how that song didn't chart either. It's a great 80's pop song.

MikeyB71 said:

squirrelgrease said:

Another great thread.

I had this poter on my bedroom wall all through high school:

[img:$uid]http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/squirrelgrease2009/Vanity_6_Drive_Me_Wild_12INCH_3.jpg[/img:$uid]

Nice item, do you still have it?

I would imagine it would be a bit of a collectors item these days.

I'm sure I do still have it, but the condition is probably not very good. If I remember correctly, it was a fairly small poster. Maybe it came with a vinyl EP or LP.... I can't remember how I got it.