NouveauDance said:

I don't think you hate her, you're just not a fan of someone else taking center stage at a performance, it could be anyone.

She's not stealing anything, what Prince says goes - she's doing lead vocals because he wants her too (and little old men need a break every now and again).

I agree with this statement. I like Shelby but in general, Prince should be doing his thing during his show. Shelby is a kid, really. It's not like Wendy and Lisa got to jam "Waterfalls" (or something they might have been working on together) during The Parade Tour. It might be about Prince needing to rest his vocals for a second. Certainly, Shelby is not sayign she wants to do a cover in the middle of a Prince show and Prince complies. It's more than his call. He came up with it. Shleby is a talented and "You're The One for Me" is the jam!

murphdrag said:

[Bait snip - luv4u]

Oh, such jealousy...but I'm sure you're gorgeous, talented beyond belief, and your beauty can knock everyone else's out-of-the box. Please, we beg for a sample of it.

[Edited 4/14/11 8:09am]

I don't like her either. Sorry !

2elijah said:

murphdrag said:

[Bait snip - luv4u]

Oh, such jealousy...but I'm sure you're gorgeous, talented beyond belief, and your beauty can knock everyone else's out-of-the box. Please, we beg for a sample of it.

[Edited 4/14/11 8:09am]

Yeah seriously. I hate what the internet allows people to get away with. And yeah free speech, but whatever. You sound like a bitter, angry person.

Gohi said:

murphdrag said:

[Bait snip - luv4u]

2elijah said:

Oh, such jealousy...but I'm sure you're gorgeous, talented beyond belief, and your beauty can knock everyone else's out-of-the box. Please, we beg for a sample of it.

[Edited 4/14/11 8:09am]

Yeah seriously. I hate what the internet allows people to get away with. And yeah free speech, but whatever. You sound like a bitter, angry person

Yes, he/she sure does. But like Prince said in his interview with George yesterday, that the internet brings out all kinds of crazy things these days.

[Edited 4/14/11 12:06pm]

I don't like what Prince has her do either. Waaaaayyy too upfront in the shows! She, herself, can sing, as there's no denying that, but her "hype man" shit and Prince having her sing the vocals that HE should be singing just ain't cool!!

I don't wanna hear Shelby do "Shake Your Body Down To The Ground"; I paid to hear Prince sing that shit. And that goes for any other song he puts her out front for. It's just way too often!

I dig Shelby and she is a talented performer..........but when I go 2 see Prince, I don't want 2 see Shelby on lead vocals.

I think the additives are great! Let the man voice rest for a lil while, he deserves it. Plus letting other lights shine is a good thing.

I agree with the people who are annoyed that Prince is having Shelby sing leads parts, especially at concerts advertised as Prince concerts. While her voice is good Shelby isn't a good performer and she gets boring very quickly. I just stopped watching her on Lopez. But Shelby is a great backup singer, and she even doubled up lead duties well on “Nothing Compares 2 U” at MSG.

prince needs to stop with the bar band schlock .. if shelby didn't sing lead on the record then she shouldn't in concert ... not that prince is even doing any recent music live .. shelby is a capable singer but has aboslutely zero "it" factor as far as the sound of her voice or style of singing .. prince presumes that if he plays enough hits he can get away with ruining his show with filler content such as shelby covering light pop radio hits and other complete crap such as disco heat and the sly covers. even the mj tribute is lame if prince isn't going to sing it, and its irrelevant to put it in the set at this point anyway. as we all know prince died before gold was recorded and what we have now is a prince cover band led by someone closely resembling prince but with far less talent and good taste. even the actual prince songs are prince lite and sound like a crappy go nowhere bar band trying desparately to recreate someone elses magic. prince can still sing when he wants to and prince is the name that sells the tickets. the fact that such a genius as prince cannot, will not put together a well thought out show, with a solid sound and a solid performance of solid prince music, is indicative of that prince is ignorant of what fans expect for paying the ticket price to see him. the fact that prince cannot book a tour without guaranteeing HITS played and not his latest half assed half songs should be a clue to him that he is only selling tickets based upon past well earned accomplishments and not his current touring or recording styles. We all know he could sell tickets to a show with only recent material, but as soon as word got out ticket sales would plummet. I mean, how hard is it really to play THE FULL SONG without turning it into some god awful medly. How hard is it to use the original instruments instead of pretending a keyboard is a saxaphone or using subpar sampling on some cheap ass keyboard. Its not like prince doesn't have a lot of money to buy the right equipment or get the right players in his band to present a cohesive sound. And why the covers that jam on going NOWHERE for 10 minutes .. how many jams in E broken down to just the drums and a chant do we really need. and ps prince .. its boring and sounds like shit in case u didn't get the memo.

what is wrong with prince performing 15 full lenght hits instead of 40 hits crammed into a 30 minute medly with a couple boring jams on lame covers that no one and i mean NO ONE paid to see. which brings me to my actual point .. NO ONE paid to see shelby .. NO ONE .. they paid to see prince .. so how about if prince shows up and actually plays some prince songs and actually plays them so they sound like the masterpieces they are instead of a crappy cover band trying to imitate the real thing.

steelyd said:

After seeing her with P at MSG, I have to say I LOVE HER! She has great energy and she has great chemistry with him on stage. Now he should lose one of the other background singers...whose name is NOT Elisa Fiorillo

Me too... I really like Shelby after experiencing her live... even the bald head!! She plays sort of a freak show "role" that adds to the crazy, over the top vibe that I expect from Prince. I don't think it's meant for her to be normal and low-key.

Angelic1302 said:

I think the additives are great! Let the man voice rest for a lil while, he deserves it. Plus letting other lights shine is a good thing.

Good point. I think some forget Prince is not 22 anymore, and can't seem to get used to the Prince of now, allowing other members of his band to showcase their talent, while he takes a breather every now and then throughout his performance.

During Musicology when he did a costume change, the band would do instrumentals until he returned. The only difference now is he allows some of the singers/artists in his band, to showcase their talents, while he takes a back seat for a minute or two. Even some of the musicians in his band gets the spotlight on them, every now and then--Renato, and John Blackwell, to show off their talents. I often wonder if it was W&L doing their solo moments, if they joined Prince in this series of concerts, if the responses would be the same. I notice no one complains like that, when Sheila E is given the spotlight and has often shared the stage with Prince, even doing a lead vocal role, along with Prince on some songs.

Can't help but wonder why the hate from some fans, creating special hate threads about Shelby J, when I've never seen that done about Sheila E or single hate threads against W&L. Interesting. Kind of twisted for someone to start a "hate" thread about someone they've never met.

[Edited 4/14/11 9:34am]

TrevorAyer said:

prince needs to stop with the bar band schlock .. if shelby didn't sing lead on the record then she shouldn't in concert ... not that prince is even doing any recent music live .. shelby is a capable singer but has aboslutely zero "it" factor as far as the sound of her voice or style of singing .. prince presumes that if he plays enough hits he can get away with ruining his show with filler content such as shelby covering light pop radio hits and other complete crap such as disco heat and the sly covers. even the mj tribute is lame if prince isn't going to sing it, and its irrelevant to put it in the set at this point anyway. as we all know prince died before gold was recorded and what we have now is a prince cover band led by someone closely resembling prince but with far less talent and good taste. even the actual prince songs are prince lite and sound like a crappy go nowhere bar band trying desparately to recreate someone elses magic. prince can still sing when he wants to and prince is the name that sells the tickets. the fact that such a genius as prince cannot, will not put together a well thought out show, with a solid sound and a solid performance of solid prince music, is indicative of that prince is ignorant of what fans expect for paying the ticket price to see him. the fact that prince cannot book a tour without guaranteeing HITS played and not his latest half assed half songs should be a clue to him that he is only selling tickets based upon past well earned accomplishments and not his current touring or recording styles. We all know he could sell tickets to a show with only recent material, but as soon as word got out ticket sales would plummet. I mean, how hard is it really to play THE FULL SONG without turning it into some god awful medly. How hard is it to use the original instruments instead of pretending a keyboard is a saxaphone or using subpar sampling on some cheap ass keyboard. Its not like prince doesn't have a lot of money to buy the right equipment or get the right players in his band to present a cohesive sound. And why the covers that jam on going NOWHERE for 10 minutes .. how many jams in E broken down to just the drums and a chant do we really need. and ps prince .. its boring and sounds like shit in case u didn't get the memo.

what is wrong with prince performing 15 full lenght hits instead of 40 hits crammed into a 30 minute medly with a couple boring jams on lame covers that no one and i mean NO ONE paid to see. which brings me to my actual point .. NO ONE paid to see shelby .. NO ONE .. they paid to see prince .. so how about if prince shows up and actually plays some prince songs and actually plays them so they sound like the masterpieces they are instead of a crappy cover band trying to imitate the real thing.

One alternative: you could just stay home.

strmn said:

TrevorAyer said:

prince needs to stop with the bar band schlock .. if shelby didn't sing lead on the record then she shouldn't in concert ... not that prince is even doing any recent music live .. shelby is a capable singer but has aboslutely zero "it" factor as far as the sound of her voice or style of singing .. prince presumes that if he plays enough hits he can get away with ruining his show with filler content such as shelby covering light pop radio hits and other complete crap such as disco heat and the sly covers. even the mj tribute is lame if prince isn't going to sing it, and its irrelevant to put it in the set at this point anyway. as we all know prince died before gold was recorded and what we have now is a prince cover band led by someone closely resembling prince but with far less talent and good taste. even the actual prince songs are prince lite and sound like a crappy go nowhere bar band trying desparately to recreate someone elses magic. prince can still sing when he wants to and prince is the name that sells the tickets. the fact that such a genius as prince cannot, will not put together a well thought out show, with a solid sound and a solid performance of solid prince music, is indicative of that prince is ignorant of what fans expect for paying the ticket price to see him. the fact that prince cannot book a tour without guaranteeing HITS played and not his latest half assed half songs should be a clue to him that he is only selling tickets based upon past well earned accomplishments and not his current touring or recording styles. We all know he could sell tickets to a show with only recent material, but as soon as word got out ticket sales would plummet. I mean, how hard is it really to play THE FULL SONG without turning it into some god awful medly. How hard is it to use the original instruments instead of pretending a keyboard is a saxaphone or using subpar sampling on some cheap ass keyboard. Its not like prince doesn't have a lot of money to buy the right equipment or get the right players in his band to present a cohesive sound. And why the covers that jam on going NOWHERE for 10 minutes .. how many jams in E broken down to just the drums and a chant do we really need. and ps prince .. its boring and sounds like shit in case u didn't get the memo.

what is wrong with prince performing 15 full lenght hits instead of 40 hits crammed into a 30 minute medly with a couple boring jams on lame covers that no one and i mean NO ONE paid to see. which brings me to my actual point .. NO ONE paid to see shelby .. NO ONE .. they paid to see prince .. so how about if prince shows up and actually plays some prince songs and actually plays them so they sound like the masterpieces they are instead of a crappy cover band trying to imitate the real thing.

One alternative: you could just stay home.

I second that. It's a very, easy solution and will solve that poster's b*tching and moaning, and his absence at any Prince concert will not be missed.

[Edited 4/14/11 9:24am]

I actually really enjoy her singing, she is talented and really puts it out there vocally.

the only thing that put me off at first was the baldness. its it ever gonna grow back?!?!

It seems to me that this is nothing new. Prince has always let some of his vocalists get their shine over the years. Boni Boyer got to solo, Rosie Gaines got to solo, Tamar got to solo too at various shows so I am not understanding giving Shelby a hard time. We have some fucked up mind sets as fans because I cannot think of another artist who is perpetually in a no-win situation over every damn thing.

dreaminaboutu said:

It seems to me that this is nothing new. Prince has always let some of his vocalists get their shine over the years. Boni Boyer got to solo, Rosie Gaines got to solo, Tamar got to solo too at various shows so I am not understanding giving Shelby a hard time. We have some fucked up mind sets as fans because I cannot think of another artist who is perpetually in a no-win situation over every damn thing.

poor prince

Graycap23 said:

I dig Shelby and she is a talented performer..........but when I go 2 see Prince, I don't want 2 see Shelby on lead vocals.

^yeah that. Plus, I think if Shelby and the other back up singers cover a song together (Pointer Sisters style), now that would be hot. It's all about the harmony.

I like Shelby, she seems to embody a piece of Prince, like his hardcore butch side.

He is sharing the stage with her. She has a beautiful voice. I hope that she provides

a taste of the friendship that he had with other women in the previous incarnations

of the band.

I can't be the only one who thinks that Prince is at his best when he has a tight

female friend and I don't mean knocking boots.

When you go to a concert, especially to see Prince, it seems that you should

let go of expectations and get into the experience, you gotta know alot of brain

time went into making the experience for you, for everyone.

Give me Shelby over the twinz anyday, they tend to put their microphones way

too close to Prince as to obscure his fantastic showmanship.

Rose

I'm not a fan of "Laydown"-neither the song on 20TEN or the live performance from Lopez Tonight convinced me this song is good. It sounds like a funk song that's been phased and processed with the production of contemporary hip-hop songs and r&b. I read several posts about Shelby J being the female counterpart to Tony M. I don't know if I'm willing to subscribe to that notion, but Shelby would be a better lead singer/back-up vocalist in another band, but in Prince's band, it's like she bogards the stage.

At times, she reminds me of Kim from Different World, when she joined Ron's band and took over the band to the point where the band quit because of her ego. I'm not saying she's anything remotely like that, but her role needs to be not as prominent.

I've been done with Shelby since 3121. She does add a very generic quality to the Prince Vibe, yes she can sing, but she dresses like a grandma with no hair.

Aloisio said:

Eye just can't stand her anymore. Why does she always steal the show from Prince? It's really annoying. Gigs, TV appearances, CDs... Shelby is always spoiling Prince's magic... i'm starting to miss Tony M, at leat he was not as omnipresent as Shelby is.

Patience is a virtue. While not everything might be your cup of tea, you should have watched till the end (whoever stopped watching). There was some jam cracking, slam dunking funk percussion and rhythm there. Personally, I thought it's the best performance I've ever seen Shelby do. The song suits her voice perfectly. Didn't know the song, but I'm a fan of it now.

NouveauDance said:

I don't think you hate her, you're just not a fan of someone else taking center stage at a performance, it could be anyone.

She's not stealing anything, what Prince says goes - she's doing lead vocals because he wants her too (and little old men need a break every now and again).

Word! Not to mention, she is talented.

"eye" hate that she's bald.... lol.

I don't know why Shelby differs from Tony M or Rosie Gaines or someone like that over the years. This should be known that this is a Prince routine at this time to have someone else do lead while you play guitar or you're not in the mood to sing lol This is PRINCE we're talking about. He's always done this.

Bohemian67 said:

Patience is a virtue. While not everything might be your cup of tea, you should have watched till the end (whoever stopped watching). There was some jam cracking, slam dunking funk percussion and rhythm there. Personally, I thought it's the best performance I've ever seen Shelby do. The song suits her voice perfectly. Didn't know the song, but I'm a fan of it now.

Song is called "You're the one for me" by D-Train. A song from back in the day.

2elijah said:

strmn said:

One alternative: you could just stay home.

I second that. It's a very, easy solution and will solve that poster's b*tching and moaning, and his absence at any Prince concert will not be missed.

[Edited 4/14/11 9:24am]

Another alternative: If the ticket says PRINCE maybe PRINCE could play some PRINCE songs all the way thru and even sing THE WHOLE SHOW .. I mean who fuckin does that? If Shelby wants to sing just put her in the opener slot and get it over with. If prince wants to be a sly stone tribute band just write SLY STONE TRIBUTE BAND FEATURING PRINCE ON BASS on the actual ticket. Am I really a hater if I don't drink the purple coolaid and actually expect prince to perform at the same level as every other musician who puts their name on a ticket and hopes to sell seats? No I actually love the guy and even think he still has "it". Songwriting aside that is, he can still sing and play very very well, its just his band really has not cut it for a long time and it cheapens what prince has to offer. Its like gas station food is just fine for some people, they don't mind the shits when their body can't digest it and they buy it again over and over till they have a heart attack and die. Its not real food, its a cheap knock off. Prince band is a cheap knock off and even tho the main ingrediant, prince, is still there, the rest of the band is givin me the shits.

Aloisio said:

Eye just can't stand her anymore. Why does she always steal the show from Prince? It's really annoying. Gigs, TV appearances, CDs... Shelby is always spoiling Prince's magic... i'm starting to miss Tony M, at leat he was not as omnipresent as Shelby is.

Speak the truth, chile!!!!