Sheila for sure as she already worked with some pretty big performers, I'm sure I read somewhere that Cat had the choice of working with David Bowie on a tour but she picked to work with Prince on his Sign o' The Times tour instead so she would of done well for herself either way, Vanity too as she had already done commercials before meeting Prince so she was going somewhere, Jill Jones too as Prince saw her as a backing singer for Teena Marie was it? So she would of done well regardless.

Morris Day. His personality is so big I can't see him not being famous outside of a Prince conneciton.

Vanity. She was destined to be a model/actress of some sort.

The thing is, the most talented people P has worked with or performed with were already famous.

Stevie Nicks

Sheena Easton

Sheila E

Chaka Khan

Larry Graham

George Clinton

Mavis Staples

Miles Davis

Jill Jones who was already singing background for Teena Marie and who's talent is exceptional vocal & songwriting wise : She definately could've made it without P had she had the right connections :

Sheila E. for sure!

Possibly Vanity and Jill Jones.

The rest would've never saw any stardom.

Not knocking Jam & Lewis's production skills but they also milked that 'Time' connection for all it was worth to build their reps. They would've had a much harder and longer road to go and probably would've never worked with a heavy hitter like Janet Jackson.

Morris Day would've never gotten from behind a drum set if he hadn't been pushed to do so. Similar to Sheila in that he didn't see himself as a singer until Prince put him in that position. He'd have blended in with the multitude of male drummers dominating the field.

Sheila E. is still quite arguably the most famous female drummer ever and that comes from excelling in the mostly male dominated field and then working with so many great artists outside of Prince.

Sheila & Jill ALREADY were on that Road!!!!!!!

And SOMEBODY woulda had grabbed Jesse by now!!!!!!

Morris is STILL pissed He wasn't Prince's Drummer!!!!! he oughta say an extra YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!, cuz His ass woulda been FIRED by now!!!!!! Don't b mad @ Bobby Z., THANK HIM!!!!!!!

at this point its all speculation there is no way 2 really know it b/c after prince is when alot of really became sought after in the businesss.prince has always surrounded himself with very talented people so its a maybe on alot of em but alot of didnt do much of anything after prince

MusicLover6 said:

Jill Jones who was already singing background for Teena Marie and who's talent is exceptional vocal & songwriting wise : She definately could've made it without P had she had the right connections :

Because she was so close to Teena Marie,Jill had connections at Motown.I wonder how her career might have turned out,if she got got a deal at Motown.....with maybe Rick James and Teena producing her first album

SoulAlive said:

MusicLover6 said:

Jill Jones who was already singing background for Teena Marie and who's talent is exceptional vocal & songwriting wise : She definately could've made it without P had she had the right connections :

Because she was so close to Teena Marie,Jill had connections at Motown.I wonder how her career might have turned out,if she got got a deal at Motown.....with maybe Rick James and Teena producing her first album

Tied up in a basement with burns on her body and a sex tape floating around somewhere.

HonestMan13 said:

SoulAlive said:

Because she was so close to Teena Marie,Jill had connections at Motown.I wonder how her career might have turned out,if she got got a deal at Motown.....with maybe Rick James and Teena producing her first album

Tied up in a basement with burns on her body and a sex tape floating around somewhere.

Stop it

She got a raw deal with Prince.Only one album (which flopped) and a few tiny roles in two of his movies (one of which is the horrible 'GB').I'd say that she might have done better elsewhere

SoulAlive said:

HonestMan13 said:

Tied up in a basement with burns on her body and a sex tape floating around somewhere.

Stop it

She got a raw deal with Prince.Only one album (which flopped) and a few tiny roles in two of his movies (one of which is the horrible 'GB').I'd say that she might have done better elsewhere

I hope the fucking she got was worth the fucking she got.

Wendy and Lisa easily. Both their family's were hooked into the industry already.

Vanity, based on her beauty, as a model and actress. She said out of her own mouth that she couldn't sing that well. At least she kept it real!

Sheila, Morris, Jesse, Jam & Lewis

Cat, Jill

Misty

SoulAlive said:

HonestMan13 said:

Tied up in a basement with burns on her body and a sex tape floating around somewhere.

Stop it

She got a raw deal with Prince.Only one album (which flopped) and a few tiny roles in two of his movies (one of which is the horrible 'GB').I'd say that she might have done better elsewhere

In that Maxi Bond of MJG Interview thread from a couple of weeks ago, Maxi Bond said that Rick was a total control freak, and actually gave props to Prince for letting his girls (V6) do something else on their own, whether it be another record contract or acting, after the Prince thing was over.

Seems that control freak meglomaniacs are typical in the music industry, but from the sound of it, it seems Rick was one of the worst.

artist76 said:

SoulAlive said:

Stop it

She got a raw deal with Prince.Only one album (which flopped) and a few tiny roles in two of his movies (one of which is the horrible 'GB').I'd say that she might have done better elsewhere

In that Maxi Bond of MJG Interview thread from a couple of weeks ago, Maxi Bond said that Rick was a total control freak, and actually gave props to Prince for letting his girls (V6) do something else on their own, whether it be another record contract or acting, after the Prince thing was over.

Seems that control freak meglomaniacs are typical in the music industry, but from the sound of it, it seems Rick was one of the worst.

True,but in the case of Jill Jones,Prince was just as bad as Rick.He was producing a second album for Jill Jones in 1988 but when she rejected the material,things went sour for her.He kept her locked into her Paisley Park Records contract for the next seven years.To make ends meet,she had to sing backup for others (including the disco band Chic) and wasn't really allowed to advance her career.

Sheila E because she already worked with Lionel Ritchie and George Duke before worked with Prince. She also work with 80s rappers too with Krush Groove and had her own success too in her solo career.

Jill Jones too if she would have got the right connections. I wished Jill would have gotten a clue that Prince didn't care for her career before signed that strict contract when he put her on low priority during Purple Rain era. I am sure she seen the signs but she choose to ignore it and let patience and her love for Prince and her role as a side chick got the best of her. At first I thought she should have work under Rick James until I heard the story of Mary Jane Girls said how controlling Rick was. I feel if Jill would work under like Full Force, she would have at least the same fame status like Lisa Lisa and Samantha Fox since Jill have the voice that can easily fit into multiple genres.

Wendy and Lisa would probably be famous too if they started their solo careers in the mid-90s with the popularity of female indie rock with the likes of Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow, etc and if they had the right people who can market them. I feel if Wendy and Lisa started their careers after Sheryl Crow got famous, it would help them.

Brownmark would have been a big R&B and pop producer as he already produced tracks for Mazarati if he would had pursue this route instead of gone solo shortly after he left Prince. He had the potential and could have been the ranks of Full Force and Jimmy Jam and Terry as producers.

Susannah worked on Donna Summer's album as a singer before got involved heavily with Prince. With her wrote songs for Seal, Madonna and Eric Clayton, I feel Susannah would got the Carole King status as a songwriter without Prince.

Morris Day already proven he can be famous at least in the R&B outlet without Prince with his hit songs like Fishnet and Color of Success. So can Jesse Johnson who already have some success with little Prince involvement.

St. Paul I feel he could have been somewhat success if he market himself like Jon B or Robin Thicke the blue eyed soul and funk.

HotGritz said:

Morris Day. His personality is so big I can't see him not being famous outside of a Prince conneciton.

Vanity. She was destined to be a model/actress of some sort.

The thing is, the most talented people P has worked with or performed with were already famous.

Stevie Nicks

Sheena Easton

Sheila E

Chaka Khan

Larry Graham

George Clinton

Mavis Staples

Miles Davis

all those people you pointed out except for Sheila E had 'solo' careers already in the works Waaaaaayyyy before Prince

I don't think the thread is about those people, many who were alive before Prince

Sheila E didn't have a career like the others, she wasn't 'famous'. I knew of all those people u mentioned but never heard of Sheila E until Prince put her out front. Something she said she would have never done if he didn't push her out front.

Sheila was a background musician, like so many others who many people don't know their names unless they focus on the 'star' and who is working with them.

OldFriends4Sale said:

HotGritz said:

Morris Day. His personality is so big I can't see him not being famous outside of a Prince conneciton.

Vanity. She was destined to be a model/actress of some sort.

The thing is, the most talented people P has worked with or performed with were already famous.

Stevie Nicks

Sheena Easton

Sheila E

Chaka Khan

Larry Graham

George Clinton

Mavis Staples

Miles Davis

all those people you pointed out except for Sheila E had 'solo' careers already in the works Waaaaaayyyy before Prince

I don't think the thread is about those people, many who were alive before Prince

Sheila E didn't have a career like the others, she wasn't 'famous'. I knew of all those people u mentioned but never heard of Sheila E until Prince put her out front. Something she said she would have never done if he didn't push her out front.

Sheila was a background musician, like so many others who many people don't know their names unless they focus on the 'star' and who is working with them.

Not true. If you saw her at George Duke shows they pushed here right out front. Hot female drummer? She would have made it anyway.

Zannaloaf said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

all those people you pointed out except for Sheila E had 'solo' careers already in the works Waaaaaayyyy before Prince

I don't think the thread is about those people, many who were alive before Prince

Sheila E didn't have a career like the others, she wasn't 'famous'. I knew of all those people u mentioned but never heard of Sheila E until Prince put her out front. Something she said she would have never done if he didn't push her out front.

Sheila was a background musician, like so many others who many people don't know their names unless they focus on the 'star' and who is working with them.

Not true. If you saw her at George Duke shows they pushed here right out front. Hot female drummer? She would have made it anyway.

what's not true, everything I said? or that she was just abackground musician?

It's not true that Sheila E was in the same league as Chaka Khan Miles Davis Stevie Nicks Sheena Easton Larry Grahm & Mavis Staple. These people were the Name, the were why the band was there.

Overall people wouldn't just know Sheila E. until Prince put her as a frontman for the band.

I didn't see her at George Dukes show, and like many others who didn't would not have seen that. I know George Duke because he is the 'frontman'

She was in a Lionel Ritchie video in the early 80's but so were a lot of pretty women. But it was Lionel Ritchies name on the song & video.

Most singer/entertainers etc in a live show will feature their musicians, call out there names. You don't always remember the names... unless your really into that group/entertainer and they have a constant band of musicians on their albums/shows

I don't know if Sheila would have ever been a frontman if she wasn't put there by Prince, she would have been a successful percussionist and drummer, but not in the same lines as Sheena Easton or Miles Davis

ladygirl99 said:

Jill Jones if she would have got the right connections. I wished Jill would have gotten a clue that Prince didn't care for her career before signing that strict contract when he put her on low priority during the Purple Rain era. I am sure she seen the signs but she chose to ignore it and let patience and her love for Prince and her role as a side chick got the best of her. At first I thought she should have work under Rick James until I heard the story of Mary Jane Girls said how controlling Rick was. I feel if Jill would work under like Full Force, she would have at least the same fame status like Lisa Lisa and Samantha Fox since Jill have the voice that can easily fit into multiple genres.

Yeah,it's clear that Jill Jones was never really a priority.She was in Prince's camp since 1982 and yet,her album wasn't released until 1987.Unlike most of the other proteges,she wasn't able to benefit from the Purple Rain hype.Her album should have been recorded and released in late '84 or early '85.By the time it was finally released,songs like "All Day,All Night" and "G-Spot" sounded old and stale.Good songs,mind you,but these tunes didn't stand a chance on pop radio in 1987.

So,because of these mistakes,her career never took off.And the frustrating thing is that,unlike some of the other female proteges,Jill can actually sing.

ladygirl99 said:

Brownmark would have been a big R&B and pop producer as he already produced tracks for Mazarati if he would had pursue this route instead of gone solo shortly after he left Prince. He had the potential and could have been the ranks of Full Force and Jimmy Jam and Terry as producers.

I agree with this.Not everybody can do the "solo superstar performer" thing.Instead of doing solo albums (which weren't very successful anyway),BrownMark should have stuck with producing other artists (like Jimmy and Terry did).He proved with the Mazarati album that he can produce some kickass jams.He was a great producer.Prince should have offered him a production deal at Paisley Park Records.

ladygirl99 said:

Susannah worked on Donna Summer's album as a singer before got involved heavily with Prince. With her wrote songs for Seal, Madonna and Eric Clayton, I feel Susannah would got the Carole King status as a songwriter without Prince.

I remember an interview where Susannah said that she literally had to choose between Prince and Quincy Jones She sang backup on a Quincy Jones project,and he was interested in working with her or signing her to a deal? (can't recall).The problem was,Prince had huge plans for her and wanted her to stay in Minneapolis.So in the end,she chose to be a Prince protege.

HonestMan13 said:

Not knocking Jam & Lewis's production skills but they also milked that 'Time' connection for all it was worth to build their reps. They would've had a much harder and longer road to go and probably would've never worked with a heavy hitter like Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson was not a "heavy hitter" until after she worked with Jam and Lewis Her first two albums didn't do very well.They're the ones who helped her reach superstardom.

Genesia said:

SoulAlive said:

Stop it

She got a raw deal with Prince.Only one album (which flopped) and a few tiny roles in two of his movies (one of which is the horrible 'GB').I'd say that she might have done better elsewhere

I hope the fucking she got was worth the fucking she got.

Ouch

OldFriends4Sale said:

Zannaloaf said:

Not true. If you saw her at George Duke shows they pushed here right out front. Hot female drummer? She would have made it anyway.

what's not true, everything I said? or that she was just abackground musician?

It's not true that Sheila E was in the same league as Chaka Khan Miles Davis Stevie Nicks Sheena Easton Larry Grahm & Mavis Staple. These people were the Name, the were why the band was there.

Overall people wouldn't just know Sheila E. until Prince put her as a frontman for the band.

I didn't see her at George Dukes show, and like many others who didn't would not have seen that. I know George Duke because he is the 'frontman'

She was in a Lionel Ritchie video in the early 80's but so were a lot of pretty women. But it was Lionel Ritchies name on the song & video.

Most singer/entertainers etc in a live show will feature their musicians, call out there names. You don't always remember the names... unless your really into that group/entertainer and they have a constant band of musicians on their albums/shows

I don't know if Sheila would have ever been a frontman if she wasn't put there by Prince, she would have been a successful percussionist and drummer, but not in the same lines as Sheena Easton or Miles Davis

The cool thing about Sheila is,she has true talent.With or without Prince,she would have made it.My guess is that,if Prince had never took her under his wing,she may have still launched a solo career at some point in the 80s....but probably not with the "sexy" image that Prince created for her She might have gone in a latin jazz direction,which ironically,is what she does now,post-Prince.

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

what's not true, everything I said? or that she was just abackground musician?

It's not true that Sheila E was in the same league as Chaka Khan Miles Davis Stevie Nicks Sheena Easton Larry Grahm & Mavis Staple. These people were the Name, the were why the band was there.

Overall people wouldn't just know Sheila E. until Prince put her as a frontman for the band.

I didn't see her at George Dukes show, and like many others who didn't would not have seen that. I know George Duke because he is the 'frontman'

She was in a Lionel Ritchie video in the early 80's but so were a lot of pretty women. But it was Lionel Ritchies name on the song & video.

Most singer/entertainers etc in a live show will feature their musicians, call out there names. You don't always remember the names... unless your really into that group/entertainer and they have a constant band of musicians on their albums/shows

I don't know if Sheila would have ever been a frontman if she wasn't put there by Prince, she would have been a successful percussionist and drummer, but not in the same lines as Sheena Easton or Miles Davis

The cool thing about Sheila is,she has true talent.With or without Prince,she would have made it.My guess is that,if Prince had never took her under his wing,she may have still launched a solo career at some point in the 80s....but probably not with the "sexy" image that Prince created for her She might have gone in a latin jazz direction,which ironically,is what she does now,post-Prince.

Yes she is, I think she is doing a combination of what she was doing prior to Prince and what Prince brought out of her. I think she would have done a lot of the family jams and what not, but I think it's still only the result of Prince that she has the center stage.

It's hard to say, maybe she only would have had a 1 time 80's album. Cause it's really only her Prince albums/timeline that has her fame as it is. Most of her solol following albums never took outside of Prince.

SoulAlive said:

HonestMan13 said:

Not knocking Jam & Lewis's production skills but they also milked that 'Time' connection for all it was worth to build their reps. They would've had a much harder and longer road to go and probably would've never worked with a heavy hitter like Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson was not a "heavy hitter" until after she worked with Jam and Lewis Her first two albums didn't do very well.They're the ones who helped her reach superstardom.

Her last name was why they wanted to work with her. True her first two albums bombed but the Jackson name at that time carried weight. If they could make her a star then she'd make them stars. It was a gamble that paid off for all involved.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Zannaloaf said:

Not true. If you saw her at George Duke shows they pushed here right out front. Hot female drummer? She would have made it anyway.

what's not true, everything I said? or that she was just abackground musician?

It's not true that Sheila E was in the same league as Chaka Khan Miles Davis Stevie Nicks Sheena Easton Larry Grahm & Mavis Staple. These people were the Name, the were why the band was there.

Overall people wouldn't just know Sheila E. until Prince put her as a frontman for the band.

I didn't see her at George Dukes show, and like many others who didn't would not have seen that. I know George Duke because he is the 'frontman'

She was in a Lionel Ritchie video in the early 80's but so were a lot of pretty women. But it was Lionel Ritchies name on the song & video.

Most singer/entertainers etc in a live show will feature their musicians, call out there names. You don't always remember the names... unless your really into that group/entertainer and they have a constant band of musicians on their albums/shows

I don't know if Sheila would have ever been a frontman if she wasn't put there by Prince, she would have been a successful percussionist and drummer, but not in the same lines as Sheena Easton or Miles Davis

Sheena Easton- REALLY>? She is hardly a heavy hitter. Even at the time she was big it was a flash in the pan.
I think Sheila had aspirations to be bigger. You forget her bands were people she brought to the table - not Prince. Prince sucked a lot of them into his band. So CLEARLY she had good ideas and he benefitted from some of her contacts. Prince cannot MAKE any of these people stars anyway. He gave them exposure. They have to want it and work at it. Just because someone gives you the directions it doesn't mean you'lll get to your destination unless you work to get there.

Zannaloaf said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

what's not true, everything I said? or that she was just abackground musician?

It's not true that Sheila E was in the same league as Chaka Khan Miles Davis Stevie Nicks Sheena Easton Larry Grahm & Mavis Staple. These people were the Name, the were why the band was there.

Overall people wouldn't just know Sheila E. until Prince put her as a frontman for the band.

I didn't see her at George Dukes show, and like many others who didn't would not have seen that. I know George Duke because he is the 'frontman'

She was in a Lionel Ritchie video in the early 80's but so were a lot of pretty women. But it was Lionel Ritchies name on the song & video.

Most singer/entertainers etc in a live show will feature their musicians, call out there names. You don't always remember the names... unless your really into that group/entertainer and they have a constant band of musicians on their albums/shows

I don't know if Sheila would have ever been a frontman if she wasn't put there by Prince, she would have been a successful percussionist and drummer, but not in the same lines as Sheena Easton or Miles Davis

Sheena Easton- REALLY>? She is hardly a heavy hitter. Even at the time she was big it was a flash in the pan.
I think Sheila had aspirations to be bigger. You forget her bands were people she brought to the table - not Prince. Prince sucked a lot of them into his band. So CLEARLY she had good ideas and he benefitted from some of her contacts. Prince cannot MAKE any of these people stars anyway. He gave them exposure. They have to want it and work at it. Just because someone gives you the directions it doesn't mean you'lll get to your destination unless you work to get there.

Umm Sheena Easton was a huge solo artist, what do you mean heavy hitter, when Sheena did Sugar Walls, everyone knew who she was

When Sheila E did Erotic City no one knew who she was

Yes I agree, and have noticed, his recent Cassandra-keyboard player he pulled from Sheila at the start of the Welcome2 tour

She could have had aspirations to be bigger, do other things, Prince gave her the platform, but even she said at the time, that she didn't 'sing' that that wasn't what she was into.

In my opinion there are a lot of singers/entertainers with bigger visions that is probably their place. Everyone won't shine outfront. Some people shine as back up singers musicians dancers etc. Some have a hit song or album and never again but continue to try to reclaim that first time.

Many musicians aspire to bigger musicians in different ways by working with different entertainers and doing other things as a musician, not necissarily as a frontman. Many people in different avenues of life aspire to be bigger at what they do, and someone with a bigger vision of circle comes into contact with them and shows them something they never considered. I think this is what happened with Sheila E via Prince.

Stevie Nicks

Sheena Easton

Sheila E

Chaka Khan

Larry Graham

George Clinton

Mavis Staples

Miles Davis