née Nancy Richardson

met Prince on the set of Purple Rain, where she was an extra. He was, no doubt, struck by her look and impressed by her voice, and he eventually signed her to Paisley Park.

we see her in lace and lingerie holding Dr Fink on a leash

Taja Sevelle made her 1st 'known' vocal appearance

in 1985 on Prince's Around the World in a Day: the Ladder

The Ladder
[John L. Nelson & Prince]
Saxophone playing by Eddie M.
Background voices are Susannah, Taj, Wendy & Lisa
Recorded at Mobile Audio by David Tickle

1987 her debut Paisley Park album is released along with Jill Jones, Madhouse & Prince:Sign o the Times, but like Jill Jones, she isn't visually connected to what's happening with Prince

introducing Taja Sevelle

Taja Sevelle is a music recording artist, songwriter, novelist and inventor from Minneapolis, Minnesota who began her music career in 1987 when she was signed to the Paisley Park Records label by Prince. In the same week, she was accepted into the Berklee College of Music in Boston

[Edited 11/28/12 5:28am]

Another talent that could have toured with him 'love is contagious' did well in the UK .Still think the album got some good tunes on it.

13stretch said:

Another talent that could have toured with him 'love is contagious' did well in the UK .Still think the album got some good tunes on it.

I think her album Toys of Vanity is so much better. I was so disappointed when I heard this PP album at first, could not stand her sining. I gave it another try years later and it changed for me.

OldFriends4Sale said:

née Nancy Richardson

Somewhere in the camp prior to this she's either on the Purple Rain movie set or background live set, we see her in lace and lingerie holding Dr Fink on a leash

I had no idea that was her in the pic with Dr. Fink!

NuPwrSoul said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

née Nancy Richardson

Somewhere in the camp prior to this she's either on the Purple Rain movie set or background live set, we see her in lace and lingerie holding Dr Fink on a leash

I had no idea that was her in the pic with Dr. Fink!

yep. I believe this is from the movie set. I wonder if she was in the movie somewhere

[Edited 11/28/12 5:33am]

Prince Years:

After a year of negotiations in which Taja retained 100 % of her own publishing rights, Taja signed a seven year record deal with Paisley Park Records / Warner Brothers Records. Prince flew her to Los Angeles to work with Lenny Warniker at Warner Brothers. He felt that the Warner environment would be a good match for her artistic abilities. He also gave her more freedom than any other artist he had ever signed, allowing her to write her own music on her debut CD as well as choose her own producer. The label decided that she would appeal to both the Pop and R&B, (Urban) markets. They assigned both Michael Ostin, the head of Pop A&R and the son of the Chairman of Warner Brothers Records at the time, Legendary Mo Ostin, and to Benny Medina who was the head of Urban (R&B) A&R at the time. Both Michael Ostin and Benny Medina were instrumental in making sure that Taja Sevelle was the artist who would launch a revival of the famous label, Reprise, which was formally Frank Sinatra’s Label. The launch began with a large marketing push which included some full page, fold out adds on the front of Billboard Magazine in late 1987. There were three songs on Taja’s debut CD that she wrote by herself: Love is Contagious, Fly for Your Painted Rainbow, and Take Me For A Ride. She also co-wrote “Mama 16”. Prince originally wanted her to sing four other songs that he had written, but Taja chose two from the four, “Wouldn’t You Love to Love Me?”, and “If I Could Get Your Attention.” Taja made lyrical adjustments in “If I Could Get Your Attention”, tailor making them more to her style, which made it a co-written song with Prince. The obvious choice for a first single from the CD, was “Love Is Contagious.” From Minneapolis to Hollywood, the first song Taja Sevelle had soley written, “Love is Contagious,” became a charted Billboard hit in America and Europe.

Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? is the second track on Taja Sevelle's first album Taja Sevelle, and, in early 1988, Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? was released as the album's second single. Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? was written and produced by Prince (with production credited to the album's main producer, Chico Bennett), with uncredited saxophone by Eric Leeds.

While specific recording dates are not known, the track was initially recorded in 1976 as a home recording on a basic cassette recorder (during the same set of recordings as For You, Nightingale, I Spend My Time Loving You, Rock Me, Lover and Don't You Wanna Ride?), featuring some lyrics that were changed or removed for later recordings. The track was re-recorded twice in Summer, 1978 at Prince's France Avenue Home Studio, Edina, MN, USA; once with Prince on vocals and once with Sue Ann Carwell on vocals (during the same set of sessions as Make It Through The Storm, Since We've Been Together and I'm Saving It Up). It was re-recorded again on 1 April, 1982, at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA. This version was worked on further in 1986 (either at Sunset Sound or at Prince's Galpin Blvd Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA), and this version was submitted to Michael Jackson for use on his album Bad (producer Quincy Jones had called Prince to ask him to duet on the song Bad, and when Prince declined, he submitted this song instead). It is unlikely Michael Jackson recorded a version of the song, however. Prince then submitted the song to Taja Sevelle, who simply replaced Prince's own vocals, and the track was edited slightly for its release. Remixes for the single release took place in late 1987 at a variety of studios -PrinceVault

[Edited 11/28/12 5:17am]

Love me some Taja Seville and her debut was awesome and she was one of the better vocalist on paisley park right along with Jill Jones......I LOVE Fly For Your Painted Rainbow off her debut & Mama 16...........Should have been a HUGE SELLER IMO!

Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me video pix

[Edited 11/28/12 5:33am]

Rel September 22, 1987

1. Love Is Contagious
2. Wouldn't You Love to Love Me?
3. Popular
4. How Could You Do Me So Bad?
5. Take Me for a Ride
6. If I Could Get Your Attention
7. Infatuation
8. Baby's Got a Lover
9. Mama 16
10. Fly for Your Painted Rainbow

[Edited 11/28/12 5:30am]

I like the songs "Popular" and "Infatuation".They released "Popular" as the third single but they chose a lame remix version for the video the album version is superior.

Taja is sweet and her first album, despite its flaws, will always remain a favorite of mine. I kinda ignored Fountain Free (most beautiful cover, but the music didn't go in the right direction IMHO: Taja may have made it as a great pop artist at this point, not as a dance-music singer) and then Toys Of Vanity popped-up in record stores, straight out of nowhere at a time when I thought we'd never hear of her again, and to my surprise it was kind of a masterpiece. It's a deep album, really. And as most great records do, it bombed and then gone was Taja.

I'm glad she found her own path and was successful in the end, even though it wasn't as a musical artist. If she ever records again, I'll be there

Good to know. I wonder what happen to her after Prince Christened her?

I have never heard Taja Sevelle's debut album on Paisley Park Records. I would love to have a good MP3 copy of it. I see it's unavailable for download (of course) on itunes and amazon. I thought I might buy an out-of-print copy of the CD. Wow! they fetch over $200!!! I can't afford that!

Taja is amazing. And beautiful.