I am new here and hope i am welcomed. love Prince first off. i was just hoping that maybe Vanity Denise Matthews might finally get some re releases of her music. would love to hear some of her stuff that maybe in the vault from Motown? maybe finally get "Nature Boy" on cd? or any other stuff she may have recorded for her third album that never was. i'd even settle of a Best of just to own it remastred. if you go to itunes, there is nothing for sale music wise by her and it's a shame. thoughts?

Hopefully that will happen if there is a demand. Sadly the only way to get her stuff is on ebay. I had all her albums and some posters, but they were destroyed a couple of years ago.

I'm surprised NO label ever tried to get the recordings, probably never gonna get the Vanity 6 stuff but the other should be a bit easier to obtain and even with bonus tracks, it will be kind of like the Pointer Sisters, Diana Ross reissues that popped out with little notice but still got out there.

Vanity 6 was on CD(not a bootleg), which I was lucky to get a copy a couple of years ago, so that may happen.

shaedreams said:

Moving to Associated Artists forum

I don't think Motown would rerelease them now on CD (though maybe on iTunes, etc) but possible another company would buy the rights and bring them out. That happened with e.g. Irene Cara with her first two albums (incl. What A Feelin') another company got rights and brought them out years later on CD with bonus tracks.

From Motown era with Vanity first two albums, 12" versions & diff. mixes, songs from films like '7th Heaven', outtakes, demos, etc - lot of material!

She also signed with A&M and Geffen records and started work on a 3rd album recording several songs with Jam & Lewis etc - not sure which record company (A&M or Geffen?) has the rights to them.

The versions on CD of the first two albums floating around are unofficial, and as there were never any official CD versions - they come from vinyl or audio tape!

Seems to be the exact kind of thing Big Break Records of Funkytowngrooves would be going for.

There is a demand for Vanity's albums. There is no reason why Motown shouldn't reissue these in CD format or MP3 download. They recently reissued all four of Tata Vega's Motown albums as MP3 downloads (2 of them are on CD). Tata Vega. I bet there are no more than 4 people on this entire board who can tell me who she is.

kitbradley said:

There is a demand for Vanity's albums. There is no reason why Motown shouldn't reissue these in CD format or MP3 download. They recently reissued all four of Tata Vega's Motown albums as MP3 downloads (2 of them are on CD). Tata Vega. I bet there are no more than 4 people on this entire board who can tell me who she is.

To be fair, she was featured quite prominently in the Oscar-winning documentary '20 Feet From Stardom' a couple of years back so I suspect Motown reissued those of the back of that.

kitbradley said:

I do not want a best of thats for sure .... i definetely want remastered ish of her solo work .... and i wonder were there a lot of outtakes from wild animal .... i prefer her penned songs from that campy album wild animal than that mainstream trash from skin on skin.... but i still want it all hahaha

MandalayWay said:

I don't think Motown would rerelease them now on CD (though maybe on iTunes, etc) but possible another company would buy the rights and bring them out. That happened with e.g. Irene Cara with her first two albums (incl. What A Feelin') another company got rights and brought them out years later on CD with bonus tracks.

From Motown era with Vanity first two albums, 12" versions & diff. mixes, songs from films like '7th Heaven', outtakes, demos, etc - lot of material!

She also signed with A&M and Geffen records and started work on a 3rd album recording several songs with Jam & Lewis etc - not sure which record company (A&M or Geffen?) has the rights to them.

The versions on CD of the first two albums floating around are unofficial, and as there were never any official CD versions - they come from vinyl or audio tape!

When did V sign with A&M and Geffen? Did Motown drop her? Why?

scriptgirl said:

When did Vanity sign with A&M and Geffen? Did Motown drop her? Why?

The two albums that she recorded for Motown didn't sell alot of copies,so that's probably why she was dropped.Around 1988,there was talk about a third album,tentatively titled Cherry Bomb,that she was recording.Supposedly,Jam and Lewis were contributing some tracks.

jaawwnn said:

Seems to be the exact kind of thing Big Break Records of Funkytowngrooves would be going for.

Exactly.

The two songs she recorded for the 1988 Action Jackson movie ("Undress" and "Faraway Eyes") are excellent.These could be bonus tracks on a remaster of 'Skin On Skin',perhaps.

"Faraway Eyes" by Vanity (produced by Jesse Johnson)

SoulAlive said:

scriptgirl said:

When did Vanity sign with A&M and Geffen? Did Motown drop her? Why?

The two albums that she recorded for Motown didn't sell alot of copies,so that's probably why she was dropped.Around 1988,there was talk about a third album,tentatively titled Cherry Bomb,that she was recording.Supposedly,Jam and Lewis were contributing some tracks.

I don't think it is known if she was dropped or left. It may just be the other companies offered her a better deal or Motown towards the end of her time with them weren't allowing her enough freedom to do what she wanted. But possible as you said she was dropped.

MandalayWay said:

SoulAlive said:

The two albums that she recorded for Motown didn't sell alot of copies,so that's probably why she was dropped.Around 1988,there was talk about a third album,tentatively titled Cherry Bomb,that she was recording.Supposedly,Jam and Lewis were contributing some tracks.

I don't think it is known if she was dropped or left. It may just be the other companies offered her a better deal or Motown towards the end of her time with them weren't allowing her enough freedom to do what she wanted. But possible as you said she was dropped.

I remember reading somewhere that after the first album, that she had mostly composed, sold poorly, Motown either convinced or forced her to use qualified songwriters for the second album, which she did. That album was much, much better than the first but didn't sell much either, so it's pretty safe to assume she was thanked. Majors were keen on giving record deals to folks from P's camp at the time but they didn't have much of a second chance: André, Bobby, W&L, Mark, Morris, Jesse, Paul, Apollonia, even Sheila after she left Paisley Park... all released between 1 to 3 albums then were quickly thanked.

SoulAlive said:

scriptgirl said:

When did Vanity sign with A&M and Geffen? Did Motown drop her? Why?

The two albums that she recorded for Motown didn't sell alot of copies,so that's probably why she was dropped.Around 1988,there was talk about a third album,tentatively titled Cherry Bomb,that she was recording.Supposedly,Jam and Lewis were contributing some tracks.

first time hearing bout the cherry bomb title .... but since her album was being recorded in 88 and i believe her health issues occurred in 1990 right ? so I am womdering how much was finished or was she strong out on drugs like say amy winehouse where she was not recording anything .... to me vanity did not look like a strong out addict ever ... the giveaway was always her twisting of the mouth (which i think is called geeking )

databank said:

MandalayWay said:

I don't think it is known if she was dropped or left. It may just be the other companies offered her a better deal or Motown towards the end of her time with them weren't allowing her enough freedom to do what she wanted. But possible as you said she was dropped.

I remember reading somewhere that after the first album, that she had mostly composed, sold poorly, Motown either convinced or forced her to use qualified songwriters for the second album, which she did. That album was much, much better than the first but didn't sell much either, so it's pretty safe to assume she was thanked.

I remember reading that,too.With the first album Wild Animal,Motown gave her complete control and didn't really interfere with the project at all.But when the album sold poorly,they decided to take over.They closely supervised the recording of the second album,Skin On Skin.In my opinion,they should have spent some real money and hired Jam and Lewis to produce an entire album for Vanity.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

I remember reading somewhere that after the first album, that she had mostly composed, sold poorly, Motown either convinced or forced her to use qualified songwriters for the second album, which she did. That album was much, much better than the first but didn't sell much either, so it's pretty safe to assume she was thanked.

I remember reading that,too.With the first album Wild Animal,Motown gave her complete control and didn't really interfere with the project at all.But when the album sold poorly,they decided to take over.They closely supervised the recording of the second album,Skin On Skin.In my opinion,they should have spent some real money and hired Jam and Lewis to produce an entire album for Vanity.

that would have been a great idea but I don't recall Jam & Lewis working with anyone on the Motown roster.

kitbradley said:

SoulAlive said:

I remember reading that,too.With the first album Wild Animal,Motown gave her complete control and didn't really interfere with the project at all.But when the album sold poorly,they decided to take over.They closely supervised the recording of the second album,Skin On Skin.In my opinion,they should have spent some real money and hired Jam and Lewis to produce an entire album for Vanity.

that would have been a great idea but I don't recall Jam & Lewis working with anyone on the Motown roster.

In the 80s,Motown wasn't about to spend some big money on "hot" producers for their artists.I remember thinking that they should hire Quincy Jones to produce an album for El DeBarge....an album that would have finally turned El into a major solo superstar.

kitbradley said:

SoulAlive said:

I remember reading that,too.With the first album Wild Animal,Motown gave her complete control and didn't really interfere with the project at all.But when the album sold poorly,they decided to take over.They closely supervised the recording of the second album,Skin On Skin.In my opinion,they should have spent some real money and hired Jam and Lewis to produce an entire album for Vanity.

that would have been a great idea but I don't recall Jam & Lewis working with anyone on the Motown roster.

Did Vanity's Motown contract extend beyond the Skin on Skin album? Because the Action Jackson soundtrack was on Atlantic records. Anyway, Motown was sold to MCA in 1988 when the "Undress" single came out and Jam & Lewis were already working with MCA artists New Edition at the time so being paired with Vanity as well could have happened.

sexton said:

kitbradley said:

that would have been a great idea but I don't recall Jam & Lewis working with anyone on the Motown roster.

Did Vanity's Motown contract extend beyond the Skin on Skin album? Because the Action Jackson soundtrack was on Atlantic records. Anyway, Motown was sold to MCA in 1988 when the "Undress" single came out and Jam & Lewis were already working with MCA artists New Edition at the time so being paired with Vanity as well could have happened.

she end up signing with geffen whom she was making an album for

VANITYBONET said:

sexton said:

Did Vanity's Motown contract extend beyond the Skin on Skin album? Because the Action Jackson soundtrack was on Atlantic records. Anyway, Motown was sold to MCA in 1988 when the "Undress" single came out and Jam & Lewis were already working with MCA artists New Edition at the time so being paired with Vanity as well could have happened.

she end up signing with geffen whom she was making an album for

Thanks. Jam & Lewis worked with Mary J Blige when she was on Geffen years later. The point of all this being I don't think the label to which an artist is signed matters when Jam & Lewis chooses to work with them.