Mostly the "CROSSROADS" chapter thats what I hate about the state of Prince-protege artists(being left-overs or side-projects) bimbos like Carmen Electra, Vanity 6/Apollonia 6, Ingrid get the hard work while Rosie Gains, Boni Boyer & Jill Jones get the sloppy seconds. I don't have Jill's debut LP but so far I heard many great efforts from the woman and its a shame that she and Prince ended their relationship like that.


Enjoy:


(Taken from Jill Jones' unofficial fanclub)The following article appeared in issue no. 39 of UPTOWN magazine, and is reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Per Nilsen.

BABY, YOU'RE A TRIP

After meeting Prince on the Dirty Mind tour in 1980, Jill Jones was closely involved in Prince’s work for most of the eighties. They had a close friendship and Prince wrote "She’s always in my Hair" about her in 1984 and he nicknamed her the "white fox." Her self-titled 1987 album has long been considered one of the most impressive releases by all of Prince’s protégés and side projects.

In this article, Per Nilsen trace’s Jill’s background and describes her work with Prince in the eighties. Her acclaimed Jill Jones album is examined in detail and her subsequent career is discussed.

Jill Jones was born in a little town in Ohio between Cincinnati and Dayton to a black mother and an Italian father, who was a jazz drummer. Her mother as a fashion model and worked all over the world. "When I wanted to spend time with my mother, I had to travel with her to London, New York, L.A., and Madrid. It was impossible to spend any length of time together because she was always travelling."

Jill was raised primarily by her grandparents until her mother’s second marriage took the family to Los Angeles where they settled down. At the age of 17, she left home to pursue her dream of becoming a professional songwriter and singer. One of her first jobs was as a backing singer for Teena Marie, who was managed by her mother. Marie was the opening act for Prince on the 1980 Dirty Mind tour.

"It was a real interesting time to meet Prince, because he was wearing those little bikini pants and boots," Jill remembers. "I just went, ‘Oh, my goodness.’" She found him "a little arrogant ‘ cause he was say." Whereas "all the other girls pretty much wanted him," she kept her distance. "That’s probably why he found me interesting. It’s scary when you meet someone who’s a lot like you, who’s very naive and a bit of a spoiled brat, to be perfectly honest."

WORK STARTS

Jill and Prince stayed in touch after the tour. Prince loved her voice and encouraged her to sing. She was invited to Sunset Sound sessions in Los Angeles in 1982, and sang on several 1999 tracks and appeared in the "1999! and "Automatic" videos, before joining the 1999 tour to sing backing vocals for Vanity 6. At Prince’s instigation, she moved to Minneapolis after the 1999 tour. She played a waitress in the Purple Rain film, and tentative work on a solo album began.

Having spent quite a bit of time watching Prince work with other people, Jill was delighted to embark on her own album. "I had seen Vanity and all that stuff and I thought, ‘Wow! I want this, I want it all!’ I’ve seen a lot go down, I’ve seen them come and go. But a lot of people didn’t know how to deal with Prince. you have to be careful and now always be up in his face, because he gets bored real fast." Jill’s uncle (her mother’s brother), Earl Jones, was later employed as Prince’s hair stylist.

The start of Jill’s album was ‘Mia Bocca’, which Prince had cut in 1982 in his home studio shortly after taping "1999". The song was set aside and Jill replaced Prince’s guide vocal in the summer of 1983. At one point, the song was intended for the Purple Rain film (when it was still called Dreams). Jill took part in recording sessions for the projected second album with Vanity 6, including "G-Spot" and the unreleased "Vibrator", on which she appeared as a storekeeper. "we originally wrote ‘G-Spot’ for Vanity, but since I liked it so much, I decided to keep it for myself." Later in 1983, Prince also recorded a song called "Wednesday", for Jill to sing in Purple Rain. "G-Spot" and "Mia Bocca" ended up on her record, but "Wednesday" was never included in Purple Rain and remains unreleased to this day.

Jill guested on many sessions at Sunset Sound in the early part of 1984, but Prince was far too busy with Purple Rain and records with The Time, Apollonia 6, and Sheila E. to do any more work with her at the time. She knew it would take some time before they would be able to continue work on her album , so for a while she studies acting, art and sculpting. "I stayed out of the mainstream while I got my priorities together. But I guess I always was a closet singer. We were all like little kids playing a big game. But they were so committed to it and I always found it hard to have a commitment about anything or anybody. I just wanted to be free."



1985 SESSIONS

It was not until May 1985, then, that work began in earnest on Jill’s album. "That’s when I made up my mind and really started working seriously with Prince." Following the Purple Rain tour, Jill worked with Prince at Sunset Sound. She sang on the B-side track "Hello" and they taped a few songs for possible use on her record. Prince wrote a song called "My Man" on acoustic guitar in the studio. "I think it’s a very good song and he made jokes about him singing it, but he gave it to Jill," says Susan Rogers, who was the engineer.

"For Love" was a live take with several members of The Family, who were in Los Angeles to shoot a video for their single, "Screams of Passion." "They had a lot of fun playing that song," Rogers recalls. "It went on for a long time. Of course, it was edited down to album length but it was a long jam. With other singers, Prince would always do a guide vocal and have them copy it. With Jill, there was no need to do that because she was such a great singer. We all felt really strongly about that track. Tina Turner was really big around that time and Prince was talking about how this track was going to blow Tina off the map." The sessions also produced four songs that were left off Jill’s album: "Come Elektra Tuesday," "Married Man," "Living Doll," and "Killin’ at the Soda Shop."

Jill and Prince investigated a wealth of songs from his back catalogue, including "No Call U," "My Baby Knows How To Love Me," "There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool," and "Boom, Boom, Can’t U Feel The Beat Of My Heart." Most of the tracks came from the 1981-82 period and were written from a female point of view. They also pulled out a song called "Baby, You’re A Trip," which had been recorded during the same Sunset Sound sessions that produced the 1999 track "Lady Cab Driver," on which Jill appeared. Jill replaced Prince’s vocal on the song. "Prince was blown away by Jill’s vocals on ‘Baby, You’re A Trip,’ recalls Rogers. "She’s a professional. He was very impressed with her voice. Jill is incredibly talented. The woman can sing!" Some of the songs were sent to Clare Fischer for orchestrations, including "Baby, You’re A Trip," "G-Spot," and "Mia Bocca," which was featured briefly as an instrumental in Under The Cherry Moon.

Prince came up with another song for the album in the summer of 1985, "My Sex," which Jill wanted to use as the title track. She felt it suited the album thematically, but it was considered insufficient to make the record. The track was "forgettable," according to Rogers. "It didn’t have a great lead line or anything that would give it a hook. They realised that it just wasn’t that good of a song."

DAVID RIVKIN TAKES OVER

A two-week period of sessions at Sunset Sound followed in February 1986. Prince and Jill taped one new track, "Euphoria Highway," and recorded overdubs and did more work on the tracks they had chosen for the album. At this stage, the project was turned over to David Rivkin as Prince realised he was not going to have enough time to complete it on it’s own. He felt Rivkin could spend more time and care with the record.

A sing from 1980, "Too Rough," which had also been considered for The Family’s album, was updated with new vocals by Jill, as well as with a saxophone part by Eric Leeds. Likewise, Jill replaced Prince’s vocals on "All Day, All Night." which was recorded live with The Revolution during Prince’s 1984 birthday concert at First Avenue. The first configuration of Jill’s album was compiled in late February 1986, but it would take another year before the record was completed. "Prince decided it needed more work or songs," says Rivkin. "We didn’t go ‘what?’ We went ‘yes, OK.’ That’s why it took so long."

Apart from tracks that eventually ended up on Jill’s album, the early version of her record included "Euphoria Highway" and "Too Rough". Being a slow-paced, predominantly synth-based instrumental piece (apart from Jill’s wailed intro of the title phrase), "Euphoria Highway" is very different from the rest of the material that was worked on for Jill’s album. "Too Rough," meanwhile. is an uptempo pop effort about a woman who carries her money in her garter belt with a pistol. The men all want to take her out, but her only aim is to take their money, pride, and personality. The song was later offered to Joyce Kennedy, formerly of Mother’s Finest. She turned it down, commenting, "I don’t think it’s some of his best work. The hook and the vocal lead are good, but the rest of the song... It’s real strange."

Rivkin and Jill continued work on the album in the summer of 1986 at the Electric Ladyland studios in New York, to where Jill had moved. Using seasoned New York studio musicians and Steve Stevens, guitarist with Billy Idol, they recorded a version of Prince’s "With You" and two songs that Jill wrote herself that became B-sides, "77 Bleeker St." and "Baby Cries (Ay Yah)." "That was great," says Rivkin of recording in New York. "I got all the players. Steve Stevens was a friend of Jill’s and he was terrific. He came in and played anything you wanted him to play. He was really terrific!"

Later in the year, Jill guested with Prince at many sessions at Sunset Sound and they recorded one last song for her album in October 1986, "Violet Blue." "He’s great at getting me in the mood," Jill said about the recording of "Violet Blue." "He’ll want an atmosphere for a song, we did one, ‘Violet Blue’. which was very emotional, and his father was in the studio. We talked about old times and reminisced and it helped the ambience. I felt like Sarah Vaughan singing in the Blue Note Club in 1955." Eric Leeds and Matt Blistan added horn parts to the song and it was subsequently send to Clare Fischer for his input.

Rivkin and Jill put the album together at Electric Ladyland and sent a tape to Prince, but he was still not completely satisfied. According to Rivkin, "Prince went, ‘This song need this, that song needs that,’ so we went and remixed and re-recorded over some of the stuff." After additional work, the album was finally deemed finished in early 1987. "That poor album took such a long time to do," says Susan Rogers. "Jill was really patient with Prince through all those years. She’s infinitely patient. It was one of her greatest qualities."

FOUR YEARS IN THE MAKING

Jill Jones’ self-titled album was eventually released on Paisley Park records on May 26th 1987, almost four years after work had commenced on the project. Prince was listed as co-writer with Jill on four tracks ("Mia Bocca," "G-Spot," "All Day, All Night" and "For Love"), while Jill took credit to three songs ("Baby, You’re A Trip," "My Man" and "Violet Blue"). The remaining track, "With You," was a cover of the Prince song from 1979.

The songs attributed to Jill were copyrighted to White Fox Publishing. Much like the case with Prince’s previous side projects, however, his involvement in Jill’s record was much more substantial that the public was led to believe. He was in fact the sole writer of all the tracks on the album. The "co-written" songs (and "With You" are copyrighted as Prince compositions and the songs attributed to Jill on the album sleeve are registered at ASCAP’s copyright office as being written by Joey Coco. Jill and David Rivkin were listed as producers on five tracks of the album and Jill with Prince on three songs.



Jill maintained in interviews that the album was a close collaborative effort with Prince, saying that she had declined his offer to conceal his contributions altogether because she felt secure enough with her own input to disregard assumptions that Prince had done everything on the album. She was generally perceived as a stronger, more independent artist than Prince’s previous female protégés. Certainly, the black and white cover photo of Jill, plainly dressed in a skirt and a cardigan, buttoned up to the neck, contrasted with the more sexual and glamorous looks Prince has devised for Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E., and The Family.

Jill was clearly aware of Prince’s domineering reputation with the women he had worked with, and she stressed that she was his "equal" and not a puppet. "He allowed me to get involved. He’d write the music, make a cassette and say, ‘Write some words to this.’ Prince and I worked well together, better, I think, than anyone else he’s collaborated with. I’m not in his shadow. He’s my friend and so I consider him helping me is fine."

Although Jill more than likely did contribute to the lyrics of some of the songs and influenced the album in many ways, the record is in all essentials another Prince side project. Aside from Clare Fischer’s orchestral arrangements on four songs, Prince provided the instrumental backing to all the tracks barring the live take of "All Day, All Night" with The Revolution (with Prince on guitar) and "With You", which was recorded by a line-up of New York musicians assembled by Jill and David Rivkin. Additionally, "For Love" features saxophone by Eric Leeds, drums by Jellybean Johnson, and bass by Paul Peterson (uncredited). Despite missing from the credits, Eric also appears (on saxophone) with Matt Blistan (trumpet) on "Violet Blue"

ENJOYABLE AND ENGAGING

Containing some of the strongest Prince outtakes from 1982 to 1984 and material written specifically for Jill, Jill Jones is one of the most consumately enjoyable and engaging releases by all of Prince’s protégés and side projects. The songs fully explore Jill’s vocal abilities and her singing ranges from the intimate and sensitive to more exuberant and impassioned performances. Much like Parade, the album mixes tracks which incorporate Clare Fischer’s full-blown orchestral backings with more sparsely arranged numbers.

"Mia Bocca" is an appealing rhythmic pop offering featuring a synth lead line, Prince’s distinctive bass-playing, and a lush string and horn orchestration that adds an element of depth and sophistication. "G-Spot" is also a finely crafted pop tune, boasting a typical synth lead line and a horn section that includes Randy Brecker, well respected as one of the finest musicians of the jazz-rock fusion scene (along with his brother, Michael Brecker.) The song is propelled by Prince’s funky bass line and a loud, mechanical drum machine beat. The title of the song referred to a massively publicised manual published in 1983 that purported to uncover scintillating new truths about the female physiology. The book in an excellent example of the tendency for science to reduce human sexuality to a question of pure mechanics. "I was kidding about, because you read this stuff in magazines, and I find it very funny," Jill said. "You know, they’ve found this g-spot, and you think ‘OK, where is it?’ I think it’s funny that we don’t like to make choices of our own. It takes all the sensuality away from it." She explained that the rhythm of "G-Spot" was deliberately hard and robotic, mocking the cold rationality of consumerised sexuality.

Showing Prince’s rockier side, "All Day, All Night" and "For Love" are two pumping, uptempo rock numbers fuelled by Prince’s inspired guitar work. The latter is a duet between Prince and Jill. "With You," meanwhile, is a fairly straightforward interpretation of the song. the album’s other ballad, "Baby, You’re A Trip," is cushioned by an elaborate orchestral backing and the track gradually builds to a gospel finale. Unquestionably, one of the outstanding tracks is "Violet Blue," a gorgeous, dramatic pop song with a formidable rhythmic power. "That song is so romantic and it suits my personality really well," Jill commented on "Violet Blue." "I’m sensitive and I have a weakness for fragile romance."

SONG BY SONG

"Mia Bocca" is told from the point of view of a woman who has been faithful to the one lover she has had since she was twelve years old, but who now finds herself faced with a man who drives her "koo koo" (a phrase that was later turned into a song by Prince for Sheila E.). The Italian title of the song means "my mouth." Jill starts off full of reserve, telling the new man in her life that she does not care how excited he gets her, she will not betray her lover. However, she admits to being attracted to this other man and says that they have "got to do something." To rationalise her affair with this man, she says that she will pretend that she is just acting out a scene in a movie, as if such a pretence makes her actions a mere fiction which never took place. And as long as he promises to keep their rendezvous a secret, she will allow him to "be a page in [her] diary," suggesting that their meeting will be a one-night stand.

While "Mia Bocca" is ostensibly told from a woman’s point of view, the scenario portrayed in the song clearly betrays the masculine fantasy behind it. Here, Prince has concocted a situation where a man possessed of a mysteriously strong animal magnetism has completely confounded a woman who has until now been totally faithful to the only lover she has ever known. The real subject of this song is the man’s power to persuade this otherwise faithful woman into having an affair with him. There are no apparent consequences for the man if their tryst is discovered, while the woman has to risk that her long-time love might learn of what they have done.

In "G-Spot", Jill goes through various items, namely "frustration," "instigation", "naked body," "America (and the things you read in magazines)," "location," "lust," and "yearning," the first letters of which add up to "finally." As she keeps repeating "g-spot, g-spot, where, oh where can you be?" it seems as if she is saying that, after having gone through everything, she has finally found it. One of the more interesting lines is "I am a clock, the time is nine fifteen." At 9:15 the hands of the clock are spread out on a horizontal line, as presumably her body is while engaged in her search for the elusive g-spot.



"Violet Blue" tells the story of a woman who is on the way to the "man she is promised to," but who faces the temptation of "another with eyes of violet blue." Her body is described as being on fire with passion for this new man, and she fills her mind with fantasies of his sweet voice. Her dilemma is that she has only eleven minutes until she is supposed to be with her boyfriend. Tellingly, that eleven minutes is describes as being both too short a time for the two new lovers to be together, while at the same time too long because she should not really be with him at all. She knows that if she is not careful she will fall in love with him, although it seems as if it is too late as it is clear that she already wants him. Since they have such a short time to be together, the minute they spend when they first meet is described as being the equivalent of losing a year’s worth of time. Wondering about this mysterious attractive man, the woman in the song ponders whether he is married, or if he might want to be some day. She eventually realises that she has to leave, even though she would rather stay with him. As she turns to leave, she notices that she is late, asking "what’s a woman to do?" The answer is that she stayed with her newly found lover, because as Jill sings, she could look at his violet blue eyes for all time, "and that’s what a real woman wants to do"

in "All Day, All Night," Jill sings the part of a woman who desires her man so that she is virtually intoxicated by the mere thought of him. Whether it is mistaking her lips for the "petals from some crazy flower," or his mouth as "some wet tornado," everything is swirling when she is with him, and because of that, she is willing to be with him "all night, and all day." She makes her "final plea" for her man to make love to her, telling him that if he does not, he will "witness the slow and horrible death of your white fox." She is so anxious to have him that she is actually aroused by the sight of him making love to other women, as she is confident that no other woman will ever love or kiss him like she can.

"For Love" deals with what Jill would do for the love she has for her man. Even though her friends do not understand how she could have given her best years to this man, she admits that she would follow him anywhere, do almost anything, and would even chain him up if that would put him in the proper "frame of mind." The situation gets even kinkier in the second verse, when she says that she would even "suffer kisses from another," presumably while he watched, if that is what he was into. When she says that "for love" she has "done less and still felt the best," she is probably saying that for the sake of her man, she has done less than she ordinarily would but still felt good about it because she was with her man. In the third and final verse, Jill tells her man that he can come and take her, and that "any way you make me, I’ll be good and that’s for sure." She also lets him know that if he is feeling lonely, she would be the only one to provide him with a cure.

"My Man" is a song about a woman who loves her man, even though he cheats on her, talks down to her, and plays around with her pride. Jill sings the part of the woman speaking to her faithless lover, who is the male counterpart to the "do-wrong woman" who appears in so many of Prince’s songs. If there is any irony in the song, it is because the man in "My Man" is hardly worthy of the devotion and love his woman has for him. In pleading with him to stop his cheating, his woman reveals her man to be arrogant, conceited and insensitive. However, in spite of his considerable indiscretions, she continues to give him everything he wants, insisting that she is his woman and that he is her man. "My Man" is fairly superficial as Prince’s lyrics never explore the complexities the relationship might present, such as the good points the man might possess which allow his woman to overlook a list of bad ones, and there is no sort of resolution of the situation at the song’s end.

Much like several other songs on the album, the closing "Baby, You’re A Trip" involves a woman completely enamoured with a man. Jill is willing to be with him even though she knows he is not really in love with her. In "My Man", the woman was confused by her lover’s faithlessness and almost desperate to get him to return the love she shows to him, whereas "Baby, You’re A Trip" involves a woman who seems resigned to the fact that she is in love with a man who, while not cheating on her, is distant and does not know how to return her love. The lyrics of "Baby, You’re A Trip" suggest that her man has her star-struck, because she tells him that he would be "great in motion pictures" because he has "really got [her] blind." However, later on her response to those who claim she is a "star-struck little fool" is to say she would love him even if he did not have a penny, which suggests that the object of her affections is in fact wealthy and famous. Prince’s lyrics even make an obvious reference to one of his earlier songs when Jill sings that, according to her man, the problem is not him, but rather what is in her diet, because "something in the water don’t compute." However, rather than accept his blame, she responds by saying that she is "quite healthy," and feels young enough that if he were to lover her back he would see who the fool is.

RECEPTION

Expectedly, Prince’s involvement in Jill’s record enhanced interest and their relationship was a favourite subject in the interviews she gave. She said that she was like Prince’s sister, daughter, and friend. "It’s just nice to have Prince as a friend. We have a lot of spiritual talks. Other times I’ll just talk about me. I’m like his kid. He’s watched me grow and sometimes he’s so wise. Sometimes I’m wise too. But I do like to share what I’ve learned with him, because there are people who are real hesitant to tell him about themselves because they think he’ll judge them. But Prince isn’t a judgmental type of person. He’s real open."

The album was warmly received, particularly in Europe, where she made many television appearances and two of the singles, "Mia Bocca" and "G-Spot", became minor hits. A tasteful, sepia-coloured video of "Mia Bocca" was shot in Mexico by French film director and photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, whom Steve Fargnoli originally had wanted to recruit as director of Under The Cherry Moon. Mondino had shot several highly acclaimed video clips, including Don Henley’s "The Boys of Summer." He would later photograph the cover of Prince’s Lovesexy album and shoot the video for "I Wish U Heaven."





Despite it’s obvious commercial potential, however, Jill’s album failed to enter Billboard’s pop and black Top 100 chart and none of the three singles, "Mia Bocca," "G-Spot," and "For Love" charted in the US. "That was just another case of Paisley Park records not getting the proper promotion," says David Rivkin. "just because the record is good doesn’t mean it’s going to sell. There’s a lot more to it, unfortunately. The album ended up being some sort of cult thing in Europe. People are still looking for that record."



CROSSROADS

By the time the album was released, Jill had moved to New York. Although she and Prince kept in touch in the subsequent years, they didn’t have the same close friendship they previously had had. "She was always in and out of his life," Susan Rogers comments. "Although I know she wanted to be with him, she seemed to be able to remove herself somewhat from really getting down in the trenches and having any open hostilities towards any of the other women that he was involved with. She wanted to be a bigger part of his life than she ended up being, but her attitude was one of not really worrying about it too much. She left Minneapolis for New York and carried on with her life."

Jill went to England in the autumn of 1988 to work on songs intended for a second Paisley Park album. She recorded a collection of songs at the AOSIS Studio in London with Chris Bruce: "Deep Kiss," "Living Legend," "Long Time," "Unattainable Love," "White Dogs," "Red," "Tango," "Ecstasy," "Revolutionary," and "Sweet Liberty." Bruce is well known among musicians and producers for writing and performing with Trevor Horn on the Seal albums. He has also performed with Wendy and Lisa. "I found somebody who, when we were writing together, there is a real dynamic energy aroused," Jill says of Bruce. "We are kindred and I owe him so much for walking into my life."

The London material had a more personal edge to it that the Jill Jones album. The songs were intended for presentation to Prince as submissions for her second album. "That was the intention, but Prince had the final say," Jill says. She was back in Minneapolis in the summer of 1989 to work with Prince on the proposed album. Prince had recorded a couple of new tracks for the record, "Flesh And Blood" and "Am I Without U?" and revamped two left-overs from her first album, "My Baby Knows How To Love Me" and "Boom, Boom, Can’t U Feel The Beat Of My Heart," of which a video clip was shot.

Jill’s second Paisley Park album was never completed, an important reason being that Jill and Prince were no longer seeing eye to eye. "His view of me and how I viewed myself were leagues apart," according to Jill. "I would have to say that we were definitely at a crossroads. I know that my mission and contribution had to be more than just another Prince girl. As Paisley Park’s initial agenda of artistic individuality and credibility began to shift into ‘theme park mode,’ it affected me like a bad blood transfusion. I am repellent to gimmicks and schemes, as well as restricting oneself to a one-dimensional thought or theory." Today Jill says that she is thankful that the second Paisley Park album never came to be. "It just wasn’t meant to be. I don’t feel that it’s too healthy to become apathetic when it comes to your creativity or too desperate. As my Mom always said to me, ‘Desperate people do desperate things, be sure that you can live with yourself afterwards."

Despite their growing differences, Jill took part in Prince’s next film, Graffiti Bridge. Her role was originally much larger than what she eventually ended up playing. When Prince and his then-girlfriend Kim Basinger, who was the proposed female lead in the film, parted ways shortly before the filming began in early 1990, Prince merely combined Kim’s and Jill’s parts and gave them to Ingrid Chavez; Jill was given a new, smaller part as Prince’s girlfriend. While flying to Minneapolis to film the movie, Jill read the revised script on the plane and promptly tore it up, threw it round the cabin and retired to the bathroom. Her assistant was left to go round the plane, explaining to people "that number-58 page there, in your fettuccine, can I have it please?" Jill later said that if she hadn’t already been on the plane, she would have returned home there and then.



Jill did turn up in Minneapolis, but she refused to speak to Prince on the set of Graffiti Bridge. In fact, she wouldn’t communicate with anyone except in French. Prince got upset and told her, "If you don’t smile and act better round here, then this is your replacement," and proceeded to show her a photograph. Her answer was, "Oh, an old girlfriend?" She stayed to shoot the film, but her relationship with Prince would never be the same again.



INTO THE NINETIES

In 1990, Jill collaborated with Japanese avant-garde musician Ryuichi Sakamoto on the track "You Do Me," for his album Beauty. The same year she came to England to work on demos with Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass and a musician named John Reynolds, who has worked with Sinead O’Connor, the Indigo Girls, and Nusrat Fahteh Ali Khan amongst others. According to Jill, they created "quite a few experimental tracks." She says of John Reynolds, "He has been another constant force in my life. He possesses the ability to merge himself with an artist and provide the right amount of push."

In 1995, Jill sang backing vocals on "Oil For The Lamps Of China", the debut single by The Listening Pool, a UK group comprised of three former members of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which subsequently appeared on their debut album Still Life.

Jill’s friendship with Tim Simenon led her to front a UK band called Baby Mother, which was a collaborative effort with two former members of a Liverpool band called The River City People. The group became very popular throughout the club scene in England and was offered recording contracts from several record labels. Baby Mother decided to sign with London Records, but the group disbanded without even releasing a single. "At the final stages of the project, my mother became quite ill in NYC," Jill remembers. "I returned home from the UK and spent the last eight months of her life with her. Subsequently, my marriage fell apart, I had a toddler on my hands, with the amount of pain and stress, I ended up hospitalized with a blood clot by my heart. Anyway, to be truthful, I was not the same person and the songs we’d been recording lacked meaning to me. So I asked to be released from the project. I was."



Nothing had been heard about Jill for several years until it was announced in 1999 that Exile Records, an American independent urban alternative label, is licensing the release of an acoustic EP to be recorded with Chris Bruce. The record is planned for late 1999. Jill also hopes to be on the road doing some shows by year’s end. A full-length album is planned for 2000, although most likely not with Exile Records.

Jill will be featured on jazz guitarist Ronnie Jordan’s forthcoming Blue Note album, singing a cover of Carly Simon’s "Why." She also sings background vocals on Ultra Nate’s next album, Stranger Than Fiction (on the song "Losing My Everything"). In addition, she has co-written a new song titled "Another Chapter" for a planned Jody Watley dance album project.

Today, Jill lives in New York with her six-year-old daughter, Azusena, who is "remarkable, beautiful, intelligent, talented, pure perfection" and "the best thing that ever happened to me. And I am very humble and thankful to have been blessed with such a treasure." She is excited about her plans to get back to releasing records and performing. And despite all the years out of the limelight, her followers haven’t forgotten her. She says that she is "very taken aback by the interest others have taken in me and find it extremely supportive, and comforting."

DON'T YOU DARE PUT INGRID IN THE SAME CATEGORY WITH CARMEN ELECTRA & APPLES!!!

Listen to her album,ok!

Why would a bimbo be writing stuff like Heaven Must Be Near or Sad Puppet Dance?
You don't have to like her,but nothing she does makes me think "bimbo"!!!

gypsyfire said:

Or else?

I actualy heard a couple from her LP and I still think that her "writing" materials are dry. She shoulda let the poetry 4 those who're GOOD at it IMO.

One part of that article is hilarious...the part when Jill was presented with the final script of "Graffiti Bridge" and her response

Prince wrote a song called "My Man" on acoustic guitar in the studio. "I think it’s a very good song and he made jokes about him singing it, but he gave it to Jill," says Susan Rogers, who was the engineer. My Man is a perfect pop song
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[This message was edited Sat Jun 28 17:49:40 PDT 2003 by jn2]

DavidEye said:

Its the same damn chapter I was talking about ,,,talking about abuse.

Harpilos, you need to get Jill's CD, it's really good. Prince and her put a lot of good work into it...it's one of (if not the) best side project he ever did, IMO.

gypsyfire said:

I knew someone was going to say that, but IMO:

That woman's voice makes me want to stick toothpicks in my eyes.

Thank you very much for posting this! I'd never read it before and it was very interesting.

Jill J. is kicka**...

Harlepolis - I do hope you are able to get your hands on Jill's album soon. It's terrific.

minneapolisgenius said:

I second that

SnowQueen said:

You're welcome!

One of my orger friends was kind enough to send it to me, I think I'm expecting it next week.

Harlepolis said:

That's great!

I know you'll love it.

Cool, thanks for the article! I can just about imagine Jill doing that on the plane, lol, gotta love that girl.


I haven't heard the album in years (lost it-darnitt!!!), but from what I remember it was great, you'll love it.

harlepolis...thanks for posting this! great information. she and i were born in the same part of ohio. jill jones seems to be a very interesting person. she's one of the more intriguing people (once) associated with prince. i was impressed by her determination to not be another princelette. she probably has his eternal respect for that.

This is an interesting article on Jill; I think it was written 2 or 3 years ago, & I am wondering how Jill's (apparent) off-&-on sexual relationship wasn't mentioned.

I say "apparent" because in the Alex Kahn book "Possessed" it says that P & Jill had sex off & on for several years, back from when she came into the picture in 1980..


Come to think of it,
I would not mind finding Jill's "G-spot"..

mltijchr said:

No wonder why Alex get alot of backlash since the man focuses on the DETAILS rather than the events. If the man have to write about a brotha's sex life then he might as well prepare for the next numbers of "Possessed" volumes.

Harlepolis said:

---
Don't you think it is funny that Jill did not bring up her long sexual relationship with Prince. All of the chicks ran around with him knowing that he was seeing other woman and then act surprised when they get dumped.

laurarichardson said:

In a word-->Pride!

Thats one of the reasons why I love her so damn much

Thanks for that cool article.

The Jill Jones LP has always been 1 of my top-3 associates albums (maybe together with The Family + 3rd Sheila E. LP).

JJs album was incredible and definitely should have been a hit. "Violet Blue" is the best of the bunch imo.

mltijchr said:

One day Jill will tell the truth. Prince never dated her or had sex with her. He tortured her for spreading thos WB manufactured lies to further her careeer. You don't get it do you. You can be sued for slander. Like saying you had sex with someone when you didn't...

queen627 said:

...well queen, we actually agree on something, imagine that,

Anyway, jill was never with Prince, as I've said before, contrary to popular belief, Prince didn't sleep with every woman he knew.

BTW; just cause it's in alex's book doesn't mean it's true (this is the same man who said Prince & lisa had a brief affair-gee, i wonder what's wrong with that picture)

lovebizzare said:

LOL I don't know anything about that, once again check the song "Lisa" he maybe right!

Harlepolis said:

I know he wrote that for her, he (and all the guys according to bobby z) had a crush on her when she first joined the band, and wrote that for her. Just becuase he liked her and wrote a song for her doesn't mean he slept with her(as alex said). Rememebr, lisa don't dig men like that.

lovebizzare said:

Yeah I kinda see yo point but lol I always keep in mind that anythang is possible, who knows!

Harlepolis said:

---
If she had pride she would not have continued to sleep with him while he ran around with a half a dozen other woman.

In addtion, someone posted a article on Prince.Org a few years ago. The article was an interwiew with the owner of the bar in Purple Rain. He said that Price use to pick Jill Jones up a take her into the men's room for sex.

You call that pride.

lovebizzare said:

Contrary to popular belief, or contrary to 'popular facts'??? (with women he worked exclusively with) Vanity, Appolonia, Carmen Electra, Kim Basinger, Sheila E...

Beside it all, I l'm lovin' Jill's music and voice... ...
[This message was edited Fri Jul 18 19:09:05 PDT 2003 by Starmist7]

laurarichardson said:

Yes honey, keeping her MOUTH shut about that messy shit is Pride in my eyes.

What she does when she's fooling around is her biz as far as I'm concern. You don't see the woman talks about it every once in a while like the rest of these chickenheads Prince used to mess around. Hell, I'm sure everybody got skeletons in their closet.

Once again, what she does is her only biz, I love her work and yes I like her too

Harlepolis said:

---
No woman that would go into a mens room to have sex has pride. Jill is just another Bimbo. You can dig her music but she is no different than the rest of his chicks.

laurarichardson said:

She used to be with billy idol's guitar player. That bathroom thing only happened a couple of times, they were never an official couple, as people assume. I think "bimbo" is a little harsh, vanity, that was a bimbo. Besides, just because she was like that then doesn't mean she's like that now.
I just don't think she had any self respect, like all of Prince's flings/girlfriends/ect. Susannah, to me, was really the only Prince girlfriend that seemed to have any self respect.
[This message was edited Sun Jul 20 22:48:46 PDT 2003 by lovebizzare]

Starmist7 said:

He was never with sheila or apples (except for the scenes shot for the movie). There are a lot of women that I can name that he never slept with.