Prince's Hot Rock
The secret life of America's sexiest one-man band

By DEBBIE MILLER
What Time Is It?

Joni Mitchell songs blare out of the PA between the sets of Prince's road show, at his request. Vanity 6, three women in lacy camisoles, open the concert. "I love lingerie," explains Vanity, the leader of the group. "I used to sneak into my mother's closet and try to wear her lingerie to school." She picked her nickname because "a girl's best friend is her pride," she says. Like her cohorts, Brenda and Susan, Vanity gave a demo tape of her songs to Prince a year ago. "He said there were a couple other girls whose minds seemed to run alongside mine," she says. Prince then arranged to bring Vanity, a twenty-two-year-old former model from Toronto, to Minneapolis to meet the other two, flying Brenda in from Boston. Soon, the three were writing songs like "Drive Me Wild" and "Nasty Girls" in which Vanity coos, "I can't control it/I need seven inches or more."

It all seems a figment of Prince's imagination, a living fantasy. "Prince and I happen to think alike," says Vanity.

On their record, Vanity 6 is backed by the Time; onstage, they're followed by the Time (who, in turn, are followed by Prince). At one point in the Time's set, frontman Morris Day, a terrific dancer, calls out his valet. The valet -- who often follows Morris' own dance steps like a shadow -- brings out a table, sets it with a white cloth and a vase of flowers, and uncorks a bottle of champagne. Morris, meanwhile, in his trademark two-tone Stacy Adams shoes, waltzes with a girl chosen from the audience. This sort of classy deportment was the starting point for the Time, as organized by Morris. "The image was cool. That's the key word," he says. "That's what we built the Time around. Cool is an attitude, a self-respect thing."

Morris didn't exactly put the group together -- all but guitarist Jesse Johnson had been playing around Minneapolis in a band called Flyte Tyme (known familiarly as the Tyme even then). But it is Morris who has led the band to the point where it now often steals the show from the scantily clad Vanity 6 and even from Prince. Morris, the former drummer, has stayed closer to traditional R&B but, by injecting his good humor, has developed one of the best live acts in the country.

Prince, says Morris, helped the band get its Warner Bros. contract in 1981. Asked why the Time shares the same teenage-sex themes as Prince, Morris says, "Sex is present in everybody's life. I don't think anybody owns the rights to that." Asked if Prince influenced their sound, Morris says what Vanity says: "We believe in the same things." Asked about Jamie Starr, an icy tension descends. Although Morris Day and one Jamie Starr are credited as producers on the Time's first record, there is reason to believe that the record was, in fact, produced by Prince. One source very close to the situation says that not only is all the material written by Prince (mysteriously, there are no writing credits on the LP), but that the instruments are played by Prince and the voice is Prince's doubled with Morris Day's. This insider claims that the record -- a more commercial, more straightforward R&B album -- is a project Prince offered Warner Bros. because his own bolder stuff wasn't selling impressively. So, goes this theory, Prince set the Time in motion -- and created a pseudonym, Jamie Starr, for his new project.

Prince did tell a reporter in an early interview with the Minnesota Daily, when he was just seventeen, that someday he would make jazz recordings under an alias. (In that same interview, Prince claimed not to be averse to choreography, but he drew the line at spins -- "I get nauseated.") So the idea of working with a fictitious name had occurred to him at the beginning of his career.

And although Morris says that he and the band wrote the songs on their first LP, The Time, a call to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), with whom the songs are registered, casts some doubt. The composer of the hits "Get It Up" and "Cool" is Prince Rogers Nelson (with Dez Dickerson on "Cool"), says an ASCAP spokesman. Prince's manager says that the fact that Prince's name is registered for the Time's record is "a filing mistake."

"Let me clear up a few rumors while I have the chance," Prince told the Los Angeles Times. "One, my real name is Prince. Two, I'm not gay. And three, I'm not Jamie Starr."

"Jamie Starr is an engineer, the coproducer of our record. Of course he's real," says Morris Day, whose band now outplays whoever it was on the first Time record.

But if there is a Jamie Starr, why can't he be reached? Manager Steve Fargnoli says it's because he's "in and out of Minneapolis," because he's "a reclusive maniac" like Prince) and because "it could be months before I see him." Can he be reached by phone? "No." Well, you wouldn't need to call him over to Prince's home studio if he's already there. "Prince is Jamie Starr" says former Warner Bros. artist and fellow Minneapolitan Sue Ann (Carwell), who has been a friend of Prince's for years -- ever since he wrote and produced her first demo tape. Others who are close to Prince also say that he is Jamie Starr, but they refuse to be quoted in print. But, says one, "everybody knows who's the main man behind everything."

April 28, 1983 (RS 394)

Producer, Arranged By - Morris Day , The Starr ★ Company


Time, The - 777-9311
Label:Warner Bros. Records
Catalog#:PRO-A-1066
Format:Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Promo

Country:US
Released:1982

Baby, what's your phone number?
I know I'm kinda fast, but I hate 2 waste time
Baby, what's your phone number?
Girl, I have 2 ask cuz U're so fine
CHORUS:
777-9311
I wanna spend the night with U if that's alright
777-9311
Ooh baby, please can I come 2 night?

Baby, what's your phone number?
How can U be reached on a lonely night?
Baby, what's your phone number?
How can I get into U when I'm feeling right?

CHORUS

Jellybean

Ain't nothin' worse than rejection
I'd feel a little better if U slapped my face

Hey, what's your phone number?
Can't U see the agony I'm goin' through?
Baby, what's your phone number?
Girl, it's getting hard baby, won't U let me love U, love U?

CHORUS

Yeah, ooh

Hey baby,what's your phone number?
I know it sounds fast, but I ain't got all night
Come on baby, what's your phone number?
U know I got 2 be cooler than this cat U're sittin' with
I'll do U right, baby
Come on! {x3}
Oh no, come on!
Oh, hey

CHORUS

Come 2 night if it's alright (777-9311)
Honey, please can I come 2 night?
Can't U see what I'm gonna do? (777-9311)
I wanna do it 2 night, baby, I wanna do it 2 U
It's on fire, U burn me out (777-9311)
It's getting higher, U know what I'm talkin' about
Help me out good Lord above (777-9311)
Marry me girl, give me some of that love
Terry...

777-9311 {x13}

© 1982 Tionna Music - ASCAP

March 8th, 1982 First Avenue, Minneapolis

1.Bambi
2.All the Critics Love U in NY (preview)
3.When U Were Mine
4.Sexy Dancer
5.Still Waiting
6.Head
7.Sexuality
8.Dance 2 the Beat (the Time)
9.the Stick (the Time)
10.Party Up (Prince and the noituloveR with Morris Day on drums)

Vanity was definately in command of her show, she had the stuff 2 be a frontman

[img:$uid]http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21303846/sn/1115981184/name/n_a[/img:$uid]

Nasty Girl

That's right, pleased 2 meet U
I still won't tell U my name
Don't U believe in mystery?
Don't U wanna play my game?
I'm lookin' 4 a man 2 love me
Like I never been loved before
I'm lookin' 4 a man that'll do it anywhere
Even on a limousine floor cuz..
CHORUS:
2 night I'm livin' in a fantasy
My own little nasty world
2 night, don't U wanna come with me?
Do U think I'm a nasty girl?
2 night I'm livin' in a fantasy
My own little nasty world
2 night, don't U wanna come with me?
Do U think I'm a nasty girl?

I guess I'm just use 2 sailors
I think they got water on the brain
I think they got more water upstairs
Than they got sugar on a candy cane
That's right, it's been a long time
Since I had a man that did it real good
If U ain't scared, take it out
I'll do it like a real live nasty girl should

CHORUS {x2}

Please, please {x2}
Nasty girl (Nasty girl)
Do U think I'm a nasty girl? {repeat 2 lines x4}
Oh (Do U think I'm a nasty girl?)
Oh (Nasty girl)
Nasty girl (Nasty girl)
Do U think I'm a nasty girl?
Oh

I don't like this groove
Try and give me something I can croon 2
Catch my drift?
That'll work

That's right, I can't control it
I need 7 inches or more
2 night, I can no longer hold it
Get it up, get it up, I can't wait anymore

Uh, it's time 2 jam
Dance nasty girls, dance
Everybody, uh, it's time 2 jam
Nasty girls, dance dance dance (Yeah)

Everybody, uh, it's time 2 jam
Nasty girls, dance dance dance
Uh, it's time 2 jam
Nasty girls, dance dance dance {repeat 2 lines x5}
(Are U gonna come?) {x4}
(Ooh ooh ooh)
Uh

Is that it?
Mm, wake me when U're done
I guess U'll be the only one having fun

© 1982 Girlsongs Music - ASCAP

[img:$uid]http://www.dtt-lyrics.com/images/related%20albums/vanity6.jpg[/img:$uid]

They really did convey what Prince wanted 3 types of Male fantasies

Brenda was that biker dive bar hooker, Vanity was more of a dominitrix type and Susan was the submissive barely legal are U 18 yet? virginal fantasy

Vanity had total command of that set

Drive Me Wild is my favorite from V6. I remember the long video... teddy bear.

OldFriends4Sale said:

EllasFella said:

Wow! Never seen this photo of Prince & Vanity! They look smokin' hot together!

OldFriends4Sale said:

Bite The Beat

Bite the beat, it tastes so good
Bite it till U're satisfied
Ain't nothin' wrong with dancin' all night long
U can still be dignified

When I first saw your teeth
I knew U were the only one qualified
2 bite the beat, don't try and call your mother
Just bite it till U're satisfied

CHORUS:
U can do it, bite the beat (Bite the beat)
Come on honey, bite the beat (Bite the beat)

Work your body, make yourself sick
Come on, bite the beat of the star
Don't worry, U'll still be dignified
It tastes like caviar

When I first saw your teeth
I knew U were the only one qualified
2 bite the beat, don't try and call your mother
Just bite it till U're satisfied

CHORUS

Bite the beat, it'll do U no harm
Unless U choke on a guitar string
Peanut butter, false alarm
I wanna dance, I don't wanna sing ... now check it

Uh uh, bite the beat (Bite the beat)
Come on baby, bite the beat (Bite the beat)
Don't be shy, bite the beat
Don't try and call your mother (Bite the beat)
Bite the beat of the star
Bite the beat, it's so so yummy (Bite the beat)
It's tastes like caviar
Bite it

That's right, there'll be no more wet dreams 4 Brenda
At least not 2 night
Come on, bite it ... ha ha ha ha
(Bite the beat) {x4}
Bite it

{laugher}
God, I wasn't ready

© 1982 Girlsongs / Tionna Music - ASCAP

legna said:

Drive Me Wild is my favorite from V6. I remember the long video... teddy bear.

Susan really worked that video, you could see (Prince) in her, her movements were obviously her character but you could see some of Prince in it love the long version of the song

OldFriends4Sale said:

Episode Guide > Season 12, Episode 11

OldFriends4Sale said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Jamie Starr's a thief
It's time 2 fix your clock
Vanity 6 is so sweet
Now U can all take a bite of my purple rock
Can we stop?

I will buy U diamonds and pearls, baby

Onedayi'mgonnabesomebody

One day I'm gonna be somebody
One day I'm gonna be rich
I'm gonna say my prayers and work real hard
So that I never have 2 dig a ditch
The only way I'd work at a carwash
Is if I owned the whole damn place
But if gettin' 2 the top means washin' a car
I'd be scrubbin' with a smile on my face

CHORUS:
One day I'm gonna be somebody, gonna stand out in a crowd
One day I'm gonna be somebody, gonna make somebody proud
One day I'm gonna be somebody, gonna stand out in a crowd
One day I'm gonna be somebody, gonna make somebody proud

One day I'm gonna be a star
I'm gonna do whatever it takes
Why should I starve when I could be elsewhere
Makin' what the rich man makes
If I should die before I'm rich
I pray the Lord my soul 2 keep
But if I'm rich before I die
I wanna work cuz nothin' comes cheap

CHORUS

Somebody bring me a mirror so I can look at my cash
(One day I'm gonna be somebody)
Somebody bring me a mirror so I can look at my cash
(One day I'm gonna be somebody)

We don't like new wave! {sarcastic laughter}

© 1982 Tionna Music - ASCAP