Before Lisa, there was Gayle Chapman. Gayle was a member of the original Prince band from 1978-80. She was there before the Purple Reign and took a moment to catch up with us here at Prince.org.

1. The first thing I think of is how I think u are the forgotten member of the original lineup but really you were a major part of the first couple years of Prince's career...is your time with Prince something u embrace or try 2 separate yourself from?

Oh I'm not forgotten....I neither embraced it or tried to separate myself. When I left I moved on to other things in life. It was a learning experience which has served me well over the years.

2. What was the Prince Rogers Nelson like that you knew?

Prince was energetic, funny, musical, young, egotistical, focused, intense, loud (yes, loud) and going through great growing pains,,,,,so to speak....


3. Favorite memory of your time with the band?

airports and wheelchairs, great fun. Prince would play a paraplegic and pretend he was trying to stand, and then start to fall over, and someone would always come over and catch him before he fell to the floor. It would crack us all up..stupid fun


4. how about I mention a band member and u share your thoughts on him...


5. Dez? he was straight forward, but cool

6. Bobby Z.? he was reserved, but friendly

7. Dr. Fink? initially naieve, but really nice

8. Andre ? He was Prince's buddy, always cute, and nice

9. Prince? ditto above remarks on Q #2

10. what do you think you left behind when u left the band?
hmm, I think I took it all....
your legacy was??? I taught them to pray together before the gig. It unified us as a group/team.

11. when was the last time you talked to Prince? 1981
and do you keep in touch with the other band members? I keep in touch with Matt a little.

12. and finally from the past....did u have any idea at the time that Prince would go on 2 b PRINCE?
He was well on his way when I worked for him

or was it just a gig? It was never just a gig. We never treated it like that. I think we all enjoyed most of what we did with him initially.

13. what's kinds of things have u been up 2 since?

I have put out 2 cd's and am working on a third one, worked with 100's of musicians either gigging, or on their projects, studio work, travel, teaching, producing, songwriting clinics, seminars, consulting, entertainment hiring....lots of things that keep me involved musically and artistically.

14. where do u live now? Boise Idaho

15. married? No, not yet kids? dogs cats and ostriches

16. what cd is currently in your player?

michael macdonald in one, my own in another....
17. what do u think of Prince's most recent releases? I haven't heard them

18. how about your music? tell us about it?

I get mixed reviews on my stuff. I think its a little of everything....rock, folk, country, funk, gospel,

19. where do u see Gayle Chapman in 5 years?

cashing in the farm and hitting the road again.

20. anything you'd like 2 say 2 the Old School fans?

Hi y'all, hope you are all healthy and blessed, and if not, let me know what I can do to help.


Thank U Gayle..For more go 2 www.gaylechapman.com

3. Favorite memory of your time with the band?

airports and wheelchairs, great fun. Prince would play a paraplegic and pretend he was trying to stand, and then start to fall over, and someone would always come over and catch him before he fell to the floor. It would crack us all up..stupid fun

is this a new q&a or a repost of the previous one that was done?

sosgemini said:

it's new....from me 2 U...

She seems lovely, but she needs to get a site with a bit more bite. I'd happily do it for her. Gayle's cool.

I WONDER WHY SHE HASN'T LISTEN TO PRINCE'S LATEST WORK? WHY IS IT SOMETIMES WHEN YOU HEAR FROM OLD BAND MEMBERS OF PRINCE THAT THEY SEEM A LITTLE SHORT ON COMMENTS ABOUT PRINCE? LIKE IN A SENSE THEY KINDA WISH THEY SHARE HIS FAME BUT IS AFRAID TO ADMIT TO IT.

MidnightFunk said:

Hey, I have something in common with Gayle. She should call me.

she is a very nice and sincere person...

I am sure she'd like 2 hear from any of you...

brneyes007 said:

I guess it all boils down to this. When you move on from Prince, you don't look back. She's started a new chapter in her life and there no sense in dwelling the past which in essence makes sense to me..

brneyes007 said:

Two words: gag order. I'm willing to bet that when someone leaves Prince's employ, he makes them sign a confidentiality agreement of sorts, saying that they can't disclose anything to the public about working with him. I don't know that this is 100% true, but we all know how controlling Prince can be.

Hotlegs said:

That too.

psychodelicide said:

you know..does anyone know when he started forcing his bandmembers to sign this? cause wendy seems to be free to slap prince around in interviews from time to time...i would assume gayle probably didnt have to sign one either....

sosgemini said:

.....
[Edited 4/7/05 14:01pm]

MidnightFunk said:

okay.....that still doesnt answer my question....anybody know when he started the confidentiality statements?

sosgemini said:

@ Wendy slapping Prince around in interviews. Like I said in my earlier posts, I dunno if there was a confidentiality agreement or not, just speculating here.
[Edited 4/7/05 12:59pm]

MidnightFunk said:

That blows my theory right out of the water.

It could be that Prince's former bandmates don't talk about him in interviews after they leave out of respect for the man.
[Edited 4/7/05 12:51pm]

MidnightFunk said:

Really? Now you got me curious here.

I won't. I think it's cool that you have someone "in the know" who has the inside scoop.

MidnightFunk said:

is this friend the same friend that clued you into prince getting reaquinted with old friends this year?

did y'all have 2 quote me?

I got to interview Gayle a few years back for UPTOWN magazine and she was very cool and open. I can't say enough nice things about her. She is a forgotten member of the Purple Underground, but was very key in the early days as she was the only female member of the group.

The article was in the final issue of UPTOWN if anyone is looking for it. It contains a photo or two of her back in the day.

Interesting.

Thanks for posting this. It was a good read

I don't know. Maybe he started it after Andre left.

my best bet on the gag order thing is that he started with all that when he started gettin more people in his entourage/svengali outputs.

anyway, thanx for the q & a, MidnightFunk...he was loud, mm? why ain't i shocked by that...

Thanks Gayle and MF. Interesting read and she sounds so very cool.

Regarding the "secretiveness"; respect, agreements, and moving on with one's own life...maybe a mix of then all?