Alright, here's the deal. I've been a Prince fan for roughly two years now and I'm at the phase where I've found out most of what I care to about Prince himself, and am now trying to educate myself on his personell, band members, and such.

I'm talking information regarding their work and playing, not their personal lives.

Now I've noticed Susannah Melvoin does some back-up singing for him, and I've kinda placed her voice. Or at least I'm trying to. This is where I need some help.

Am I correct in saying she does backup vocals on the entire Parade album? And the song Crystal Ball?

Also, while listening to Lovesexy, particulary in Positivity, I thought I heard her in there, but upon reading liner notes, found no mention of her. Could that be Bonni Boyer? And if so, am I the only one that notices a similarity in their singing voices/techniques ?

Thank you for your input.

hmmm...i cant answer all of your questions but most female backing vocals done during The Revolution timeperiod belong to Wendy & Lisa (with an occasional Susannah and or Shiela E).....

Susannah last appearence would be on SOTT.....Interesting question about Lovesexy...Im thinking most vocals would be Sheila's and Bonni's...


anyone else wanna take a stab at it?

sosgemini said:

You can also add Ingrid Chavez and Cat Glover to the possible background vocalists for Lovesexy. At least it's Ingrid on the "rain is wet, sugar is sweet" thing. But, I would think most of the female background work on Lovesexy was Boni Boyer and Sheila E.

Susanah Melvoin was not on LOVESEXY. She had been long out of the Prince camp by then.

Prince was pretty good about giving BG vocal credit from 1999 through SOTT... although it's hard to know for sure cuz we know his songwriting credits are often really wacky (i.e. giving peple credit when he wrote the stuff or not giving credit when we know they did co-write).

At any rate, check the liner notes for Parade and SOTT. I remember Susannah being mentioned on specific songs.. for example on Girls and Boys I think it says something like "wendy and susannah on the left, lisa and sheila on the right" which is cool cuz you can listen to one channel if you want.

I kidna remember Susannah being mentioned way back on 1999 like as a background voice on DMSR or maybe doing handlcaps or something but I might be wrong and thinking of Wendy cuz I know she got a credit like that even though she wasnt' officially part of the Revolution yet.

Personally, I always wanted to hear Susannah more clearly cuz I always felt she was too low in the mix.....even on the Family album where are all the female vocals are her.

BTW, I believe on Anotherloverhole.... ALL the BGs are Susannah and NOT W&L.

I don't remember her being credited on Purple Rain at all but I don't have the liner notes in front me of now.

PS I love Susannah ...always thought she was really cool . I got to meet her briefly at the Family Jamm!

The only thing I remember Wendy being credited on during 1999 was "Free" along with Lisa,Jill Jones,and Vanity all doing background voice.....


Susannah I also remember being credited on "The Ladder" from ATWID along with Wendy,Lisa,and Taja Sevelle.....

boriquateddy said:

I think you are right.... I may have been confusing Wendy appearing on 1999 with Susannah.

I love reading liner notes in general to find out all these interesting tidbits

[b]I thought Jill Jones did backup on "The Ladder"
I can't read it clearly because of the paisley painting in the background. It says "J.J." so I figure he was crediting Jill Jones.

Susannah's last 'appearance' as a background vocalist was on "Rockhard in a Funky Place". Or if you want to get technical, "Make Yo Mama Happy".

The Parade credits say "additional vocals for "Parade" performed by Susannah" I think indicating she may have sang on various Parade tracks not just Girls and Boys and Anotherloverholenyohead.

Her first appearance on a Prince album was on The Ladder with Wendy, Lisa, and "Taj" (Taja Sevelle).