EL DEBARGE..... GIORGIO, MIKI FREE, ANDRE CYMONE SAME LOOK.

Zelaira said:

I'd take Andre off of that list because he and Prince probably came up with that look around the same time.Who knows who actually came up with that concept first. But the others,especially Mikki Free and Georgio

READY FOR THE WORLD...OH SHELIA.... WAs a RIP OFF....

sitruk7 said:

I'd take El Debarge off the list too. The only thing he had in common with his royal badness is skin complexion. Everything else, totally different. El was closer to biting off of Michael Jackson than Prince. Motown, in fact, even tried to groom him as the next Mike. Luckily for him, it wasn't successful.

Anybody remember Roger Trotman (sp) of Zapp fame? He had one album where he tried to mimic Prince to disatrous results. He wore the bolo hat and everythig. One of the lyrics was, "you're driving me delirious."

back up god rest his soul but Roger Troutman didn't rip off from Prince.
Most of the people you all have mentioned where influenced more by the area.
Roger Troutman from Ohio, RFTW is from Flint/Niles MI,Eldra DeBarge from Grand Rapids Mi, see a trend. Mostly a midwest thang. And I say again Most of these folks played for a CHURCH choir before going into the business. Gospel music has a sound of it's own. So who does Prince sound like heard of BO diddley???
Everyone is influnced by each other.

queen627 said:

Calm down sweetie. Nobody is trying to offend you or your favorite artists. But most of these guys were already making music before Prince became popular. Then once Prince hit the bigtime, they began to mimick his sound. Nobody is saying these people were evil or anything. They just jumped on the Prince bandwagon. Like Evelyn Champagne King and her Shakedown album. King got Cymone to produce it so she would sound like Prince. It was just her effort to cash in on a good thing. Nothing particularly sinister about it. It true what you say about infulences. But you have to admit, that oberheim synthesizer sound really was a Prince phenonmenon. DIRTY MIND, CONTROVERSY -- The man originated that sound....

vainandy said:

-----
He was just trying to incorporate rap into his music to sell records. Once he saw that it was not going anywhere. He was not running around in a Adias suit or a Kangol hat. If you think about it Rick totally changed his look and sound to copy Prince. This is what makes Rick a sell-out.

Let's be honest P tried to do something different with Parade and ATWIAD and the public did not take to it. At that point he had no choice but to try and incorporate rap.

LOL

I'm picturing Prince in a canary yellow kangol and sweatsuit with high heeled Adidas

sitruk7 said:

I think the closest Prince ever came to being ghetto was when he made that one video on the roller skates. I forget the song...he still looked odd. I was disappointed. Being different was one of the things I liked most about Prince.

brothaluv said:

Gangsta Glam? Yeah, that video also featured that swimsuit thingie that I don't think I have ever seen any members of NWA wearing

Funny, nobody mention Madonna....

funkpill said:

I guess you're right. Madonna was like an amalgamation of Prince and Michael which resulted in her own "originality." She obviously took Prince's sex appeal. But musically, she had perhaps more in common with MJ. Portions of Like A Virgin sound like Billie Jean..the bass line especially. Then her Material Girl sounded similar to the Jackson's Can You Feel It?

Some more:

Zapp - Itchin' For Your Twitchin'
Mico Wave - Sleeping Single
Jimmy G. & Tackheads - I Want Your Daughter


jazzz

laurarichardson said:

I don't think one was a result of the other. There's a five year gap between 'Parade' and the rap breaks on the 'Diamonds And Pearls' album.

thanks you guys..i've made a great cd...

One of my favorite copycats from 1985 was Jermaine Stewart with...

WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF!

That was a fun song, but obviously influenced by the man!

brothaluv said:

But El's 1992 single "My Heart Belongs To You" was VERY Prince-like.

brothaluv said:

I always thought Madonna was more influenced by Debbie Harry of Blondie

DavidEye said:

I never heard it. Which cd was the single on? I'll try to listen to it..

DavidEye said:

You may be right. Definitely she owes much of her appearance to Harry. But her attitude and music lean a little bit more in the direction of Prince and Mike. If you ever listen to Like a Virgin and Billie Jean...you'll be able to detect the similarities. Ignore the lyrics, listen to the bass line. Then if you listen to Material Girl and the Jackson's Can You Feel It -- again, you'll be able to see commonalities there. The whole controversy/sex thing = PRINCE! But that's just my opinion....I can certainly be wrong...

Did anyone mention Eddie Murphy with "Put your mouth on me"?

urbanfox3105 said:

Funny thing about Murphy. He was always a big Prince fan. He even named one of his comedy cd's DELIRIOUS after the Prince song. Prince actually gave him a song for Murphy to include on his cd. But Murphy was pissed because Prince didn't give him lyrics to go with it. Damn, talk about lazy! Prince gave him a song and he was too damn sorry to come up with words of his own. Murphy never used the song by the way. Instead he went with Rick James' Party All The Time...Murphy's only hit...and that song had Prince elements to it...the synthesizer...

brothaluv said:

Interesting. I never knew that!I wonder what the song was?

brothaluv said:

It's on his 1992 album 'Through the Storm',which is being discussed in the Music:Non Prince forum.

brothaluv said:

maybe eddie thought he would get paid for his fast "rhymes"u know, like in his movies

I still can't believe that Murphy would pass up such a great opportunity. At the time, most reputable musicians would've given their right arm to receive a song from Prince. But I guess Ed was too full of himself to appreciate the honor. I wonder if Prince ever did anything with that song?

sextonseven said:

-----
Rapping shows up with CAT on the Lovesexy CD and Rapping is on GB.
P knew rap was here to stay.

laurarichardson said:

I'll give you the T.C. Ellis rap at the end of 'Graffiti Bridge', but that's still four years removed from the 'flop' that was 'Parade'.

Cat's rap on 'Lovesexy' is similar to Sheila E's rap on 'Sign O The Times' in that it is not hip-hop inspired in any way. The very same year he dissed rap on "Dead On It" so Prince hadn't thrown in the towel yet at that point.
.
[Edited 12/2/05 13:59pm]

I wish he had left rap alone entirely. It just seems like a sell-out. But I guess he saw it as a new challenge to conquer.

sextonseven said:

-----
4 years is enough time to see that Rap was not going anyplace.
Cat's rap was inspired by Hip-Hop. You did not hear anything like that on P's CD before 88. Lovesexy is two years away from Parade.