Since they started out together as teens and not much is heard of A.C anymore, what do you think Andre thinks of the phenomenal success Prince has had since they were kids and buddies?

Probably - wouldn't you be?

I'm quite sure he is jealous.I alwayz thought Andre wanted 2 b a frontman,and he probably resented Prince from day 1.As it turns out,the most success he had was with a Prince song! So yeah,I would say he's jealous.

I remember reading an very old article in Right On magazine. (that tells my age). Andre Cymone was being interviewed and he said that when he was in Prince's band he was told not to move around so much stage. He didn't say if Prince told him that or if someone else did. There use to be a post on Youtube where Prince talks about their relationship in his first MTV interview. I don't know if it is still there.

Oh come on people, Prince is Prince and Andre is Andre ....OK, his only hit was a Prince song but don´t forget all the great music he wrote for Jody Watley, there are some real pop gems...he sure knows how to write good pop songs...some people are better in the background.

Oh really? Did Prince write all those songs for Jody Watley that Andre produced?

vainandy said:

Who's Jody Watley?

sharonbell said:

Well Prince is said to have lifted Andre's songs without giving credit. Maybe Andre considers Prince's success to also be his success.

I'm sure he went thru several jealous seasons until his personal and professional success with Jody Watley came about.Naturally, I can't speak for the man but others who never made it huge as a solo artist/band have mentioned how much they enjoy their success out of the lime light.Let's just hope that wherever he is,Andre's content with his life right now.

sitruk7 said:

Agreed.

Andre Cymone has done some great work and has no reason to be jealous. I love both Prince and Andre's work

sexxydancer said:

I can't speak for the man, but what little I can garner from old interviews and such, I don't think jealous was a big thing with Andre. He gave a long interview in a music mag and he was royally pissed at Prince. I think Andre always had his own aspirations of doing music and would have done it with or without Prince. I don't think he was completely lying either because I've been in that situation myself where you just get sick of someone's bullshit and have to make a break.

LQ

LadyQ said:

Wasn't he pissed for not getting credit on The prince album?

He was alleged to have played on a song as well helping with an early 'feel for you' and backing vocals on a song.

Exactly. I remember reading an interview in "Right On" magazine when "Livin' In The New Wave" first came out. After Andre left the Prince camp, the thing that got on his nerves the most was being mistaken for or compared to Prince.

If you notice on Andre's first album, it was more rock and new wave sounding than Prince's music had been. It's kind of like he was going in an opposite direction than Prince. Yeah, it had some of that Minneapolis Sound in the album but I don't blame him for using it. He was around earlier when that sound was created and helped contribute in making it.

I think Andre felt Prince was shitting on him and got sick of it and left. Also, even if he went on his on and wasn't successful, it wouldn't hurt to try, especially if you've got a record deal lined up. For all we know, he might have made more money on an unsuccesfull album than what Prince was paying him. Whatever.....he made up for it when Jody Watley's album took off.

As I think about it more, more has come back to me and I'm remembering bits and pieces. This article was very long and it was either in Bass Magazine or something like that. I'm sure Right On! did a piece too, but this was a musicians magazine so the article was technical as much as it was more personal stuff.

Andre was quite pissed and I think what hurt him the most was how much Prince had alienated him and the other band members. For Andre, I think Prince became less of a friend and more of a "boss" and there were demands put on them, and Prince's moodiness that soured a lot. The straw that broke the camel's back apparently was the band jammed a lot and Andre had played a song that (this is kinda foggy) Prince either promised him that he could put on his album or he was going to produce an album for him and later Prince showed up and told the band he had a new song "Controversy" and began to play it which was this song Andre had wrote. When the other band members looked at each other and commented that it was originally Andre's song, Prince allegedly remarked something to the effect like "It's my song now" and that was when Andre walked.

This article came out after Living In the New Wave. Andre may have given the Right On! article then, but I moved to California I think after Andre's second album dropped when I found this other article where he was pretty pissed in it.

Who knows if all the information was exaggerated or not, but you could tell that Prince had hurt him really bad. But I've met Andre on a couple of occasions and he has his own little ego there too, so I'm sure there were two sides to the story. I remember him to be very driven, he appeared a lot on the club scene, but not one to have enjoyed it very much -- but more like it was work to him to network more than hang loose and have fun.

LQ

Are you sure it was "Controversy" and not "Do Me Baby" ?

KoolEaze said:

No, it wasn't Do Me Baby, it was definitely "Controversy". I'm gonna go hunt down that darn magazine because it's bugging me now.

LQ

From me working with Andre and knowing him fairly well, I would honestly say no, he isn't or wasn't ever jealous of Prince. I say this because Andre never really wanted to be out front as an "artist" perse. He was truly happy for Prince, like perhaps a family memeber would be. He always felt that P was the one who had what it took as an entertainer. That wasn't ever really Andre's desire. He wanted to be more behind the scenes but still get his credit. In the early stages of Andre's solo albums, of course he was tired of getting compared to Prince. But he knew that was coming. It wasn't anything he could do about that. They were to close, cut from the same clothe, image was to similar, etc. Andre's first album was as far as he could get from what Prince was doing.

sexxydancer said:

She sang "I'm looking for a new love baby, a new love, yeah yeah yeah" Don't know if you've heard that song - not that you can hear the music, but you might recognize the words...

I hope he isn't. He has no reason to be. A lot of people had a hand in Prince's success as an artist, Even though the powers that be made it seem like he did it himself. I think that Andre would've made it in the business even if he had'nt met Prince.

blue22 said:

care to discuss when he wasn't into women?

sosgemini said:

Ha Ha. What I mean is that he had a few going at once...2 of whom I was friends with at the time. Hope that explains it!!!

^
what a letdown

That's alright, me and you will double-team and cure Andre of that problem. When we get through with him, he'll be snapping his fingers and hollering.....

Forget the bitch and make the switch!

vainandy said:

Why don't you keep that s**t to y'self

LadyQ said:

Actually, I think it was Controversy & Do Me Baby.

But either way & to make matters far worse, Andre NEVER bother to have any copyrights register for ANY notes, riffs, or chord patterns that he said he came up with.....that Prince suppose to have stolen from him!

vainandy said:

I also remember that Andre mention that with his debut solo album, crossover success was never his main objective at all. With his brand of new wave, rock, & funk, Andre made his music for the underground club scene.
[Edited 2/3/07 23:52pm]