Rhonda Smith on bass, Kay Dyson on guitar. Nuff said.
[Edited 1/16/10 6:12am]

Is that Lenny Kravitz's former drummer?

Yes she is, it's Cindy Blackman, she is a great drummer.

eternity said:

Love her.

No, no, no and no, it just won't do! No matter how good the musicians are, the singer is awful and the song terrible. Boring.

ernestsewell said:

Yes, I'm with u on that. She's funky. WOW! Rhonda Smith on bass, Kay Dyson on guitar, and Cindy on drums?! It's a winner, it sounds good 2 me.

sms130 said:

I'm just not impressed w/ Kat Dyson on guitar. I mean....we wouldn't know this chick from a can of paint had she not played with Prince for what... a year or two at most? Emancipation, she was there, That was 1996. She was on the tour in 1997, then gone by the time NewPowerSoul came out in 1998. And she didn't take a break for an album like Rhonda did either. Just GONE. She seemed awkward to me, and not THAT talented, although to play with Prince, you can't be sloppy. It seems after 18 months, that even Prince wasn't that impressed with her.

ernestsewell said:

Well, u got a point there. I will say that I love Cindy and Rhonda, they're funky.

If I am not mistaken John B. and Cindy went to school together and he praises her as one the best fema,e drummers around. Rhonda can hang with Bootsy & Larry anyday. Nice to see band members staying employed.

To me it looks & sounds like the label handpicked these great musicians to overcompensate for the average frontman/woman. Won't get fooled again.. Ears don't lie
[Edited 1/6/10 9:37am]

Farfunknugin said:

First Kat Dyson is an OK player, lets get real on that, Rhonda is a very good bass player, but Kat Dyson was removed from prince's band for a reason, and there was a big reason that they werent playing on alot of the promo for that album, Prince didnt think they were good enough. As for the Katharine Mcphee record, the record is top notch, the band was picked for her for tv stuff, she actually picked others that played on the album, i know everyone is so qucik to say the album isnt good, and they havent even heard the damn thing, and im not talking snippets on amazon.com. Lets stop OVER blowing Princes band members for more than average, he has had some great but some sub par that we tend to put in the stratosphere because they were with him during a selling time. Prince will never top his one nite alone band, his current lineup is well below average.

ernestsewell said:[quote]

sms130 said:

I'm just not impressed w/ Kat Dyson on guitar. I mean....we wouldn't know this chick from a can of paint had she not played with Prince for what... a year or two at most? Emancipation, she was there, That was 1996. She was on the tour in 1997, then gone by the time NewPowerSoul came out in 1998. And she didn't take a break for an album like Rhonda did either. Just GONE. She seemed awkward to me, and not THAT talented, although to play with Prince, you can't be sloppy. It seems after 18 months, that even Prince wasn't that impressed with her.

CHECK YOUR FACTS on kat dyson...u r getting sloppy...

shizu33 said:

I don't care about Kat, you're not reading.

She was there from the Emancipation album through NewPowerSoul (whoopie, I was wrong about her being on that album - SUCH an accomplishment I'm sure). She wasn't on the Rave album that I remember (I'd get not), nor was she part of the Rave Un2 2000 concert. So she was around what...2 years? Big whoop, I was off six freakin' months.

I don't hate the girl, but she's not the dynamic as a performer or exciting on guitar. Frankly it was hard to hear her because on the Emancipation concert on VH1/MTV, and even less noticeable on the Jam of the Year Tour; there was so much backing track that she was all but silent. I'm sure she's great at what she does.....she just ain't on my list of favorite guitar players that Prince has had in his band.

She was a transition player, at best. Just sayin'...

lastdecember said:

Seen her out with Cyndi Lauper and you're just WRONG. She's a pretty damn awesome electric AND acoustic player. I heard she just wasn't as "yes" a band member as Prince likes.

lastdecember said:

As much as I want to agree on that stuff, what basis do we have to believe that? He TOURED with them for heaven's sake. I'm not defending that band, because Kat was not that exciting as a performer (someone go tell her THAT too, since I'm suddenly getting subtly bitch emails from her over this stupid ass thread SRSLY! haha), and Kirk.....well we all know how thrilling Kirk is on drums. Kirk stuck around at least through 1999's Rave Un2 PPV special, and all ensuing gigs through 1999 to promote Rave album. He did use them on the Rosie O'Donnell show, Chris Rock, and whatever other performances they did, plus the 'bootleg' cassette that was released.

Prince could have changed up his band at any time. Remember, the very previous version of the NPG before this Emancipation band, Prince WAS the guitarist. He could have nixed Kat, and played stuff himself.

Having said all that...they weren't the most electrifying band, I agree. This thread http://prince.org/msg/5/170421 mentions Kat as being around 1 year. I can't remember if she's on the NewPowerSoulu album or not actually. If she was, then I was right in that she was with Prince for 2 years. Was she with him when he was on Letterman earlier that year playing "Dinner With Delores"? That's still just 2 years, roughly. So maybe there's some truth in that Prince didn't care for her as a guitar player. The truth stands that she was one of the shortest lived members of any of Prince's bands after the first few years of Andre and Gayle leaving. (Although you still have folks like Boni, Sheila E., Jerome, Greg, Wally, et al that served a 2 year stint, or less.)

Didn't care for Kat at all in Prince's band, however, she's MUCH better in Cyndi Lauper's band. She seemed ackward in the NPG like she was learning to drive in a race car. But it Cyndi's band she took some solos and seemed way more comfortable.

The previous video had been removed, there is another one


[Edited 1/10/10 10:57am]

ernestsewell said:

Im not slighting Kat or that band but yes Kat was let go before New Power Soul, Mike Scott was brought in for alot of the Guitar work on the emancipation tour. We tend to forget the issues that Prince had going on during the Emancipation days, that tour was a MUST, he had to go out to pay for the finances he lost ny getting out of the WB deal. KAT was let go early on Rhonda stayed, Prince saw more in Rhonda than in KAT for the most part, I dont recall KAT doing the today show, i do remember Sonny T and Rhonda and Morris being there, as far as i recall she was on letterman, as for chris rock i dont remember seeing Kat, Mike Scott was there with Rhonda and Kirk and Prince, but i have to go back and look at the footage from that period. The fact was that Prince didnt feel solid with the band the tour was a rush job, and a MUST which was why you got almost NO songs from Emancipation played on the tour, i think at most he played 4, considering he had 36 new songs, that shows how unconfident he was, and how little they were involved in the making of the record.

WonderU said:

Or like she was way to tall to be on stage with Prince...lol.

check it people...U DON'T KNOW JACK or kat! LOL!
http://www.dailymotion.co...mbel_music

Rhonda is a great bass player - she really digs in. Great to see her earning the benjamins!

And I will also add that it's great to see an upturn in female musicians being used in bands on a session basis...I will always give major props to Beyonce for having an all female band - and they're all incredible musicians who really go for it.

The session scene can be very sexist.

shizu33 said:

Old clip, not exactly a secret, and Kat was in it SECONDS. So what is we don't know about Kat, based on this video? That orange is probably a good color on her?

just for kicks I looked around on youtube and found this:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...aDkPs3Xex0

take a look around 3:15, I'd certainly say the talent isn't lacking. But we all know that's not Prince's only requirement for a band member.

tons of stuff on youtube,people;once U leave Planet Prince for a minute;there is lots going on...LOL!!!

http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related

ernestsewell said:

That vid only showed me who replaced Kat in the guitarist spot in the band. The Rev. Mike Scott.

bigwillpreacher said:

preacher man-where was mike scott in 2005 at the NAACP awards performance???

shizu33 said:

with U and ur computer on planet prince????

http://www.youtube.com/wa...eature=sub

What's the youtube tag to embed videos?
[Edited 1/15/10 3:12am]