and yes,sue Ann is an associated artist She worked with Prince in the late 70s,recording many demos with him.In the summer of '81,her single "Let Me Let You Rock Me"(no Prince involvement) received some attention on R&B stations.

http://prince.org/msg/5/153075

Prince's "Make It Through The Storm" was the 7's b-side

databank said:

that's right

In 1978,Prince was producing a bunch of songs for Sue Ann,including...

"Make It Through The Storm"
"Since We've Been Together"
"Wouldn't You Love To Love Me"
"I'm Saving It Up"

The project was never finished and Sue Ann moved on.It's interesting to think that she almost became Prince's first female protege.

She's a pretty lady

SoulAlive said:

When I was first getting into Prince, I'd read bios and various articles and there were always these two female names floating around in the early days: Patrice Rushen and Sue Ann Carwell. I knew who Patrice Rushen was, of course, but I was always thinking "Am I supposed to know who this Sue Ann Carwell is?" It wasn't until years later that I realized she was just some no one that barely had a career and that no, I was not in fact supposed to know who she was, despite the way the bios kept referring to her so matter of factly

errant said:

She's T.C. Ellis' sister if i'm not mistaken ^^

SoulAlive said:

Instead she worked on an album with Jesse.

sextonseven said:

And according to a recent interview with Jesse, she's once again recording album produced by Jesse (more blues-based). She sings the majority of background vocals on his Verbal Penetration album. Would like to hear some new material from her. I've always enjoyed her voice. If I recall, she was also the lead singer in a band with Jesse in MPLS when he got the call to be The Time's guitarist.

databank said:

as i was saying...

Never heard this Sue Ann cut before, it's funky

I'm thinking that Prince should have created a girl group duo with Sue Ann and Jill Jones Both ladies can really sing,so this would not have been another Vanity/Apollonia 6 situation.

In the early 80s,he should have paired them together,gave them a cute name,and a bunch of cool songs to sing.

I saw a couple Sue Ann shows when LMLYRM was coming out. Really liked it, bought it, really liked her. I was disappointed when she seemingly disappeared.

A few years ago I found a lengthy Sue Ann interview or article online and it appears that she's had a reasonably successful career, if not the career she originally intended. We might not know of her but folks in the music biz sure do. If I find the article again I'll come back and post it.

She's done a lot of vocal arranging, production, backup vocals, and the main guide vocals on some very successful records for the most popular R&B/Pop female artists (as she mentions on her website, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Mary J Blige, Britney Spears, Aaliyah, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, TLC, Toni Braxton, Brandy and many more.) If you google Sue Ann Carwell you'll see tons of credits to her, for arranging and backup in particular. Guide vocal work is typically not credited and often confidential.

That interview I remember got me to looking up further info about guide vocals. I didn't realize so many latter day 'big' hit singers had someone else do all the work about how the song should be sung and then just came in at the last minute, when the recording was complete, and essentially mimicked the guide vocalist to complete the record. That's way beyond listening to a cheap, so-so styled demo to get it started. It was all very interesting.
[Edited 4/25/10 12:30pm]