I wish that Prince had left her as Brenda the backup singer instead of trying to turn her into Bria the solo artist. I think she was a very good back up singer and not everyone that can sing knows how to sing back up. Bria's voice is like salt or lemon or better yet butter. A little goes a long way but it does add favor nicely to other voices.

If you DON'T do what Prince said and instead skip all the songs on the album Elixer until you get to Elixer the song and just listen to that you'll know what I mean. Alone it's a nice song, a lovely pad of butter that works nicely with Prince's voice. However, after having downed much of the stick of butter of the previous songs, sometimes by the time you get to Elixer your too sick to go any further. Her voice alos did very well on "Mr Goodnight also'

When I listen to 20ten I wish that Prince had used a lot less Shelby J, who can sing circles around Bren, and a dash of "Bria" instead. Shelby is like chicken along with Prince's meat. Sometimes it works Gumbo style but other times it is just way too competing and not complimentary at all.

If I had a magic wand I would make most of the songs on Elixer either Shelby J's or better yet some of them Marva King (now there is a voice prince should have used more) and brought Brenda along just to wrap her coos and whispers around their strong pipes. Yes I get the "she can do with her breathe what I can do with my falsetto' remark Prince gave in an interview. Honestly, sometimes like in 2nite, you wish she would stop with the breathing and someone like Shelby J with rip into that song. Meanwhile there are several songs that Shelby rips into a bit too much on 20TEN that I think Bria's breathing would have worked better on.

To sum it up I think Prince made a big mistake when he tried to make a decent back up singer named Brenda into a soloist named Bria Valente. He should have left her as is. She told Tavis that someone told her that she sounded alot like Chante Moore!!!!! Was that before or after that same person told her to lay those big strong hands of hers on them and give them a full body massage? As for the name change, well at least Bria Valente sounds a whole lot better than Chippy D

Deadflow3r said:

I wish that Prince had left her as Brenda the backup singer instead of trying to turn her into Bria the solo artist. I think she was a very good back up singer and not everyone that can sing knows how to sing back up. Bria's voice is like salt or lemon or better yet butter. A little goes a long way but it does add favor nicely to other voices.

If you DON'T do what Prince said and instead skip all the songs on the album Elixer until you get to Elixer the song and just listen to that you'll know what I mean. Alone it's a nice song, a lovely pad of butter that works nicely with Prince's voice. However, after having downed much of the stick of butter of the previous songs, sometimes by the time you get to Elixer your too sick to go any further. Her voice alos did very well on "Mr Goodnight also'

When I listen to 20ten I wish that Prince had used a lot less Shelby J, who can sing circles around Bren, and a dash of "Bria" instead. Shelby is like chicken along with Prince's meat. Sometimes it works Gumbo style but other times it is just way too competing and not complimentary at all.

If I had a magic wand I would make most of the songs on Elixer either Shelby J's or better yet some of them Marva King (now there is a voice prince should have used more) and brought Brenda along just to wrap her coos and whispers around their strong pipes. Yes I get the "she can do with her breathe what I can do with my falsetto' remark Prince gave in an interview. Honestly, sometimes like in 2nite, you wish she would stop with the breathing and someone like Shelby J with rip into that song. Meanwhile there are several songs that Shelby rips into a bit too much on 20TEN that I think Bria's breathing would have worked better on.

To sum it up I think Prince made a big mistake when he tried to make a decent back up singer named Brenda into a soloist named Bria Valente. He should have left her as is. She told Tavis that someone told her that she sounded alot like Chante Moore!!!!! Was that before or after that same person told her to lay those big strong hands of hers on them and give them a full body massage? As for the name change, well at least Bria Valente sounds a whole lot better than Chippy D

Good anaylsis! Perhaps that is what he should have done...left her in the background as a backup singer instead of promoting her to girlfriend, er, I mean protoge. Oh well, what's done is done I guess..

hes a man

he couldn't get pass her looks

prince putting the pussy on the pedestal again smh

For a sec, I thought this thread was gonna be about the other Brenda...

[img:$uid]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:r8FKetlcNlMLtM:http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/brooks_mann/th_Brenda2.jpg&t=1[/img:$uid]

Nikademus said:

For a sec, I thought this thread was gonna be about the other Brenda...

[img:$uid]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:r8FKetlcNlMLtM:http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/brooks_mann/th_Brenda2.jpg&t=1[/img:$uid]

I am glad you posted this, I was hoping someone would go there .

Back in Prince's early Vanity 6 days he knew what each girl brought to the table and what they did not. None of them were the next Madonna but together he had something. I think Brenda was brought on board instead of Jill because with Brenda B outfront it was no longer a Black Girls Group and was now a Girls Group and got marketed to a wider audience that way.

I think Prince has lost his touch a bit for knowing what each person has to bring and not over extending anybody and making anybody look foolish. Back then all three (or 4 if you then go on to count Apples) looked fantastic and never silly/stupid. He never marketed Brenda B as the next Madonna because he knew she did not have the stager presence for that. No big deal. Vanity had that but no voice. A dab of this a dab of that and whallah a pretty decent female group.

Now he brings out this woman,tries to pass her off as being in her 20's then goes further and gives her 10 songs on her own when she clearly can not carry a song all by herself. If she was all that great would she not have gotten a record deal well before Prince came along? She was living in LA, someone would have noticed her.

Just leave her as a Brenda, dress her cute but buffer her with stronger pipes and maybe someone with a bit of personality and stage presence. How could a 52 year old man not know what he knew when he was 25???

PicklesMcMillan said:

hes a man

he couldn't get pass her looks

prince putting the pussy on the pedestal again smh

I can't get past her looks either! I have seen plenty of pics of shemales that look less like transexuals then she does and I am not kidding here. How could Prince not have noticed this. She looks like a sobered up and fattened up Amy Winehouse. Fine I like Amy, but Amy can sing damn it and she has personality - all be it a nasty one- that she can project.

Calling this woman a Bolivian model is like calling Cindy Crawford an Arab Movie Star. Sure Cindy has Arab ancestors and she did make a movie or two, but that doesn't make her an Arab Movie Star. Cindy stunk as an actress and she is a midwestern girl. Brenda/Bria is also a midwestern girl who was about as successful at modeling as Cindy was at acting.

Desiree Nevermind said something once that I wish I had written down. It went something like this "Prince is driving around in a Chrysler 300 pretending like it is a Bentley and we are all suppose to not notice. Then he takes it one step further and we are suppose to believe not only that his Chrysler 300 is a Bentley but that it's his only ride!" That is not what Dez said exactly but she was saying Bria is not a "Protege" she's his bed warmer of the moment, maybe. By trying to pass her off it's like saying to his audience "you will believe anything I tell you. If I say she's a beautiful model with a legendary voice, you'll believe it because I said so"

Does he not realize how diverse his fans are and they all have one thing in common, they love music and buy a ton of it. Many of his fans are musicians. Did he really think they would not notice how weak her voice is? By playing everybody for a fool he only made himself and Bria look foolish IMO.

If I go to the store and buy a pair of MootsieTootsies and paint the soles red, would he believe I had on a pair of Christian Louboutin's?

Again, if he was a decent judge of talent at 25, what has changed now that he's 52? Did he really think we all got that stupid, tasteless or deaf?