So, who do you feel is the most underappreciated person that help shape, change or infuence Prince's career? A lot of people played key roles, Chris Moon, Morris, Owen Husney, Sonny Thompson, Wendy & Lisa, Pepe Willie, etc, but who in your opinion hasn't gotten nearly enough credit over the years a major player in Prince's evolution to pop culture icon.

As inpired by another post, I vote for Andre Cymone (Anderson). Regardless of whether or not he wrote "Do Me Baby", he was involved with the whole Dirty Mind creation, helped conceptualize The Time and who knows how big of an influence he was from 1970-1977 on Prince. Supposedly he also pushed the band to adopt their "new wave" image but that may be just a myth...

It has got to be Larry Graham.

shelby j

His FANS!!!!!!!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

His FANS!!!!!!!

haha

Plenty get bashed more than they should. Larry, Tony M, Mayte come to mind.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Plenty get bashed more than they should. Larry, Tony M, Mayte come to mind.

Yeah...Tony M deserved WAY more praise, with lines like "I think it's time to bust somethin' sleazy, but cool and easy. Yeah, this is for the hood, better keep it greasy". A less talented man would've been hard to find.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

His FANS!!!!!!!

HonestMan13 said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

His FANS!!!!!!!

What???

[img:$uid]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e70/SexyBeautifulOne/Prince%20Gifs/tumblr_m0n4x5kch71qcvaxho1_500.gif[/img:$uid]

It's the truth!

[img:$uid]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e70/SexyBeautifulOne/Prince%20Gifs/tumblr_m4b7lytfun1qcvaxho6_250.gif[/img:$uid]

alphachannel said:

So, who do you feel is the most underappreciated person that help shape, change or infuence Prince's career? A lot of people played key roles, Chris Moon, Morris, Owen Husney, Sonny Thompson, Wendy & Lisa, Pepe Willie, etc, but who in your opinion hasn't gotten nearly enough credit over the years a major player in Prince's evolution to pop culture icon.

As inpired by another post, I vote for Andre Cymone (Anderson). Regardless of whether or not he wrote "Do Me Baby", he was involved with the whole Dirty Mind creation, helped conceptualize The Time and who knows how big of an influence he was from 1970-1977 on Prince. Supposedly he also pushed the band to adopt their "new wave" image but that may be just a myth...

Prince, the Pauper

Piece together Prince's story from his own partial accounts, and you come up with sort of a musical Wild Child, an untamed loner who raised himself and taught himself how to survive among the wolves. Patch together the history told by the people close to him, and you get a version like this:

Hardly into their teens, Prince and Andre (who uses the surname Cymone) had already formed their first group. Prince recalled, "I got my first band. I wanted to hear more instruments, so I started Champagne, a twelve-piece band. Only four of us played. Eight were faking. Andre and I played saxophone. I also played piano. I wrote all the music. The songs were all instrumentals. No one ever sang. When I got into high school, I started to write lyrics. I'd write the really, really vulgar stuff."

Andre, on the other hand, claims the first band had Prince playing lead guitar, Andre himself on bass guitar, his sister Linda on keyboards and the Time's Morris Day on drums. The group was called Grand Central, later renamed Champagne. The musicians all wore suede-cloth suits with their zodiac signs sewn on the back (Prince, born on June 7th, 1960, had Gemini, the twins, on his). For a time, they were managed by Morris' mother, which didn't make Prince very happy. "She wasn't fast enough for Prince," says Mrs. Anderson. "He wanted her to get them a contract right away."

The band practiced in Andre's basement, where Prince had established a bedroom of his own. "It sounded like a lot of noise" says Bernadette Anderson. "But after the first couple of years, I realized the seriousness of it. They were good kids. Girls were crazy about them."

Andre -- whose father had played bass in the Prince Rogers Band -- says that although the family was poor, Prince "dug the atmosphere. It was freedom for him." There wasn't enough money to buy records, but there was a family friend -- a reclusive black millionaire, says one source -- who gave the kids the money to go to a local studio to record a few songs. The studio they picked was called Moon Sound.

Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince

Chapter 1 HOME

p 10-11

Prince's friend and surrogate brother, Andre Anderson, was also musically inclined, and the 2 began to jam together regularly in his mother's basement.

Upstairs, Prince shared a bedroom with Anderson. Despite being good friends, they were poor roommates; Anderson's side of the room was cluttered and disorganized, while Prince's was as meticulously ordered as a Marine barrack. Although he no longer lived with his father, Nelson's disciplined approach to life remained a significant influence on Prince, who sought greater order and privacy by moving into the basement...

Downstairs, he had much easier access to his instruments; already, Prince had started blending the distinction between home and musical workplace. Moreover, the basement became something of a private universe - a small slice of the world where he was in total control. A dark space with little natural light, it was nonetheless where he felt most comfortable, and it provided a prototype for the cloistered recording studios where he would spend the majority of his waking hours over the next thirty-plus years.

...

The Anderson basement - Prince's bedroom and rehearsal space - also represented his first attempt to create an alternative community based around music and, perhaps, sex. Years later in interviews, Prince would recall it as a hedonistic wonderland where he and Anderson engaged in carnal acts with a variety of girlfriends.

...

"My impression is that there were a lot of girls in that basement," said Howard Bloom, Prince's press agent during the 1980s. "He had grown up in the 1960's and the message was make love, not war. In the basement, he was going for liberation and entitlement to any sort of sexuality, pleasure, and enjoyment."

naffi said:

Definately the Fans. He shits on them all of the time. Hell, he doesn't even give us an official website and he just is itching to sew us.

trax said:

Definately the Fans. He shits on them all of the time. Hell, he doesn't even give us an official website and he just is itching to sew us.

I'm done playing!

When YOU are ready to deal with ME...

YOU can...

trax said:

Definately the Fans. He shits on them all of the time. Hell, he doesn't even give us an official website and he just is itching to sew us.

I saw that angry mob outside the W2A show with pitchforks calling for his head and burning him in effigy. So I'd have to agree.

I'd say Albert Magnoli because he had the decency/courage/honesty to tell Prince that his original movie idea & script sucked, and got him to do the "Purple Rain" that exists today. He maintained his role as director of that movie and made sure it wasn't cringeworthy.

That took P's career to the next stratosphere.

Jamie Starr

I wanna say Andre', but I"ve gotta give the nod 2 Dez!!!! Listening 2 dez' recorded work, it could've been in ANY of the classic 80's movies like Valley Girl, Sixteen Candles and of course Fast Times At Ridgemont High (think "After Hi School", which He wrote). Andre' released 3 Lp's 7 produced Jody Watley. Dez got an all-too brief spot in the Purple Rain movie.......

Wow, there really are a lot of "lost" greats that certainly contributed to various Prince eras. I'm not sure I could select just one, but some that come to mind:

Rosie Gaines

She really helped bring the "Diamonds and Pearls" album to the forefront, after debuting on the Nude Tour and singing on the "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack. She was a powerhouse vocalist and very talented writer and musician. She seemed to "get dumped" and her solo album for Paisley Park was never released. Too bad...

Boni Boyer

Who can forget the first powerhouse diva Prince introduced us to during Lovesexy? She was not new to the music industry. Before Prince, she was a fellow classmate of Sheila E. and contributed back-up vocals and played a wide variety of instruments for Sylvester, Lionel Richie, Con Funk Shun, Digital Underground, and Tony! Toni! Tone! It is sad we lost her.

Wendy & Lisa

The dynamic duo certainly made a name for themselves outside of the Prince spotlight. I think we can all agree the Girl Bros. are talented, personable, and certainly underrated as being lasting musical influences on other female musicians and musicians in general.

Eric Leeds

He lent a very distinct sound, along with fellow Horn Head Atlanta Bliss, to The Family, Parade, Lovesexy, and Madhouse eras. Who would have thought EL would make the sax such a part of Prince's camp in a time when Kenny G was, well... making horn camp (cheesey)?!?!

Sheila E.

Perhaps the most well-known, loved protege, Ms. E ranks among the most distinctive players in Prince's music. Her voice and percussion talents ALWAYS make a good Prince song sound great! Luckily, she has made appearances in his music and on the stage with him off and on throughout the years, reminding us of the magic that happens when they're together. But alas, we also know of the fights too when it seems like Sheila doesn't get the due credit she deserves and our hearts are broken.

John L. Nelson

We may not want to admit it, but you have to agree that after his father's death in August of 2001, Prince and his music seemed to change. Of course after 9/11, many things changed... But Prince's world lost a valuable writing partner, friend, and musical influence. Do you realize that JLN would turn 100 in just four more years (2016)? Yet he did contribute a youthfulness to songs such as "Computer Blue," " Around the World in a Day," "Christopher Tracy's Parade," and "Scandalous" - not to mention work on the Purple Rain era. If it is true about apples not falling far from trees, we can see where Prince got some of his musical talents.

[Edited 8/21/12 23:44pm]

I'm gonna get MURDERED for writing this but I'd say Kirk Johnson. I'm one of the few people here who really, deeply, love the sound of the so-called "plastic years" (1996-2001) and apparently Kirky J. was a major influence in Prince's musical directions at this point.

Now can someone please say Tony M. so he or she'll get murdered instead of me?

alphachannel said:

So, who do you feel is the most underappreciated person that help shape, change or infuence Prince's career? A lot of people played key roles, Chris Moon, Morris, Owen Husney, Sonny Thompson, Wendy & Lisa, Pepe Willie, etc, but who in your opinion hasn't gotten nearly enough credit over the years a major player in Prince's evolution to pop culture icon.

As inpired by another post, I vote for Andre Cymone (Anderson). Regardless of whether or not he wrote "Do Me Baby", he was involved with the whole Dirty Mind creation, helped conceptualize The Time and who knows how big of an influence he was from 1970-1977 on Prince. Supposedly he also pushed the band to adopt their "new wave" image but that may be just a myth...

Uh, this kid is definitely the most underrated:

http://www.facebook.com/p...2668016439

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

FormerlyKnownAs said:

Wow, there really are a lot of "lost" greats that certainly contributed to various Prince eras. I'm not sure I could select just one, but some that come to mind:

Rosie Gaines

She really helped bring the "Diamonds and Pearls" album to the forefront, after debuting on the Nude Tour and singing on the "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack. She was a powerhouse vocalist and very talented writer and musician. She seemed to "get dumped" and her solo album for Paisley Park was never released. Too bad...

Boni Boyer

Who can forget the first powerhouse diva Prince introduced us to during Lovesexy? She was not new to the music industry. Before Prince, she was a fellow classmate of Sheila E. and contributed back-up vocals and played a wide variety of instruments for Sylvester, Lionel Richie, Con Funk Shun, Digital Underground, and Tony! Toni! Tone! It is sad we lost her.

Wendy & Lisa

The dynamic duo certainly made a name for themselves outside of the Prince spotlight. I think we can all agree the Girl Bros. are talented, personable, and certainly underrated as being lasting musical influences on other female musicians and musicians in general.

Eric Leeds

He lent a very distinct sound, along with fellow Horn Head Atlanta Bliss, to The Family, Parade, Lovesexy, and Madhouse eras. Who would have thought EL would make the sax such a part of Prince's camp in a time when Kenny G was, well... making horn camp (cheesey)?!?!

Sheila E.

Perhaps the most well-known, loved protege, Ms. E ranks among the most distinctive players in Prince's music. Her voice and percussion talents ALWAYS make a good Prince song sound great! Luckily, she has made appearances in his music and on the stage with him off and on throughout the years, reminding us of the magic that happens when they're together. But alas, we also know of the fights too when it seems like Sheila doesn't get the due credit she deserves and our hearts are broken.

John L. Nelson

We may not want to admit it, but you have to agree that after his father's death in August of 2001, Prince and his music seemed to change. Of course after 9/11, many things changed... But Prince's world lost a valuable writing partner, friend, and musical influence. Do you realize that JLN would turn 100 in just four more years (2016)? Yet he did contribute a youthfulness to songs such as "Computer Blue," " Around the World in a Day," "Christopher Tracy's Parade," and "Scandalous" - not to mention work on the Purple Rain era. If it is true about apples not falling far from trees, we can see where Prince got some of his musical talents.

[Edited 8/21/12 23:44pm]

all great but not under appreciated!

jackmitz said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Plenty get bashed more than they should. Larry, Tony M, Mayte come to mind.

Yeah...Tony M deserved WAY more praise, with lines like "I think it's time to bust somethin' sleazy, but cool and easy. Yeah, this is for the hood, better keep it greasy". A less talented man would've been hard to find.

Didn't say they were super talented but more under appreciated than Sheila E!!! Hell Tony M is hated but look at P's sales of album with Tony M!! D&P moved 7 million copies.

purplethunder3121 said: