Another one, Ingrid Chavez.

databank said:

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?

Ok, at least you get it.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

wiggleme said:

purplethunder3121 said:

do express urself. what did this image mean?

Watch PR ull see...

toots said:

I liked Martika and we never talk of her.

Bowtie

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...

Andre Cymone is the most under appreciated in Prince's History, but was never a great singer. Andre has great concepts, ideas and production. But his early material lacked songwriter skills and vocal skills. Didn't keep me away from playing his first lp non stop though, so many years after. I'm pretty sure if you asked Prince and he was to answer honestly about the influence they both had on each other, we'd have a great story!

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...

For me it would have to be between Wendy & Lisa and Andre Cymone(close one). Wendy & Lisa do get some credit but unless a person has delved into the total history of prince, then Andre probably seems like a minor player in the Purple Yoda's career(or life). Some people probably think of Andre as being like a Gayle Chapman. An afterthought.

After Andre and the Girl Bros i would have to say Matt Fink then Shelia E or Eric Leeds.

A lot of people seem to have influenced Prince in one way or another. I remember an interview Joni Mitchel did where she was asked about Prince. If i remember her words correctly she stated that Prince was(is)a great Hybrid but he wasn't necessarily a originator(or maybe a innovator). From my understanding Prince and Joni are tight so i don't think she was putting Prince down she was just stating her beliefs at that time.

Prince is one of the baddest ever but he didn't get to where he's is all by his lonesome.

[Edited 9/14/12 1:45am]

JoeyC said:

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...

For me it would have to be between Wendy & Lisa and Andre Cymone(close one). Wendy & Lisa do get some credit but unless a person has delved into the total history of prince, then Andre probably seems like a minor player in the Purple Yoda's career(or life). Some people probably think of Andre as being like a Gayle Chapman. An afterthought.

After Andre and the Girl Bros i would have to say Matt Fink then Shelia E or Eric Leeds.

A lot of people seem to have influenced Prince in one way or another. I remember an interview Joni Mitchel did where she was asked about Prince. If i remember her words correctly she stated that Prince was(is)a great Hybrid but he wasn't necessarily a originator(or maybe a innovator). From my understanding Prince and Joni are tight so i don't think she was putting Prince down she was just stating her beliefs at that time.

Prince is one of the baddest ever but he didn't get to where he's is all by his lonesome.

[Edited 9/14/12 1:45am]

I would say Prince is a great hybrid, but also an originator and innovator at the same time. His ability to copy and adapt to different styles and genres fast, didn't make him less original. It gave him an advantage of a greater vocabular which formed a very unique untouchable style. You cannot hear the 1999 album and accidently think it was somebody else, or that it was just a pretty good mashup between a few other styles. We have mashups, we have style hybrids, and we have Prince. The minneapolis sound is imo more than a sub genre. It's many subgenres of other genres. In the minneapolis sound we have a pretty much raw funk/rnb style that was used for The Time, and songs like DMSR. But also all of these bubble gum college(high school) songs that he used for The Time, Vanity 6.

Innovation comes from problem solving. Sometimes you would invent a new tool based on the earlier model to get what you need to solve a problem. If you can make a tool that is inspired by other tools to solve the problem in an even more effective way, you'll have a powerfull tool. Imo Prince had a way too clear concept for what he wantet to portrait to be able to just use old tools seperately, or in a non inventive way of merging these to solve this problem. He would have to merge, and create something new at the same time. Prince is an inventor, and a great one imo.

But that doesn't mean anything when it comes to his band members. OF course they had alot to do with his directions. A man that gets inspired by his environment would not be able to ignore these talented musicians. They had something he didn't have. So he took it! The greatest thief in modern music history!

paisleypark4 said:

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...

I always wondered if that rip from Onedayimgonnabesomebody was a quirk to Andre Cymone's style. "WE DONT LIKE NEW WAVE!! BAWAAAAHAHAHAH" After he left the band and all.....

I thought the same, could be.

But I also thought it was a little competition Prince was sparking in the music between the bands because Prince at the time was doing New Wave styles Dirty Mind-Controversy

wiggleme said:

toots said:

Watch PR ull see...

yeah...i remember.

Ooooh, I was just going to say, "Somebody doesn't remember..." Maybe it was just too long ago for some youngsters!

NewPowerSista said:

wiggleme said:

toots said: yeah...i remember.

Ooooh, I was just going to say, "Somebody doesn't remember..." Maybe it was just too long ago for some youngsters!

too cute

Andre Cymone definitely, he was kept under Prince's thumb quite a bit.

But someone not mentioned much is Dez Dickerson, 2 or 3 years older than Prince, he bought a lot of musical chops and an image to the young Prince. Dez was heavily into rock and punk and really bought that rebellious look and guitar heavy sound that countered the R an B subtlies of his music. The leopard skin pants, axe swinging, getting rid of his afro and going with punk cut were all purloined from Dez, and I would say a lot of the early sound was DEz's idea. He was truly underated by Prince and the initial respect changed to Prince treating him as a sideman. I think he was a lot like a more mature Prince and Andre and I would not be surprised if Andre was jealous of him too.

A lot of the biographies rely on Dez's anecdotes of the early days and he is an expert in the formative period of Prince's sound. Plus he also convinced Prince to give Big Chick a chance as well.