Motown spent a lot of money to sign her when she split from Prince and it raised eyebrows, because, well, nobody thought she had any kind of musical talent. The label did promote her as Miss Audio-Visual 1984 probably to capitalize on her physical apperance. After the flop of the first album, Motown was determined to get some return on their investment with the second one, and that meant doing all that was possible to make her sound better-Skip Drinkwater, the guy who produced that album, constructed it in such a way as to minimize her considerable vocal weaknesses as much as possible.

Her vocals were really thin - most of her "singing" sounded like sexy talking. She was getting by her

looks and aura.

I loved that Vanity knew she wasn't the most talented woman out there, but she exuded confidence with what she did have-personality and looks, natural sex appeal and sensuality.

Vanity's drug addiction really took off and I think that's what ruined her chances at becoming even bigger. She was a very creative and stylish woman, but she lost that intensity and focus. Another Vanity's problem was being on Motown. By the mid- 80s Motown was no longer a big music force, and didn't do promotion or single selection well at all.

She was screwed by Motown. "Under The Influence" was her biggest hit and then Motown basically stopped promoting her. "Animals", which was a terrible followup single (and didn't even give it a video), was barely promoted except a couple of tv performances and then Motown dropped her. I also think "Confidential" could have been a single. It's catchy.

Again, Motown was a complete mess by the mid-80's and didn't seem to know what they were doing in terms of promoting their artists and selecting good singles. I've read that Berry Gordy seemed to have lost interest in the company after Diana Ross left in 1981, which would explain why he sold and left the company by 1988.

I still think Vanity could've had a better career if she had been on a different label that had promoted her better and sent her out on tour as an opening act for someone, because she was a great performer.

In the golden era of MTV when videos helped a lot of similar performers like Madonna, Janet, Paula Abdul, Vanity only had two official videos ("Pretty mess" and " Under the influence").

A video for "Mechanical Emotion" was made, but never released, in late 1984/early 1985. What happened? Some info please!

I'm surprised "Undress" and "Faraway eyes" didn't catch on though in 1988.

It's too bad-it seemed like just when she was finally figuring out what kind of vocals suited her voice, her recording career stopped. I bet her third album with Jam and Lewis and the late Tony Le Mans as producers would have been awesome.

After Motown ,Vanity switched over to Geffen/A&M Records. In the late 80s she was working on her third solo album, rumored to be titled "Cherry Bomb". The album was never released. Vanity's work as a recording artist ceased.

Janet Jackson copied a bit from Vanity. Before Vanity 6 came out, Janet had this good girl, cheesy r&b and it didn't do well at all on the charts or in sales. There was an article last year in which Janet said when she was a teen she saw the 1999 tour with Prince, The Time and Vanity 6. She became interested in Vanity 6 because her mother was so shocked by their blatant sexuality. A couple years later, Janet has a song "Nasty" that was created by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Janet started the sing-talking Vanity did. Janet was never as sexy, but she took the badass thing she saw in Vanity and ran with it.

Janet was a less sexual, more mainstream version of Vanity.

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Can't see the pics.

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.The one bright spot is "Mechanical Emotion".The final track "Crazy Maybe" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.We all knew that Vanity wasn't much of a singer,but at least she sounded halfway decent on the Vanity 6 album.On Wild Animal,she sometimes sound as if she's losing her mind...lol...screeching,squealing but definitely *not* making a real effort to sing.If Jam and Lewis had been brought in,I know that they could have gotten some good vocals out of her.Look at what they did with Janet Jackson.

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.The one bright spot is "Mechanical Emotion".The final track "Crazy Maybe" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.We all knew that Vanity wasn't much of a singer,but at least she sounded halfway decent on the Vanity 6 album.On Wild Animal,she sometimes sound as if she's losing her mind...lol...screeching,squealing but definitely *not* making a real effort to sing.If Jam and Lewis had been brought in,I know that they could have gotten some good vocals out of her.Look at what they did with Janet Jackson.

Oh, come on, "Pretty Mess" is the shit! What a great punk song!

[Edited 2/12/14 3:20am]

Javi said:

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.The one bright spot is "Mechanical Emotion".The final track "Crazy Maybe" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.We all knew that Vanity wasn't much of a singer,but at least she sounded halfway decent on the Vanity 6 album.On Wild Animal,she sometimes sound as if she's losing her mind...lol...screeching,squealing but definitely *not* making a real effort to sing.If Jam and Lewis had been brought in,I know that they could have gotten some good vocals out of her.Look at what they did with Janet Jackson.

Oh, come one, "Pretty Mess" is the shit! What a great punk song!

lol...that song is absurd the best thing about it is the video,where Vanity looks sensational

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.The one bright spot is "Mechanical Emotion".The final track "Crazy Maybe" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.We all knew that Vanity wasn't much of a singer,but at least she sounded halfway decent on the Vanity 6 album.On Wild Animal,she sometimes sound as if she's losing her mind...lol...screeching,squealing but definitely *not* making a real effort to sing.If Jam and Lewis had been brought in,I know that they could have gotten some good vocals out of her.Look at what they did with Janet Jackson.

Vanity has the same type of "voice" as Janet Jackson. But miss Jackson had better management, producers. Janet also copied a bit from Vanity but she was too much of a tomboy to be as vixenish as Vanity was. Janet's popularity came about due to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis making her a more commercial, less sexual version of Vanity. That song "Nasty" had a lot of attitude but wasn't sexual. It was the street tough-girl answer to "Nasty Girl". Speaking of Janet, it was rumored that Vanity messed around with James DeBarge when he was still Janet's husband, which made Janet crazy.

And speaking of really thin vocals ; there were a lot of 80's female singers with weak vocal abilities like Pebbles, Janet, Paula Abdul, Jody Watley but they had a lot of hits and platinum records. Even Sheila E. sold more records than Vanity.

Vanity was a trendsetter in terms of stlye in the 80s.

She went to Trashy Lingerie in LA before people like Madonna started going there. Vanity used to also shop at antique shops and would find out prints, fabrics, leather, fur and lace and would have a tailor make an original outfit for her-none of this designer, personality-less stuff the stars do these days. Always had her outfits custom made for her. She wasn't doing designer labels but her own ideas. She painted surrealistic and erotic paintings in her free time and personally designed many of the outfits that she wore on stage and to events. When other female celebs saw Vanity, she just looked so hot they started to jack her style.

A lot of other female celebs copied her outfits or some aspects of them.

Even Madonna took notes from Vanity's style (wearing lingerie on-stage/the in-your-face sex kitten persona).

Vanity had that thing that made other women who co-starred with her pale in comparison. Melanie Griffith, Sharon Stone, Robey, Kelly Preston--all of these women looked like Plain Janes in the films/shows they co-starred with Vanity in.

It's surprising that Vanity didn't have a better career. Sharon Stone had a good career just based off her looks, while Vanity had a few minor hit songs and films here and there, but mostly was a B list star.

If you look at Vanity's interviews, all the male hosts were drooling and falling all over her. From Donnie Simpson to Gary Shandling to Arsenio Hall to Don Cornelius.

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femaletrouble said:

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.The one bright spot is "Mechanical Emotion".The final track "Crazy Maybe" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.We all knew that Vanity wasn't much of a singer,but at least she sounded halfway decent on the Vanity 6 album.On Wild Animal,she sometimes sound as if she's losing her mind...lol...screeching,squealing but definitely *not* making a real effort to sing.If Jam and Lewis had been brought in,I know that they could have gotten some good vocals out of her.Look at what they did with Janet Jackson.

Vanity has the same type of "voice" as Janet Jackson. But miss Jackson had better management, producers.

yes,Vanity has the same type of voice as Janet.That's why Jam and Lewis would have been the ideal producers for Vanity.They made Janet sound good,despite her vocal limitations.They could have done the same for Vanity.

SoulAlive said:

femaletrouble said:

Vanity has the same type of "voice" as Janet Jackson. But miss Jackson had better management, producers.

yes,Vanity has the same type of voice as Janet.That's why Jam and Lewis would have been the ideal producers for Vanity.They made Janet sound good,despite her vocal limitations.They could have done the same for Vanity.

I agree

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Is there a more honourable, majestic title than "Miss Audio/Visual 1984". Sigh.

I wonder why the "Mechanical Emotion" video was canned the single was getting some airplay on R&B stations and it might have done better if there had been a video.It's possible that Motown gave up on the album at the point,after "Pretty Mess" failed to become a big hit.

I was looking at the chart placings for Vanity's solo singles.It seems that "Under The Influence" was her biggest solo hit,peaking at Number 9 on the R&B chart and even making it to Number 6 on the dance chart.With a strong follow-up single,her second album might have fared better but Motown blew it by releasing the silly "Animals",which as you can see,went nowhere.

No disrepect to "Vanity" but does anyone remember a time when she wasn't a mess? Yeah, me neither. Was what it was man, she was fine and he said that one's mine. End of story.

Sure, Motown had issues in the 80's. I blame them. Berry Gordy should have made her a star like Madonna! She is gorgeous and sure has a better voice then Madge, Janet and other similar singers.

At least she was interesting.

iambackbitches said:

No disrepect to "Vanity" but does anyone remember a time when she wasn't a mess? Yeah, me neither. Was what it was man, she was fine and he said that one's mine. End of story.

At least she was pretty mess! a gorgeous mess!

The OP makes some good points. I wonder about Vanity's management at the time as well. She does admit a lot of drug use which probably affected her decisions. Jesse Johnson said he was close to Vanity, Brenda and Susan (almost like they were his sisters) and he said they were all very nice people.

Vanity had an extensive modeling career before she met Prince, including spending a year in Japan. She could stare down a camera like nobody's business. I always wanted to know more about what her time in Japan was like.

I appreciate the OP's comments on Vanity picking out her own fabrics and directing the designs of her costumes/clothes. It proves Vanity had a brain and wasn't some pop music tart. We know she also thought for herself to a certain degree. She refused Prince's suggestion on being called 'vageena' and she turned down the role in Purple Rain because of the insulting low pay she was offerred.

Two of Vanity's sisters were also models. I saw a picture of all three of them together taken in San Francisco. They're all gorgeous.

PurpleManiac34 said:

Sure, Motown had issues in the 80's. I blame them. Berry Gordy should have made her a star like Madonna! She is gorgeous and sure has a better voice then Madge, Janet and other similar singers.

Motown should have never approved the release of Wild Animal There's just no way that album could have succeeded.I remember in the summer of 1984,when I was eagerly awaiting Vanity's album,I heard Cherelle's debut single "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" (produced by Jam and Lewis) and I thought "I hope Vanity's new single is as good as this".Unfortunately,"Pretty Mess" doesn't even come close.

SoulAlive said:

I was looking at the chart placings for Vanity's solo singles.It seems that "Under The Influence" was her biggest solo hit,peaking at Number 9 on the R&B chart and even making it to Number 6 on the dance chart.With a strong follow-up single,her second album might have fared better but Motown blew it by releasing the silly "Animals",which as you can see,went nowhere.

Year	Title	U.S.	U.S. R&B	U.S. dance
1984	"Pretty Mess"	75	15	13
1985	"Mechanical Emotion"		23	—
1986	"Under the Influence"	56	9	6
	"Animals"	—	—	—
1988	"Undress"	—	—	—

"Mechanical Emotion" bubbled under on the U.S. Hot 100 at #107.

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.

You just described Rhianna's entire catalog.

Signing with Motown was a bad move on her part. They made her promises of becoming a big recording and film star and, for whatever reasons, they failed to live up to those promises.

Bottom line is Vanity had rotten management. We all know great singers from the past who got ignored by both radio and their labels because of bad management. It doesn't matter how great of a singer you are or are not, at the end of the day, it all boils down to the managment team. Looking back on her lack of success on the charts, it was probably a blessing in disguise because more success (especially Pop crossover) only would have given her a bigger audience to meltdown in front of. Larger audience equals greater pressure. She truly is blessed because she could have easily ended up like Nippy.

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kitbradley said:

SoulAlive said:

I love Vanity but I gotta admit,her Wild Animal album is a disaster Atrocious vocals,bad lyrics and a "sterile" production.

You just described Rhianna's entire catalog.

Signing with Motown was a bad move on her part. They made her promises of becoming a big recording and film star and, for whatever reasons, they failed to live up to those promises.

Bottom line is Vanity had rotten management. We all know great singers from the past who got ignored by both radio and their labels because of bad management. It doesn't matter how great of a singer you are or are not, at the end of the day, it all boils down to the managment team. Looking back on her lack of success on the charts, it was probably a blessing in disguise because more success (especially Pop crossover) only would have given her a bigger audience to meltdown in front of. Larger audience equals greater pressure. She truly is blessed because she could have easily ended up like Nippy.

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not only hers... today there is so much trash that "Wild animal" ( considering this was in those days before Autotune and all the other "secret" studio ingredients ) seems so messy yet innocent compared to todays ambitious projects/ albums , which in the end sound even worse then our girl's debut.

Berry Gordy sure invested a lot in her movie "The last dragon".

• Peter Larkin's spectacular Seventh Heaven club video set was built on Camera Mart stages at 54th and 10th Avenue, a set so impressive that Diana Ross, visiting one day, promptly asked if she could buy it for her next tour.
• Barry Gordy was frequently on the set and had many of his Motown artists visit. Producer Suzanne de Passe was very hands on with the project.

She was very popular after "The last dragon" (especially among afro-americans)- again Motown didn't play their cards right. I'm not quite sure why she didn't get any other significant roles after that - meaning "52 pick up" ,which was a small but significant role came in '86 and "Action Jackson" in 1988. That's a long break. What went wrong with her movie career?

Why she wasn't a guest star on the Cosby Show At least in the 80's there was a lot of tv movies, popular series, even soap operas ( rember Diahann Caroll on Dynasty?).

She could have starred opposite Eddie Murphy in "The golden child" or "The Beverly Hills cop"- you're not gonna tell me that B. Nielsen was a good actress; she was on that particular film because her husband Sly pulled some strings and due to her looks. Even Vanity's sister who was seeing Murphy appeared on "Coming to America". Why there weren't some small roles for her in more commercial projects? Maybe she would have been a better or more interesting choice then Terri Hatcher in "Tango and Cash" which was directed by an old friend of hers, Albert Magnoli.

Or at least, based on her looks she could have been a video vixen, especially when she was hangin'/partying with people from the Sunset strip like Motley Crue- it would be interesting to see her in Girls Girls Girls

I asked her a question via facebook and she sent me her number. I Freaked out and was too chicken shit to call...........

femaletrouble said:

Why she wasn't a guest star on the Cosby Show ?

well,let's be honest Vanity had a very "sexual" image back then,and the Cosby Show was a family-oriented sitcom...lol...I don't think the NBC brass would have approved of her appearing on that show

It would have been really cool if Vanity could have gotten a role on 'Dynasty'.She would have SIZZLED on that show!! Can you imagine her wearing those sexy, glitzy outfits and getting into heated,bitchy arguments with Alexis (Joan Collins)? That would have been interesting!

SoulAlive said:

femaletrouble said:

Why she wasn't a guest star on the Cosby Show ?

well,let's be honest Vanity had a very "sexual" image back then,and the Cosby Show was a family-oriented sitcom...lol...I don't think the NBC brass would have approved of her appearing on that show

yeah, that's true but Phylicia Rashad who played Clair Huxtable appeared naked in some magazines and according to some articles was leading a pretty wild lifestyle prior her Cosby years ,in the days of Studio 54. Also let's not forget that miss "Denise Huxtable" appeared in Angel heart in an explicit sex scene. she briefly left the show but then returned.

SoulAlive said:

It would have been really cool if Vanity could have gotten a role on 'Dynasty'.She would have SIZZLED on that show!! Can you imagine her wearing those sexy, glitzy outfits and getting into heated,bitchy arguments with Alexis (Joan Collins)? That would have been interesting!

Sure thing. She was made for those glamorous outfits, mink coats, big 80's hair ...

Apollonia did Falcon Crest. Vanity was more talented (or should I say natural) both as an actress and singer so she could have nailed it.