So before she auditioned for Purple Rain, Appollonia was an actress and appeared in an Eddie Money video. She was Shakin. After Purple Rain she was in Appollonia 6. I was wondering if this was the plan when she signed on for Purple Rain to quit acting and sing in the band, or is that just how it worked out? How does Prince get people to do whatever he wants?

She never wanted to be a singer.She was sort of persuaded into it,when she got the role in Purple Rain.Prince has done this with other pretty women,too: he tells them "you can be a superstar" even though their voices are less than great

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

and what about the other 2 more recent proteges. I can't even remember their names and too lazy to google, the one on Lotus Flower who had her own cd and the other was the 3121 phase. Where are they now and no hits.

DMSR said:

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

and what about the other 2 more recent proteges. I can't even remember their names and too lazy to google, the one on Lotus Flower who had her own cd and the other was the 3121 phase. Where are they now and no hits.

Well, look elsewhere on this forum and you'll see that Tamar Davis (the 3121 era protege) is a contestant on The Voice. But there have been two more female protege type releases since the ones you mention (Andy Allo's Superconductor and Judith Hill's Back in Time). .

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

Well Vanity 6 actually did work he got Nasty Girl a hit, and I believe if Vanity stayed on an got some of the songs that were prepared for Vanity 6 next album it would have been huge

Sheila E also worked in terms of hits.

In both cases if allowed a bit more space for creativity they could have been bigger during those times.

Apollonia should have never had an album she should just have been the actress for the movie, and Prince did some other songs with combinations of Jill Jones, Brenda Bennett & Susan Moonsie and various Time Revolution Sheila E members

She was picked because she is sexy and Prince didn't want someone to upstage him.

EddieC said:

DMSR said:

and what about the other 2 more recent proteges. I can't even remember their names and too lazy to google, the one on Lotus Flower who had her own cd and the other was the 3121 phase. Where are they now and no hits.

Well, look elsewhere on this forum and you'll see that Tamar Davis (the 3121 era protege) is a contestant on The Voice. But there have been two more female protege type releases since the ones you mention (Andy Allo's Superconductor and Judith Hill's Back in Time). .

It's a bit sad. Those shows oughta be for unknown wannabies who're tryin' to make it, not people who have recorded a whole album and toured with Prince and already released some records. Sure Tamar technically didn't make it in the end and now she'll get a lot of exposure, and I hope her career will benefit, but it's really sad: she deserved better than a lame reality TV show

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

Well anyway after 1985 no Paisley Park or NPG album, pretty face or not, ever sold much.

Lack of promo mostly

databank said:

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

Well anyway after 1985 no Paisley Park or NPG album, pretty face or not, ever sold much.

Lack of promo mostly

plus,there's the fact that Paisley Park was never really a "serious" record label.It was just Prince's vanity label.There are so many ways he could have turned things around at Paisley Park,but that's another thread

I think losing Appollonia from the fold was another huge blunder for Prince. Not bringing her back for UTCM or Graffitti Bridge, no follow up to Sex Shooter. BIG MISTAKE. Prince takes female talent for granted and assumes they are as interchangeable for the audience, as they are to him.

funksterr said:

I think losing Appollonia from the fold was another huge blunder for Prince. Not bringing her back for UTCM or Graffitti Bridge, no follow up to Sex Shooter. BIG MISTAKE. Prince takes female talent for granted and assumes they are as interchangeable for the audience, as they are to him.

Really? I like Apollonia,but I don't think it was a big deal when she left the Prince camp.Let's be honest...Apollonia 6 was a short-lived concept.Even Apollonia admitted that "A woman isn't gonna get much respect parading around in her undergarments" She saw the writing on the wall.I was more concerned when Sheila E. left the Prince camp.

databank said:

EddieC said:

Well, look elsewhere on this forum and you'll see that Tamar Davis (the 3121 era protege) is a contestant on The Voice. But there have been two more female protege type releases since the ones you mention (Andy Allo's Superconductor and Judith Hill's Back in Time). .

It's a bit sad. Those shows oughta be for unknown wannabies who're tryin' to make it, not people who have recorded a whole album and toured with Prince and already released some records. Sure Tamar technically didn't make it in the end and now she'll get a lot of exposure, and I hope her career will benefit, but it's really sad: she deserved better than a lame reality TV show

I agree. To say she's still "making it" because she's on the Voice doesn't really make sense. That is quite a few steps down from recording and toruing with Prince. Now she's a contestant with a bunch of wannabes. Has the Voice ever had anyone have one hit song? I don't think one contestant on the Voice has made it to be a real star like American Idol have they?

funksterr said:

DMSR said:

databank said:

It's a bit sad. Those shows oughta be for unknown wannabies who're tryin' to make it, not people who have recorded a whole album and toured with Prince and already released some records. Sure Tamar technically didn't make it in the end and now she'll get a lot of exposure, and I hope her career will benefit, but it's really sad: she deserved better than a lame reality TV show

I agree. To say she's still "making it" because she's on the Voice doesn't really make sense. That is quite a few steps down from recording and toruing with Prince. Now she's a contestant with a bunch of wannabes. Has the Voice ever had anyone have one hit song? I don't think one contestant on the Voice has made it to be a real star like American Idol have they?

My post seems to have dropped off the quotation box here, but I did want to make clear that I (at least) definitely was not saying she was still "making it"--my response over in the original Tamar's on The Voice thread was largely driven by my sense that it was a sad situation that she was still at that point career-wise. (I know she's done the Tyler Perry projects, but musically I had hoped for more than has happened so far). And no, The Voice has not broken anyone commercially, and a large number of winners haven't even gotten a real release together at all. Actually, I think that their most recent winner did just release an album that started out well (I think maybe #2)--but that was like last week, or something, which isn't much of a success rate up until now--and who knows if that will be sustained at all.

And my mention of Andy and Judith was with the same sense of disappointment--I liked the albums, and they went nowhere.

SoulAlive said:

She never wanted to be a singer.

She put out a solo album in 1988 or 1989.

Purple Rain replacement for Vanity was down to 3 women - Apollonia and who were the other 2? Did they go on to do much else?

Narrowed down to choosing between 3 from hundreds. I know Nia Peeples (Fame TV series, Walker Texas Ranger etc) auditioned but don't think she was one of the the final 3.

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that really NO pretty face for Prince worked in terms of hits for him. The Electra's and Apollonia's, Mayte, Ingrid Chavez albums added together sold less than Prince's Hit N Run phases.

Vanity 6 'Nasty Girl' was a hit. Also Sheila E had a hit with 'The Bell Of St Mark' :

https://en.wikipedia.org/...f_St._Mark

Taja Seville got to #7 in U.K.!

https://en.wikipedia.org/...Contagious

But as you said overall most didn't do well and Sheila E & Taja didn't follow them up with more hits. With Paisley Park records none were promoted that strongly. Prince himself just seemed to lose interest in protege acts after a while and always searching for another one.

MandalayWay said:

Purple Rain replacement for Vanity was down to 3 women - Apollonia and who were the other 2? Did they go on to do much else?

Narrowed down to choosing between 3 from hundreds. I know Nia Peeples (Fame TV series, Walker Texas Ranger etc) auditioned but don't think she was one of the the final 3.

Carole Davis who co-wrote Slow Love and was a penthouse pet January 1980 under the name Tamara Kapitas

Gina Gershon known for Show Girls and the lesbian mob-crime thriller Bound

Sherilyn Fenn known for Twin peaks, Boxing Helena and The TV movie Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (She did a great job in that by the way)

I don't know how close Gina and Sherilyn were to getting the part. I don't know if they were in the top 3 or not. I do know Carol Davis AKA Tamara Kapitas just about had the part, but didn't want to do the sexual stuff. kind of funny, because she did some sexual stuff in the movie The Rapture (1991) starring Mimi Rogers. Carol was one of the top ones. She's the one Apollonia (One "P") replaced to get the part.

[Edited 4/15/16 5:32am]

therat said:

SoulAlive said:

She never wanted to be a singer.

She put out a solo album in 1988 or 1989.

That's called riding the wave. She's not had one since, and she didn't want to be a singer. Did you ever read the story about her trying to record "Take Me With U"??

She had a lot of popularity by the time the spring of 1985 rolled around. She continued on Falcon Crest (which I loved when I was a teenager) from 1985-6, on 10 episodes. Her and ol' girl Jane Wyman had a few back n' forths on the set, too. The didn't act again until 1989, after she took time to make her record (which is horrible, mind you).

I honestly think A6 should have never had a record at all. "Sex Shooter" could have just been a b-side to a bigger 12" single or something. A 12" with "Take Me With U", "Chili Sauce", (or any two songs from Prince, and The Time) and "Sex Shooter" would have been an interesting collector's piece, and gotten the song itself out. (A6 was at least on Strange Tales From The Rain. That was enough.)