http://prince.org/msg/7/155346

Look at reply #15. That thread is kind of funny too! I

I was wrong, the TV & VCR was not delivered, Prince took there himself. Again, there are no sources to back up those claims, but I could certainly picture him doing that.

That thread link you posted also says that DIAMONDS AND PEARLS was written/for about Vanity...apparently she sent him a sculpture where she wrote ''i love you'' on the inside, she made the sculpture herself it was made of diamonds and pearls

Ah that's too cute. I think underneath Prince was a very sensitive person, probably one of the reasons that so many women were drawn to him and also why basically all of them always had good things to say about him!

kellyna said:

purplegirl00 said:

Well, the truth is the terrible day the news came of Prince's passing, I hadn't thought about Vanity but then I found org and as I was reading here, it hit me that there could be a possible connection between the two. So I started searching for info about them and their time together and there are a fair amount of threads on the org about the two of them going back at least a decade.

Funny it was something similar for me as well. When Prince died I started watching some of the coverage on television and on the evening he died, on CNN there was a panel of people that had worked and known Prince for years (since the early 1980s) and they kept making references about how "Vanity was the love of his life" and that got me curious, so I started exploring and found various articles etc. (like the I posted from The Liek (a segment below)

The rumors of his many beautiful love affairs was always intriguing because he would neither confirm nor deny. However, there was one woman Prince wanted the world to know captured his heart and was the love of his life. Denise Matthews, also known as his music protegé Vanity, was that special woman. Their relationship could not weather the rough storms of the music industry and they both went on to later marry other people, but there was always a connection between the two of them that seemed destined. Both passed away at the age of 57, within two months of each other. Vanity departed on February 15, 2016 of a kidney and abdominal disease. Prince performed a music tribute of his hit the Beautiful Ones, written about Vanity. Not long after her sudden passing, he was reported ill while on tour.

and then I started finding interesting threads on this site!

I was convinced pretty quickly that her death impacted him greatly. I remember hearing and seeing Vanity aka Denise on the Christian channels as flipped by every once in a great while and I remembered that she was Prince's girlfriend, but I knew he was real big into beautiful women. So when I heard she had died, I thought, oh that's too bad but nothing else. Then when he died, I thought- wait a minute that was WAY too close.

purplegirl00 said:

kellyna said:

Funny it was something similar for me as well. When Prince died I started watching some of the coverage on television and on the evening he died, on CNN there was a panel of people that had worked and known Prince for years (since the early 1980s) and they kept making references about how "Vanity was the love of his life" and that got me curious, so I started exploring and found various articles etc. (like the I posted from The Liek (a segment below)

The rumors of his many beautiful love affairs was always intriguing because he would neither confirm nor deny. However, there was one woman Prince wanted the world to know captured his heart and was the love of his life. Denise Matthews, also known as his music protegé Vanity, was that special woman. Their relationship could not weather the rough storms of the music industry and they both went on to later marry other people, but there was always a connection between the two of them that seemed destined. Both passed away at the age of 57, within two months of each other. Vanity departed on February 15, 2016 of a kidney and abdominal disease. Prince performed a music tribute of his hit the Beautiful Ones, written about Vanity. Not long after her sudden passing, he was reported ill while on tour.

and then I started finding interesting threads on this site!

I was convinced pretty quickly that her death impacted him greatly. I remember hearing and seeing Vanity aka Denise on the Christian channels as flipped by every once in a great while and I remembered that she was Prince's girlfriend, but I knew he was real big into beautiful women. So when I heard she had died, I thought, oh that's too bad but nothing else. Then when he died, I thought- wait a minute that was WAY too close.

me too.

GeniusLuv said:

That thread link you posted also says that DIAMONDS AND PEARLS was written/for about Vanity...apparently she sent him a sculpture where she wrote ''i love you'' on the inside, she made the sculpture herself it was made of diamonds and pearls

Yes I saw that and I think it might possibly be true because on one of her appearances on the Joan Rivers show, before she had her conversion, or got married, she was telling Joan that she was working on some project at home. She said that it took up her diningroom table. I don't think she said it was a sculpture though, I think she said it was a box. Anyway, she said was putting rhinestones and pearls. I'll have to go back and look at youtube to find it.

purplegirl00 said:

beachy said:

wow girl you have tons of good details, you've been holding out on us! keep spilling!

Well, the truth is the terrible day the news came of Prince's passing, I hadn't thought about Vanity but then I found org and as I was reading here, it hit me that there could be a possible connection between the two. So I started searching for info about them and their time together and there are a fair amount of threads on the org about the two of them going back at least a decade.

exact same here! I remember hearing about Vanity in February and feeling real sad. And then when Prince passed the first place I came was here. And because of the closeness of the dates I started digging into their relationship more.

kellyna said:

purplegirl00 said:

Well, the truth is the terrible day the news came of Prince's passing, I hadn't thought about Vanity but then I found org and as I was reading here, it hit me that there could be a possible connection between the two. So I started searching for info about them and their time together and there are a fair amount of threads on the org about the two of them going back at least a decade.

Funny it was something similar for me as well. When Prince died I started watching some of the coverage on television and on the evening he died, on CNN there was a panel of people that had worked and known Prince for years (since the early 1980s) and they kept making references about how "Vanity was the love of his life" and that got me curious, so I started exploring and found various articles etc. (like the I posted from The Liek (a segment below)

The rumors of his many beautiful love affairs was always intriguing because he would neither confirm nor deny. However, there was one woman Prince wanted the world to know captured his heart and was the love of his life. Denise Matthews, also known as his music protegé Vanity, was that special woman. Their relationship could not weather the rough storms of the music industry and they both went on to later marry other people, but there was always a connection between the two of them that seemed destined. Both passed away at the age of 57, within two months of each other. Vanity departed on February 15, 2016 of a kidney and abdominal disease. Prince performed a music tribute of his hit the Beautiful Ones, written about Vanity. Not long after her sudden passing, he was reported ill while on tour.

and then I started finding interesting threads on this site!

wow that means something that the people who worked closely with him all that time thought so too! do you remember who any of them were?

GeniusLuv said:

purplegirl00 said:

I was convinced pretty quickly that her death impacted him greatly. I remember hearing and seeing Vanity aka Denise on the Christian channels as flipped by every once in a great while and I remembered that she was Prince's girlfriend, but I knew he was real big into beautiful women. So when I heard she had died, I thought, oh that's too bad but nothing else. Then when he died, I thought- wait a minute that was WAY too close.

me too.

yep me too especially when I heard about the week leading up to his demise, the possible overdoses, etc all pointed to great emotional pain. He might have been ill as well, but when I heard about his tribute concert I knew there was more to it.

GeniusLuv said:

That thread link you posted also says that DIAMONDS AND PEARLS was written/for about Vanity...apparently she sent him a sculpture where she wrote ''i love you'' on the inside, she made the sculpture herself it was made of diamonds and pearls

wow we have only scratched the surface as to their communication. such lovely gifts. such lovely people.

I am beginning to think the song purple posted " Strange but True" and "Revelation" are about them and explain why they were not together.

purplegirl00 said:

http://prince.org/msg/7/155346

Look at reply #15. That thread is kind of funny too! I

I was wrong, the TV & VCR was not delivered, Prince took there himself. Again, there are no sources to back up those claims, but I could certainly picture him doing that.

if true then that was face to face.

looks like alot of back and forth until 1994 and then she got married and really religious and he got married and they started communicating through the press more.

beachy said:

GeniusLuv said:

me too.

yep me too especially when I heard about the week leading up to his demise, the possible overdoses, etc all pointed to great emotional pain. He might have been ill as well, but when I heard about his tribute concert I knew there was more to it.

I just remember instantly feeling depressed when i heard about Prince, as i was driving home from work..a sadness came over me that i haven't been able to shake.

.

It wasn't until i got home later that night that i started looking things up on the computer bcuz i know she had died weeks before and felt WOW that is something and the more i read about them..the more fascinated i became...glad to see it wasn't only me its been very soothing, almost therapuetic at times finding out all i can about them over the years, their story..revisiting Purple Rain, which i loved.

.

Even after she died..i would still look up her preaching videos but it wasn't until Prince died that i started doing it religously, these last few weeks

[Edited 5/16/16 17:13pm]

GeniusLuv said:

beachy said:

yep me too especially when I heard about the week leading up to his demise, the possible overdoses, etc all pointed to great emotional pain. He might have been ill as well, but when I heard about his tribute concert I knew there was more to it.

I just remember instantly feeling depressed when i heard about Prince, as i was driving home from work..a sadness came over me that i haven't been able to shake.

.

It wasn't until i got home later that night that i started looking things up on the computer bcuz i know she had died weeks before and felt WOW that is something and the more i read about them..the more fascinated i became...glad to see it wasn't only me its been very soothing, almost therapuetic at times finding out all i can about them over the years, their story..revisiting Purple Rain, which i loved.

.

Even after she died..i would still look up her preaching videos but it wasn't until Prince died that i started doing it religously, these last few weeks

[Edited 5/16/16 17:13pm]

Me too- to the bolded! My husband laughs at me and thinks I'm obsessed.

beachy said:

kellyna said:

Funny it was something similar for me as well. When Prince died I started watching some of the coverage on television and on the evening he died, on CNN there was a panel of people that had worked and known Prince for years (since the early 1980s) and they kept making references about how "Vanity was the love of his life" and that got me curious, so I started exploring and found various articles etc. (like the I posted from The Liek (a segment below)

The rumors of his many beautiful love affairs was always intriguing because he would neither confirm nor deny. However, there was one woman Prince wanted the world to know captured his heart and was the love of his life. Denise Matthews, also known as his music protegé Vanity, was that special woman. Their relationship could not weather the rough storms of the music industry and they both went on to later marry other people, but there was always a connection between the two of them that seemed destined. Both passed away at the age of 57, within two months of each other. Vanity departed on February 15, 2016 of a kidney and abdominal disease. Prince performed a music tribute of his hit the Beautiful Ones, written about Vanity. Not long after her sudden passing, he was reported ill while on tour.

and then I started finding interesting threads on this site!

wow that means something that the people who worked closely with him all that time thought so too! do you remember who any of them were?

No unfortunately I didn't catch the names. It was one of those situations where I flipped to CNN and just caught the last 2 or 3 minutes of a segment they were doing about Prince. I do recall that there was a guy who I think said he had worked on Prince's albums "Controversy" and "1999" (maybe as a engineer or musician) and Don Lemon who was hosting the segment said, "So you would have been around when he was working with The Time and Vanity then?" and he replied "Yes, he and Vanity were so special together." And Don said "alot of people think that Vanity was the love of his life" and the guy replied "Yeah I think she was."

There was also a woman in the segment and she had a British accent and I think she was a DJ and I want to say her name was something Brown (but I could be wrong - I tried to go on line afterwards and search for her, but had no success). Anyways when Don mentioned Vanity being the love of Prince's life, she jumped in and agreed and said "oh she was for sure." Then the woman said, "And I think it's no coincidence that he died so soon after Vanity passed away, he was devastated by her death." And Don Lemon said to the woman, "Well if there is one Prince song that you like us to play as we end this segment what would it be?" And she replied "Well thinking of Prince and Vanity and what she meant to him, I would say The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." It was a very sweet segment and I was sorry I didn't see all of it as I think they had other guests talking about Prince as well. I went to CNN online afterwards to see if I could find the segment, but it wasn't posted. But it made me go "ahh" when I watched it and heard what they said.

[Edited 5/16/16 17:34pm]

[Edited 5/16/16 17:35pm]

purplegirl00 said:

GeniusLuv said:

I just remember instantly feeling depressed when i heard about Prince, as i was driving home from work..a sadness came over me that i haven't been able to shake.

.

It wasn't until i got home later that night that i started looking things up on the computer bcuz i know she had died weeks before and felt WOW that is something and the more i read about them..the more fascinated i became...glad to see it wasn't only me its been very soothing, almost therapuetic at times finding out all i can about them over the years, their story..revisiting Purple Rain, which i loved.

.

Even after she died..i would still look up her preaching videos but it wasn't until Prince died that i started doing it religously, these last few weeks

[Edited 5/16/16 17:13pm]

Me too- to the bolded! My husband laughs at me and thinks I'm obsessed.

Me three about the bolded section!!!!

endiadj said:

^ the woman with the brit accent must've been julie brown. she was an mtv host when they played videos.

Yes, Yes that was her name - I couldn't remember her first name. I don't know how well she knew Prince, but it sounded as if she had known him for a very long time!

kellyna said:

endiadj said:

kellyna said:

Yes, Yes that was her name - I couldn't remember her first name. I don't know how well she knew Prince, but it sounded as if she had known him for a very long time!

yeah she was a huge fan and interviewed him a few times for mtv in the late 80's/90's.

So I don't know if she would really know if Vanity was the love of his life, but I was surprised that she, Don Lemon and the other guy all thought it was true!!

A couple of other comments from the Vanity.... Strange but True thread that are interesting.

On June 25 prince website posted a message about the song "STRANGE BUT TRUE"...being just that STRANGE BUT TRUE. Well in that particular song Prince talk about a certain woman who's the only one he gave his heart to. She's the one he fantasizes about. He says that he's trying to fill the hole that was left by her with "another". Who is this woman Prince is talking about?...Strange as it may seem, I think he is talking about VANITY...Could it be VANITY?

Prince was serious with Vanity and Rolling Stone quoted his friends as saying THIS is serious they are living together .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfPrak5LvDE

That is the link with Vanity on Joan Rivers (when she was doing the late show). Watch the whole interview, almost 8 minutes long. Joan never missed an opportunity to ask her about Prince. Take note of her body language when Joan asks her if she is in a relationship now ( I think she was with Nikki Sixx at the time of this interview). Joan also asks how things were like with Prince and I think she says "wonderful". She tells Joan they played a lot of pool and she had fun kicking his butt. Close to the end, she talks briefly about the music box she is making with the pearls and rhinestones. Now this interview is from 1986 so I don't know when Prince wrote Diamonds and Pearls. If he wrote it earlier and then recorded it later like other songs, it's possible it's about Vanity. I don't know.

[Edited 5/16/16 18:18pm]

[Edited 5/16/16 18:20pm]

kellyna said:

RachB65 said:

kellyna said:

No unfortunately I didn't catch the names. It was one of those situations where I flipped to CNN and just caught the last 2 or 3 minutes of a segment they were doing about Prince. I do recall that there was a guy who I think said he had worked on Prince's albums "Controversy" and "1999" (maybe as a engineer or musician) and Don Lemon who was hosting the segment said, "So you would have been around when he was working with The Time and Vanity then?" and he replied "Yes, he and Vanity were so special together." And Don said "alot of people think that Vanity was the love of his life" and the guy replied "Yeah I think she was."

There was also a woman in the segment and she had a British accent and I think she was a DJ and I want to say her name was something Brown (but I could be wrong - I tried to go on line afterwards and search for her, but had no success). Anyways when Don mentioned Vanity being the love of Prince's life, she jumped in and agreed and said "oh she was for sure." Then the woman said, "And I think it's no coincidence that he died so soon after Vanity passed away, he was devastated by her death." And Don Lemon said to the woman, "Well if there is one Prince song that you like us to play as we end this segment what would it be?" And she replied "Well thinking of Prince and Vanity and what she meant to him, I would say The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." It was a very sweet segment and I was sorry I didn't see all of it as I think they had other guests talking about Prince as well. I went to CNN online afterwards to see if I could find the segment, but it wasn't posted. But it made me go "ahh" when I watched it and heard what they said.

[Edited 5/16/16 17:34pm]

[Edited 5/16/16 17:35pm]

Sounds like "Downtown" Julie Brown, an old VJ on MTV

Yes thanks - endiadj mentioned it above and it was Julie Brown who was speaking about Prince and how upset he was by Vanity's death.

purplegirl00 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfPrak5LvDE

That is the link with Vanity on Joan Rivers (when she was doing the late show). Watch the whole interview, almost 8 minutes long. Joan never missed an opportunity to ask her about Prince. Take note of her body language when Joan asks her if she is in a relationship now ( I think she was with Nikki Sixx at the time of this interview). Joan also asks how things were like with Prince and I think she says "wonderful". She tells Joan they played a lot of pool and she had fun kicking his butt. Close to the end, she talks briefly about the music box she is making with the pearls and rhinestones. Now this interview is from 1986 so I don't know when Prince wrote Diamonds and Pearls. If he wrote it earlier and then recorded it later like other songs, it's possible it's about Vanity. I don't know.

[Edited 5/16/16 18:18pm]

[Edited 5/16/16 18:20pm]

Just watched this - thanks for posting it. Everytime I see Vanity doing an interview I am always struck by how sweet and down to earth she seems. She has a very charming personality. I laughed when she mentioned that as a kid she used to beat up on boys. Probably something else that Prince experienced with her - ha!

kellyna said:

purplegirl00 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfPrak5LvDE

That is the link with Vanity on Joan Rivers (when she was doing the late show). Watch the whole interview, almost 8 minutes long. Joan never missed an opportunity to ask her about Prince. Take note of her body language when Joan asks her if she is in a relationship now ( I think she was with Nikki Sixx at the time of this interview). Joan also asks how things were like with Prince and I think she says "wonderful". She tells Joan they played a lot of pool and she had fun kicking his butt. Close to the end, she talks briefly about the music box she is making with the pearls and rhinestones. Now this interview is from 1986 so I don't know when Prince wrote Diamonds and Pearls. If he wrote it earlier and then recorded it later like other songs, it's possible it's about Vanity. I don't know.

[Edited 5/16/16 18:18pm]

[Edited 5/16/16 18:20pm]

Just watched this - thanks for posting it. Everytime I see Vanity doing an interview I am always struck by how sweet and down to earth she seems. She has a very charming personality. I laughed when she mentioned that as a kid she used to beat up on boys. Probably something else that Prince experienced with her - ha!

I agree, her personality was very endearing. Somehow I wasn't surprised that she beat up boys when she was a kid. She did not seem like a go with the flow kind of person either. She did her OWN thing. Prince let her go like a butterfly to spread her wings but then he went chasing her for I believe to possibly be, the rest of his life.

Here's a clip from the part with Julie Brown. At around 2:30 she talks about Vanity and breaks down.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTL9vxNwoxE

Here's a transcript of the sho:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/21/cnnt.02.html

[Edited 5/16/16 19:00pm]

beachy said:

Here's a clip from the part with Julie Brown. At around 2:30 she talks about Vanity and breaks down.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTL9vxNwoxE

Here's a transcript of the sho:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/21/cnnt.02.html

[Edited 5/16/16 19:00pm]

Wow. Thanks for posting that video. Yep, many others feel like us.

beachy said:

Here's a clip from the part with Julie Brown. At around 2:30 she talks about Vanity and breaks down.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTL9vxNwoxE

Here's a transcript of the sho:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/21/cnnt.02.html

[Edited 5/16/16 19:00pm]

@Beachy - you are truly amazing (how did you find that?) ha! So my recollection wasn't exactly what she said, but you get the idea. I also saw the segment just before Julie Brown as well (wish I had caught the name of the guy who had worked with Prince) and he said something along the lines that "Prince and Vanity were great together."

beachy said:

Here's a clip from the part with Julie Brown. At around 2:30 she talks about Vanity and breaks down.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTL9vxNwoxE

Here's a transcript of the sho:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/21/cnnt.02.html

[Edited 5/16/16 19:00pm]

Ohh i remember that CNN interview, its one of the reasons i started looking up old videos of her and photos of them

kellyna said:

beachy said:

Here's a clip from the part with Julie Brown. At around 2:30 she talks about Vanity and breaks down.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTL9vxNwoxE

Here's a transcript of the sho:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/21/cnnt.02.html

[Edited 5/16/16 19:00pm]

@Beachy - you are truly amazing (how did you find that?) ha! So my recollection wasn't exactly what she said, but you get the idea. I also saw the segment just before Julie Brown as well (wish I had caught the name of the guy who had worked with Prince) and he said something along the lines that "Prince and Vanity were great together."

Thanks, I must have missed these interviews, there was alot of news that day.