Apples

Carmen Electra

just.could.not.get.into.any.of it

I'm not sure any of them are overrated, there's a few underrated but I can't think of any of them who got huge fame with substandard material. Carmen Electra's album was a commercial and critical disaster!

luv4u said:

LaurenceNoonan said:

Who do you all think is the most overrated protégé?

People have said apples, but I don't think she was overrated. A6 had one decent song. Prince's fault was he was blinded by a nice pair of titties in favor of talent. While Vanity was no Whitney, she was also only slightly better vocally than Apollonia. Apollonia never wanted to sing that bad. Her solo album was just striking when the iron was hot. There were no great strides to have a music career there. Her thing has always been acting. So, she's not overrated - she just doesn't rate that much.

Vanity was a sweet person and was just so beautiful. But Vanity 6 was truly a girl group, not a solo act. It took Brenda & Susan to bring it up to a decent level of listening. Prince's songs were way stronger on that record than A6. (Remember "Manic Monday", "The Glamorous Life" and "17 Days" was meant for A6 at some point.)

For me, I think Andy Allo was overrated. I never saw anything that wasn't Prince touched. She had no style of her own. Even Sheila kept her individuality during it all (although these days she acts like she's Prince reincarnated).

Not sure if you'd consider them proteges but the Game Boyz were trash when it came to being a rap group. I'll give Kirk props for being a drummer, tho.

Now Carmen... oh boy. For her, I don't get the whole rap thing. It doesn't seem like her at all. She was just drop dead gorgeous and probably one of the most beautiful women Prince ever had around him. But as a rapper - the only thing inevitable was her demise as a solo artist. It's no small irony that someone who had very little musical talent lives next door to someone else with very little musical talent. Carmen and Apollonia are neighbors, or were for a very long time, as evidenced by an MTV Cribs episode with Carmen where she takes the camera next door and out pops Apollonia & her husband.

Also, for sure, Ingrid. She always came across as some self-important, quasi-spiritual, thinks-she-has-the-inside-joke chick, the latter trait that Alicia Keys has always giggling to herself like she knows something the other 316,000,000 in the U.S. don't.

TrivialPursuit said:

LaurenceNoonan said:

Who do you all think is the most overrated protégé?

People have said apples, but I don't think she was overrated. A6 had one decent song. Prince's fault was he was blinded by a nice pair of titties in favor of talent. While Vanity was no Whitney, she was also only slightly better vocally than Apollonia. Apollonia never wanted to sing that bad. Her solo album was just striking when the iron was hot. There were no great strides to have a music career there. Her thing has always been acting. So, she's not overrated - she just doesn't rate that much.

Vanity was a sweet person and was just so beautiful. But Vanity 6 was truly a girl group, not a solo act. It took Brenda & Susan to bring it up to a decent level of listening. Prince's songs were way stronger on that record than A6. (Remember "Manic Monday", "The Glamorous Life" and "17 Days" was meant for A6 at some point.)

For me, I think Andy Allo was overrated. I never saw anything that wasn't Prince touched. She had no style of her own. Even Sheila kept her individuality during it all (although these days she acts like she's Prince reincarnated).

Not sure if you'd consider them proteges but the Game Boyz were trash when it came to being a rap group. I'll give Kirk props for being a drummer, tho.

Now Carmen... oh boy. For her, I don't get the whole rap thing. It doesn't seem like her at all. She was just drop dead gorgeous and probably one of the most beautiful women Prince ever had around him. But as a rapper - the only thing inevitable was her demise as a solo artist. It's no small irony that someone who had very little musical talent lives next door to someone else with very little musical talent. Carmen and Apollonia are neighbors, or were for a very long time, as evidenced by an MTV Cribs episode with Carmen where she takes the camera next door and out pops Apollonia & her husband.

Also, for sure, Ingrid. She always came across as some self-important, quasi-spiritual, thinks-she-has-the-inside-joke chick, the latter trait that Alicia Keys has always giggling to herself like she knows something the other 316,000,000 in the U.S. don't.

What about Tamar or Bria??

luv4u said:

What about Tamar or Bria??

Literally forgot about one. Tamar has a voice and I give her credit for being a singer. Bria was a lay, at best.

TrivialPursuit said:

There are too many to choose from.

I think all of the proteges from the 1980s were wonderful.

.

I would only choose Apollonia because as a 'protege' she couldn't fill Vanity's shows.

She did a great job in the movie though.

.

From the 90s (who were the proteges?) TC Ellis? Carmen Electra? Robin Power (& the Uptown Dames)? who else?

.

It is hard for me to see anyone from the 2000s as 'proteges' proper. Except for Bria Valente & Andy Allo... those were the only 2 that it looks like Prince was trying to get that 'protege' affect with. Everyone else were just singers he tried to get an album for.

Bria was around the beginning of the Welcome 2 Europe tour and then Andy Allo was on for the 2nd 1/2

I liked Bria's album and I think she was beautiful but I was hoping she would sing live eventually.Elisa Fiorillo said in a recent interview that Bria was supposed to sing on one of the three nights Prince was on Leno but backed out.She ended up just escorting Prince to events unfortunately.It was said she suffered from stage fright but I think she had a pretty voice.Andy said in an interview last year that she went through a phase where she was absorbed by Prince and wanted to be him so it sounds like she was trying to conform herself to his image rather than the other way around.She said that Prince was encouraging her to go back to playing her acoustic and singing because he told her that was who she really was and she insisted on doing Funk and having the horns backing her.She said in the end that Prince was right and she went back to her original sound.After reading that it sounds like Prince realized that the image he had created for her didn't work but Andy wanted to keep it.She appeared to be emulating Betty Mabry Davis during the Welcome 2 Europe and Superconductor days,something Prince mentioned in an interview in 2012.As for most overrated protege,I'd say Apollonia.

I think Andy is definitely underrated as a songwriter.

pinkcashmere23 said:

I liked Bria's album and I think she was beautiful but I was hoping she would sing live eventually.Elisa Fiorillo said in a recent interview that Bria was supposed to sing on one of the three nights Prince was on Leno but backed out.She ended up just escorting Prince to events unfortunately.It was said she suffered from stage fright but I think she had a pretty voice.Andy said in an interview last year that she went through a phase where she was absorbed by Prince and wanted to be him so it sounds like she was trying to conform herself to his image rather than the other way around.She said that Prince was encouraging her to go back to playing her acoustic and singing because he told her that was who she really was and she insisted on doing Funk and having the horns backing her.She said in the end that Prince was right and she went back to her original sound.After reading that it sounds like Prince realized that the image he had created for her didn't work but Andy wanted to keep it.She appeared to be emulating Betty Mabry Davis during the Welcome 2 Europe and Superconductor days,something Prince mentioned in an interview in 2012.As for most overrated protege,I'd say Apollonia.

I thought the same about Bria, I wished she would at least sing back up, and work up to doing some front/lead songs.

OldFriends4Sale said:

ThatWhiteDude said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Bria was around the beginning of the Welcome 2 Europe tour and then Andy Allo was on for the 2nd 1/2

OFF TOPIC: I'm a little bit confused because Prince was wearing normal clothes is that really him on the left?

yes it is him

OldFriends4Sale said:

pinkcashmere23 said:

I liked Bria's album and I think she was beautiful but I was hoping she would sing live eventually.Elisa Fiorillo said in a recent interview that Bria was supposed to sing on one of the three nights Prince was on Leno but backed out.She ended up just escorting Prince to events unfortunately.It was said she suffered from stage fright but I think she had a pretty voice.Andy said in an interview last year that she went through a phase where she was absorbed by Prince and wanted to be him so it sounds like she was trying to conform herself to his image rather than the other way around.She said that Prince was encouraging her to go back to playing her acoustic and singing because he told her that was who she really was and she insisted on doing Funk and having the horns backing her.She said in the end that Prince was right and she went back to her original sound.After reading that it sounds like Prince realized that the image he had created for her didn't work but Andy wanted to keep it.She appeared to be emulating Betty Mabry Davis during the Welcome 2 Europe and Superconductor days,something Prince mentioned in an interview in 2012.As for most overrated protege,I'd say Apollonia.

I thought the same about Bria, I wished she would at least sing back up, and work up to doing some front/lead songs.

Yep! She must have been really uncomfortable singing in front of an audience.When she was promoting Elixer she said she was surprised that Prince had packaged it with Lotusflow3r.I think it was a nice album though.

Definitely Appolonia. By far!

Coming right after Vanity did not help her case but her sense of entitlement made things worse. Prince is iconic, Purple Rain is iconic, Appolonia is...Not. She still is not accepting that.

I really don't think Apollonia can be considered a protegée. She was cast in the movie as the nearest thing to Vanity they could find - and she had to do what singing she did to make that work. She was a purely accidental Prince girl.

I honestly don't believe any of them are over- or underrated. The things they've done without Prince tell the tale. Those with talent and ambition went on to other successes. Those who got an album as a trade for giving it up to Prince sank the minute he was done with them.

Thanks. That's kinda strange to see him with normal clothes

OldFriends4Sale said:

ThatWhiteDude said:

OldFriends4Sale said: OFF TOPIC: I'm a little bit confused because Prince was wearing normal clothes is that really him on the left?

yes it is him

Genesia said:

I really don't think Apollonia can be considered a protegée. She was cast in the movie as the nearest thing to Vanity they could find - and she had to do what singing she did to make that work. She was a purely accidental Prince girl.

I honestly don't believe any of them are over- or underrated. The things they've done without Prince tell the tale. Those with talent and ambition went on to other successes. Those who got an album as a trade for giving it up to Prince sank the minute he was done with them.

I'm glad you said that. I was going to edit my earlier response, but I'll add to what you've said here.

I think to be over-rated, they have to had an undue amount of adulation, attention, hype, and even awards (possibly) first. When we use words like "overrated", the flip side of that is 'were they ever underrated, or can they be underrated? Was there an inordinate amount of positivity or overblown hype about them to begin with?" Those arguments have more validity when made about Britney Spears or Milli Vanilli - someone purposely manufactured and promoted as the next big whatever, but later revealed to be less than half of that.

I don't believe Apples was ever overblown as the next big Prince protege. Even Prince didn't really believe in her singing ability. He just saw the bigger package, pulled the best songs off that record, and eventually got enough from her to put a six-track album out for the sake of the movie tie-in. She wasn't exactly nipping at Sheila E.'s heels as the next beauty to come out of the Prince camp. She was, as noted, a movie & TV star cast in a movie. She filled in for someone who left production. It could have been anyone in that space - Rosie Perez, J-Lo, Rita fucking Moreno. Anyone who was free to go to the audition and say, "Let me play this role".

So maybe the thread should be "the least talented Prince protege". Apples would fall into that when it came to singing. Bria would, too. Andy would as far as over-hyped. Judith certainly has talent but as usual, Prince rarely followed through with side pieces projects. A third of his career is littered with unfinished projects. Tamar, Madhouse 24 are two that come to mind, yet freakin' Bria gets a record bundled (the only way it was going to sell) with two of his records???

The only two protege acts that got the attention they deserved were The Time and Sheila. If The Family had stuck together, they'd have had a good two-album run possibly. Jill's record should have had better attention when it was out.

TrivialPursuit said:

Genesia said:

I really don't think Apollonia can be considered a protegée. She was cast in the movie as the nearest thing to Vanity they could find - and she had to do what singing she did to make that work. She was a purely accidental Prince girl.

I honestly don't believe any of them are over- or underrated. The things they've done without Prince tell the tale. Those with talent and ambition went on to other successes. Those who got an album as a trade for giving it up to Prince sank the minute he was done with them.

I'm glad you said that. I was going to edit my earlier response, but I'll add to what you've said here.

I think to be over-rated, they have to had an undue amount of adulation, attention, hype, and even awards (possibly) first. When we use words like "overrated", the flip side of that is 'were they ever underrated, or can they be underrated? Was there an inordinate amount of positivity or overblown hype about them to begin with?" Those arguments have more validity when made about Britney Spears or Milli Vanilli - someone purposely manufactured and promoted as the next big whatever, but later revealed to be less than half of that.

I don't believe Apples was ever overblown as the next big Prince protege. Even Prince didn't really believe in her singing ability. He just saw the bigger package, pulled the best songs off that record, and eventually got enough from her to put a six-track album out for the sake of the movie tie-in. She wasn't exactly nipping at Sheila E.'s heels as the next beauty to come out of the Prince camp. She was, as noted, a movie & TV star cast in a movie. She filled in for someone who left production. It could have been anyone in that space - Rosie Perez, J-Lo, Rita fucking Moreno. Anyone who was free to go to the audition and say, "Let me play this role".

So maybe the thread should be "the least talented Prince protege". Apples would fall into that when it came to singing. Bria would, too. Andy would as far as over-hyped. Judith certainly has talent but as usual, Prince rarely followed through with side pieces projects. A third of his career is littered with unfinished projects. Tamar, Madhouse 24 are two that come to mind, yet freakin' Bria gets a record bundled (the only way it was going to sell) with two of his records???

The only two protege acts that got the attention they deserved were The Time and Sheila. If The Family had stuck together, they'd have had a good two-album run possibly. Jill's record should have had better attention when it was out.

I can't argue with a single word of this.

FlyOnTheWall said:

I think Andy is definitely underrated as a songwriter.

Her songwriting is definitely her strength but I think her voice can be quite nice.Some of her Music Monday performances were good I thought and she knows how to make a cover her own.I especially liked her versions of Killing Me Softly,Better Man and American Boy.

pinkcashmere23 said:

FlyOnTheWall said:

I think Andy is definitely underrated as a songwriter.

Her songwriting is definitely her strength but I think her voice can be quite nice.Some of her Music Monday performances were good I thought and she knows how to make a cover her own.I especially liked her versions of Killing Me Softly,Better Man and American Boy.

I agree. I didn't mean to suggest that her singing is not good. To the contrary, I think her voice is lovely, with quite a range. I love it when she does the little Aaron Neville-esque warbles. Many people underestimate Andy.

Bria looks like a giant next to Prince those pics make him look especially small

SoulAlive said:

Bria looks like a giant next to Prince those pics make him look especially small

Well, she is taller

she certainly is