https://www.instagram.com...5JEIQBpFG/

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El DeBarge on Instagram:

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Happy heavenly birthday this weekend to the late great Kenny Rogers

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The backstory on my work with him is that Kenny Rogers was a fan of a certain very talented artist and asked this artist for a song. And so this particular artist sent him a song titled “You’re My Love” and suggested to him that El DeBarge should sing ad libs on it. Well I was on tour & got the call from producer Jay Graydon that Kenny Rogers sang the song but would not release it unless I sang on it with him. I was very honored to be part of this project with these two legends. So I flew in right away without ever hearing the song in advance & the rest is history.

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I wonder if anyone can guess or perhaps might know the name of this certain very talented artist that wrote the song for Kenny Rogers and myself to sing? Here's one clue for you. The pseudonym this artist used for the songwriting credit is Joey Coco.

El DeBarge sucks at riddles.

nextedition said:

Interesting! I think this is the most anyone has ever talked about "You're My Love", which is such an interesting piece. Why did Prince want to write for Kenny Rogers? What made him, in 1986 think "Hmm, Susan, let's pick that one random song from 1982 and send to Kenny". Why is the demo in that weird voice? Did Prince and Kenny ever meet? Such an odd outlier in a catalog full of outliers.

I love Kenny Rogers. His voice was really unique to me. It's no wonder he and Dolly Parton were such great friends and coworkers: They had staying power through every fad and popular genre.

I remember when They Don't Make Them Like They Used To came out. "You're My Love" had that slight pop feel to it (like many Rogers songs did), and of course when one looks at the writing credit, it was clear, even then, who Joey Coco was.

The title track was theme song to the movie Tough Guys.

I dig Prince's original version, but the last 60 seconds of adlibbing is a bit cringey. I do enjoy hearing El DeBarge on the backing vocals. Kenny always had a way of working with soul artists and having that flavor in some of his music (eg: his relationship with Lionel Richie over the decades). Of course, blues, country, and soul have very similar roots. Kenny wasn't afraid to grab hold of that.

I do wonder if Prince and Kenny ever met, other than possibly in passing at an award show or something. He would've met him at We Are The World, for sure. However, it seems that maybe Rogers and crew asked Prince for a song, and that's what he got. I believe it was a good choice for Rogers, and DeBarge's backing vocals are really nice for the song and Rogers voice.

billymeade said:

LoveGalore said:

billymeade said:

Interesting! I think this is the most anyone has ever talked about "You're My Love", which is such an interesting piece. Why did Prince want to write for Kenny Rogers? What made him, in 1986 think "Hmm, Susan, let's pick that one random song from 1982 and send to Kenny". Why is the demo in that weird voice? Did Prince and Kenny ever meet? Such an odd outlier in a catalog full of outliers.

Prince was giving away a lot of music at the time. A thing that still exists where burgeoning singer songwriters shop their stuff to others (see Kesha, Lady Gaga, Christina Milian, Justin Tranter, etc). Some use it as a platform for their own singing career and others transition into purely writing. I'm pretty sure Prince was just trying out every style he could think of. He was doing a lot of "white" music at the time too - pop/rock, country, punk, rockabilly, etc.

he never stopped doing that music, hed continued to do more folk type music (in place of country) are there other expamples of country music by Prince?
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Folk Rockabilly Rock Jazz Bluesy Funk all layered with Purple

OldFriends4Sale said:

LoveGalore said:

billymeade said: Prince was giving away a lot of music at the time. A thing that still exists where burgeoning singer songwriters shop their stuff to others (see Kesha, Lady Gaga, Christina Milian, Justin Tranter, etc). Some use it as a platform for their own singing career and others transition into purely writing. I'm pretty sure Prince was just trying out every style he could think of. He was doing a lot of "white" music at the time too - pop/rock, country, punk, rockabilly, etc.

he never stopped doing that music, hed continued to do more folk type music (in place of country) are there other expamples of country music by Prince?
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Folk Rockabilly Rock Jazz Bluesy Funk all layered with Purple

There are no known examples of Prince doing country music. You're My Love is not country. It sounds like something that could have been written around the time of For You. There's nothing folksy or country about it.

steakfinger said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

he never stopped doing that music, hed continued to do more folk type music (in place of country) are there other expamples of country music by Prince?
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Folk Rockabilly Rock Jazz Bluesy Funk all layered with Purple

There are no known examples of Prince doing country music.

https://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=Eye_Like_2_Play

[Edited 8/27/21 19:36pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

are there other expamples of country music by Prince?

The one u wanna c is country pop a la Shania Twain. And he does some country on the Muppets Tonight show.

He spoke about this recently on Questlove's podcast, basically saying the same thing. It was news to me.

steakfinger said:

Kenny Rogers and Dolly both were invited to the cookout.

muleFunk said:

Kenny Rogers and Dolly both were invited to the cookout.

Main course- Squirrel meat.