How many careers has Prince flushed?

I know he means well with his new artists, but why is it that none of them ever "blow up"? Can Tamar sell her albums without him? He's a P Diddy-type producer, gotta be in every video.



Discuss.

yeah...Prince should do Making The Band part 5

The only ones to come out of his camp and do well for themselves are THE TIME and, to a lesser extent, SHEILA E.

Good Question
Tony Lemans (?)
Mazarati
Jill Jones
Carmen Electra
etc...

even the old timers whose careers he tries to resurrect...

Larry Graham
Chaka Khan
Mavis Staples
George Clinton

The public ain't havin' it...

Just 'cuz P put people out there, doesn't mean he's responsible for them not staying in the lime light(once they leave the nest). Vanity, Morris, Jesse & Apollonia did well for a while. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Sheila, Nona Gaye & Carmen Electra are still moving in the right direction.

Well Tony Lemans died...

but other than that... really how many of them that did not make it were all that great? seems to me that few of them would have ever gotten a contract on their own.

Carmen had a great career after prince... and you heard her "sing" which may explain why she did not make any other albums.
[Edited 7/5/06 20:42pm]

Nah, he doesn't kill a career so much as fail to launch it properly in the first place,....

HalluRain said:

Couldn't have said it any better!

Once, while riding the bus,
I noticed that on the back of the seat in front of me,
amongst all the other gangsta graphitti,
was the 'tag' "Career-Killa" accompanied with the Symbol.

Prince is a terrible producer for anyone other than himself, and that's a sad fact. Those who were once under the shadow of his ego have only since had any kind of success based on their own talents and not because of anything Prince did for them: Wendy, Lisa, Jesse, Jimmy, Terry, Dez, Andre, Jill, Taja, Sheila, John B., St. Paul, etc. Prince is way too controlling to properly produce anyone, making everyone sound like him, sing like him, dance like him, play like him, and perform songs written mostly by him. The only reason anyone in the industry would even recommend Prince as a producer is that his name on your album might get you noticed. Sorry to sound so negative, but that's just the way it is.

I wouldnt say he killed George Clintons career at all, if nybody killed his its himself by spending 2 much money on crack, and crazy props, and the mothership althought the mothership is the bomb!

Snap said:

Amen! All Prince has ever made for artists under his wing are shitty Prince songs. There are always a couple exceptions, but generally speaking, they're just songs the man himself is too good for.

Show me a single person who was doing their thing BEFORE they got with Prince and then their career was over.....then I can answer your question.

From where I'm sitting sitting Prince was a career maker:
Sinead, Chaka's best song, I feel 4 u, The Time, Jimmy and Terry, Carmen, put Sheila on the map,W&L,.....


A lot of the people Prince helped along the way would have NEVER gotten anywhere on their own, NEVER. I won't name them as 2 not insult them.
[Edited 7/6/06 8:28am]

Graycap23 said:

warning warning



warning warning


warning warning


~~dont look if you dont want to see scary fake movie picture~~



~~youve been warned~~



~~skip post now~~




~~or look~~





GET OUT!!!


[Edited 7/6/06 11:21am]

Snap said:

Well said Snap. Also a good majority of the songs he wrote for people were throw-away tunes that he didn't care for. He told Chris Rock during the VH1 interview that he wished he had kept all those TIME hits for himself, Which makes sense because he took "KISS" away from Mazerati. That song certainly could've boosted their career.

I don't think Prince is a producer in the general sense. He produces because he HAS 2 to get what is playing in his head.

If would have been nice to have a warning posted before the gruesome picture.

BEAUGARDE said:

yeah, well those were all 80s artists. They're not doing anything now. JJ and TL are producers who struck gold on their own and NG and CE are famous for other reasons. Nothing he's done lately has stuck production-wise. He may need to enlist other songwriters and producers and make himself executive prod. He's very hardline about trying to live through his artists. He's very anti-hiphop and new school and that may work against him. Maybe if he at least, tried to appeal to the "neo-soul" school a little more, he'd be able to move his artists forward. Don't get me wrong, Id much rather hear Prince than 90% of what's on the radio today but he's just not seen as the future of music anymore. Today's artists (the nerve of them even calling themselves "artists"!!!) dont have the work ethic of real musicians like Prince. They expect the engineer and producer to do all the work and fix everything in the mix.

Revolution said:

WHEN HAS THE TIME DONE WELL? MORRIS DAY SUCK ASS!

Snap said:

Didn't Alan Leeds say something like, Prince proteges are all aspects of his personality and he loses interest once they develop their own personality?

He is controlling, and drills his bandmates like a military outfit. He doesn't seem to have the patience and nurturing required to produce other talents.

FanSynceEyeWuz9 said:

I don't believe that I am seeing their career through purple tinted glasses.
Am I? They are near legends in the RnB field. Aren't they?
Whatever the case...they have some legendary songs under their belt (777-9311 and Gigolo's Get Lonely Too) and they still put on a HELL of a show.
Morris' schtick will never get old. C.O.O.L., what's that spell?

Revolution said:

No, they are more of a novelty act...no were near legendary status...i'd compare them to acts like Nu Shooz, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and The Jets.

floated around for a quick bit and then dissappeared. the legends are reserved for The Supremes, Four-Tops, Temptations and others.

Graycap23 said:

I'll say this again:Graycap, I LOVE the way u think!!!

Revolution said:

I just saw them last week. It was old....and stale too.

sosgemini said:

Oh...HOW I disagree!
Nu Shooz? They only had one (HUGE) hit. Lisa Lisa had maybe 2. The Jets, can't remember ANY hits...
But The Time? come on now, ask in the 'hood. Everyone knows Gigolos, The Walk, COOL, The Stick, Wild and Loose, 777-9311, Get It Up, Jungle Love, The Bird, If The Kid Can't Make You Come...

I agree that the act was novelty and over-the-top, but that was Prince's vision for this group. However, as far as musicianship, these guys were top notch.
Also, they were showcased in a MAJOR HIT movie, giving them MUCH exposure.
They're not near the Supremes, but don't discredit them by calling them purely a novelty act.

.
[Edited 7/7/06 6:12am]

Revolution said:

nuff said

Revolution said:

Lisa Lisa actually had string of pop hits: All Cried Out, Head To Toe, Lost In Emotion, Let The Beat Hit Em...they also had numerous dance hits (starting with I Wonder If I Take You Home)...

only inside prince's fan world do folks know songs like The Stick, The Walk, Gigolos or If The Kid Cant Make You Cum...

folks know these kats for Jungle Love, The Bird and Jerk Out...and thats it. now, some r&b fans know them for some of their other songs but then some dance fans would know Lisa Lisa for I Wonder If I Take You Home & Skip To My Lu...

so, if you wanna call The Time legends...you best be prepared to call those other acts legends. in fact, im sure their fans do consider themselves legends.

Tha Twinz got their own web site.

sosgemini said:

Left out Ice Cream Castles and Cool. Gigolos and The Walk are songs that the old-school R&B heads know.

Look how long it took Kate Bush to recover after working with Prince