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Forums > Prince: Music and More > Was "Sugar Walls" always intended for Sheena Easton?
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Reply #30 posted 04/13/07 12:39pm

DanceWme

Imago said:

It sure wasn't written for Mavis Staples. lol

spit
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Reply #31 posted 04/14/07 8:30am

Wowugotit

Why is it so utterly hilarious to envision Mavis Staples singing "Sugar Walls"? I mean, it is hilarious on so many levels. I love Mavis but she should NEVER cover that song.
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Reply #32 posted 04/14/07 9:04am

SoulAlive

jtfolden said:

SoulAlive said:

Thanks for the info.It seems funny that Sheena agreed to record the song.Back then,her image was so wholesome and pure lol I guess she wanted to break out of her shell and "Sugar Walls" was the song to do it.


With that album, she was following in Olivia Newton-John's footsteps - who had made a similar move just a few years before.



You know,I was thinking about Olivia Newton John when I made that comment lol I remember how wholesome and pure she was before "Grease".She used to do songs like "Have You Never Been Mellow",then she totally changed her image and started doing sexy songs like "Physical" and "Make A Move On Me".

She should have asked Prince for a song lol
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Reply #33 posted 04/14/07 9:20am

Wowugotit

There were many comparisons to Sheena making an "Olivia like" transformation from good girl to bad girl in the mid 80's. It may have seemed so on the surface but anyone who was a fan of both of them at the time (me) could see the big differences in their music and careers in general.

As far as Olvia is/was concerned. She really had to change her image because sex is what sold in the 80's. She wouldn't have been a successful pop singer in the 80's with the kind of stuff she was doing in the mid 70's. Music changed in a major way in a relatively short period of time. Most all female pop singers in the 80's had to take a sexier stance to their sound and look to be accepted in the marketplace (radio, MTV, etc).
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Reply #34 posted 04/14/07 10:02am

ufoclub

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now this IS A THREAD!
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Reply #35 posted 04/14/07 6:38pm

jtfolden

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SoulAlive said:

You know,I was thinking about Olivia Newton John when I made that comment lol I remember how wholesome and pure she was before "Grease".She used to do songs like "Have You Never Been Mellow",then she totally changed her image and started doing sexy songs like "Physical" and "Make A Move On Me".

She should have asked Prince for a song lol


Well, with a song like Soul Kiss, I'm not sure she needed help being 'dirty'.
lol
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Reply #36 posted 04/14/07 6:39pm

jtfolden

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Wowugotit said:

There were many comparisons to Sheena making an "Olivia like" transformation from good girl to bad girl in the mid 80's. It may have seemed so on the surface but anyone who was a fan of both of them at the time (me) could see the big differences in their music and careers in general.

As far as Olvia is/was concerned. She really had to change her image because sex is what sold in the 80's. She wouldn't have been a successful pop singer in the 80's with the kind of stuff she was doing in the mid 70's. Music changed in a major way in a relatively short period of time. Most all female pop singers in the 80's had to take a sexier stance to their sound and look to be accepted in the marketplace (radio, MTV, etc).


I'm not sure how anything you said negates the reference.
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Reply #37 posted 04/15/07 8:50pm

Wowugotit

Olivia's SOUL KISS was about oral sex of course. I've heard some of Olivia's daughter, Chloe's new songs about to be released from her new CD for Warner Bros. Songs like "Tastes Like You" should be raunchy pop alt hits. Check out the song previews on Chloe's Myspace page.
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Reply #38 posted 04/15/07 10:16pm

sosgemini

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SoulAlive said:

Wowugotit said:



As a long time Sheena Easton fan who has heard the “Sugar Walls” / Prince story several times from Sheena herself over the years (TV interviews), I'm here to share what I’ve heard. Sheena was in the process of recording her fifth studio album for EMI Records in early 1984. David Leonard recorded and mixed Sheena’s vocals at Sunset Sound Factory. The album was titled A PRIVATE HEAVEN and was produced by Greg Mathieson. David Leonard was also busy engineering tracks for Prince at Sunset during the same time. Supposedly, one day while David was bragging about his studio experiences with Prince, Sheena asked him to give Prince a note she had scratched out on a piece of paper. It said something like “I’m a huge fan of yours and I would love to work with you. I’m performing a song on the Tonight Show tonight so tune in if you’re interested”. Sheena admitted that she never expected to get a response from Prince and was surprised to receive a phone call from him the next day. Prince supposedly told Sheena that he’d seen her on the Tonight Show and that he liked her voice. He said that he had a song for her then proceeded to play a demo of “Sugar Walls” to her over the phone. Sheena reacted by saying she loved it. Prince met her at Sunset Sound Factory the next day. “Sugar Walls” was produced by Greg Mathieson and recorded & mixed by David Leonard on January 21st or 22nd of 1984. Prince produced the extended version of the song with Sheena providing additional vocals for a 12” single release. The whole thing took just one day. Sheena attributes Prince's "genius" song writing (penned as Alexander Nevermind) and his presence in the recording studio to the song’s success. “Sugar Walls” was the second hit single released from A PRIVATE HEAVEN, the first being the sassy song “Strut”. "Sugar Walls" peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February or March of 1985. It peaked at #3 on Billboard's BLACK SINGLES chart and peaked somewhere in the Top 5 on Billboard's DANCE SINGLES chart. The song and its accompanying video were banned in some regions due to it’s sexually risqué lyrics and for awhile on MTV. It was cited as being offensive (along with “Darling Nikki”) by Tipper Gore on her Filthy Fifteen list in her efforts to introduce mandatory warning labeling of explicit albums.



Thanks for the info.It seems funny that Sheena agreed to record the song.Back then,her image was so wholesome and pure lol I guess she wanted to break out of her shell and "Sugar Walls" was the song to do it.


i wouldn't give credit to Sugar Walls though if Strut was released first and reached a higher chart level...

and im still not sold that ugar Walls wasn't written for her...folks are always touting how prince can write a hit in one day. shrug
Space for sale...
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Reply #39 posted 04/16/07 9:31pm

jtfolden

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sosgemini said:

and im still not sold that ugar Walls wasn't written for her...folks are always touting how prince can write a hit in one day. shrug


Well, let's face it. Even when Prince does write and produce songs specifically for other artists he isn't really doing it for them - he's doing it for how HE wants to mold them.

Some song-writers have a real knack for creating tracks that bring out the best in a performer. Prince really does not do that, most of the time these artists all end up sounding like Prince proteges.
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