or did he ever intend to give to someone else, like say, Appollonia 6?

scriptgirl said:

Sheena was fooled into believing this was recorded just for her after she asked him for a song, but it is absolutely untrue. To this day, she still might believe it was specially created just for her.

I worked at Sunset Sound and Sunset Sound Factory in the mid 90's and one of the guys on staff back when this particular project came up was a guy named David Knight who was still around in the 90's working as an independent engineer. He worked as an assistant engineer at the time Sheena was there working on what was her second record, I believe. Prince was booked into Sunset Sound for a few months from around the end of 1983 until April of 1984 working on Purple Rain stuff. At the time, many of his multitracks and master tapes were stored in the Sunset Sound vault for ease of access.

David told us the story that when Sheena found out Prince was working in the same facility, she asked her manager to beg for a song from him for her project. Word came back that Prince was willing to give her a song and a date was set up over at the sister facility, Sunset Sound Factory, where she was to lay down vocals to the track Prince had 'prepared' for her. David was apprenticing under David Leonard at the time (and soon inherited the title of Dave the Blade from Leonard for his skill with editing analog tape) and the morning of the recording session, before Sheena was due in, he said they set about pulling the multitrack from the shelf and wiping (erasing) the original lead vocals so that Sheena would believe the track was 'all hers'. He was laughing as he told the story - because they had pulled one over on her and her manager. I was never told who did the original vocals, but one could assume Prince was the singer. Apparently, his voice still appears buried in the background vocals.

So, the track existed before she came to work at the studio. Most likely this a was a track for one of his girlsongs projects. Apollonia, Sheila E or most likely, Jill Jones.

Why are you so sure that Sheena Easton was "fooled" by anything. Are you a mind-reader? She probably knew it wasn't written just for her.

It's not that important to me that Sugar Walls was conceived exclusively for Sheena Easton but what is important is that when asked to offer a song for her Prince gave her that particular one. Prince, I am sure, has hundreds of demos and the beginning of conceptual songs for various moods. What is fun and cool in my opinion is that he gives her a song called "Sugar Walls"
[Edited 4/11/07 17:54pm]

I used to fantasize about my morning train being intended within her sugar walls.

She was "fooled" into thinking it was for her, when really, Prince was singing about his "Sugar Walls"....hmmmm.

SquirrelMeat said:

Sugar Walls sounds better than Poop Walls.

FunkiestOne said:

Seriously, the whole story sounds like fan wank...

It sure wasn't written for Mavis Staples.

Imago said:

Oh, I dunno.. I can just hear Mavis gettin' it...

"I can show you things you've never seeeeen..."




"Come spend the night inside my sugar walls..."

jtfolden said:

THAT was sooooo not right but shol was funny

Imago said:

Jestyr said:

A lot of this story is true. David Leonard was working with Prince and Sheena and he was the middle man between them when it came to getting a song for her, but I don't know one way or another if it was for her exclusively or not. As far as I know, it was not recorded by Apollonia, Sheila E. or Jill Jones so it very well could have been.

Prince didn't store his music at Sunset Sound much. In fact, when he flew back and forth, for the most part he would travel with it so he could work on it back in Minneapolis. During the early part of 1984, he wasn't touring, so most of his trips were between L.A. and Minneapolis and he took many of his tapes with him. There were rumours that when he left Sunset Sound in the late 1980s/early 90s, Prince left tapes behind. Let me put that one to rest... another urban legend. Prince wasn't the type of person to leave his work behind and just about anyone who worked with him during that period would confirm that. That has also been confirmed to me by countless people in all levels of authority at Sunset Sound as well as other studios. Makes for a great story, but not a pattern that Prince practiced.

The story about Dave the blade is innaccurate. "Dave the Blade" was not David Knight, but was actually David Leonard and he is credited as such on the Purple Rain album. His credit reads "David Leonard-the blade" and that was because of his ability to slice apart and edit Prince's music. He is also credited as this on 1999. I'm sure that Knight was very good, but David Leonard was officially "Dave the blade"... at least according David, Peggy Mac (his former wife and also Prince's main engineer during that period) and the album credits.

Nice research and background story none the less. Always cool to hear background stories like this from people who were around during that time.

Judging by the time frame of when the song was actually recorded, I expect
'Sugar Walls' was originally written with the idea of using it for the then
un-named 'Apollonia 6' (Prince was in the process of casting the new 'Vanity'
during that time). So it's more than likely that the song only had his own guide
vocals on, without any female lead vocals. This is quite common for Prince, and
there are several unreleased tracks which are obviously intended as 'girlsongs',
(and are sung from a female perspective) but feature Prince singing lead.

Thanks for the history

madhouseman said:

[Edited 4/12/07 11:45am]

Listening to the song, vocals not just the words more so, I would say that it was written for Apples and the Girls. But instead passed over to Sheena. I think V6 would have done a better job.

BorisFishpaw said:

(From a different era) I Hear Your Voice has always been one of my favorite Prince girlsongs, and the line about buying a new dress and putting it on always cracks me up...

Hey, I wonder what the reaction would have been in the late '80s if Prince had relased an album called 'Girlsongs' containing a bunch of tracks like this. And the general music-buying public thought If I Was Your Girlfriend was fruity...

Jestyr said:

We can tell you get passionate about this but you should really chill. lol. I'll repeat again that it is nice to hear background stories like this from people who were around during this time. I don't really know you but we trust that you worked there and were responsible for logging that information to the computers at that time and have some inside knowledge. That is great and we are all proud of you, but damn son, you have to step back a little and enjoy the positives sometimes. Props on your story, and congrats on 'acquiring' a few of Prince's tapes, but I stand by the information I've been given about Dave the blade originally being David Leonard. It sounds like you agree with the story, and just have some additional information to add to it. If someone got the nickname later, that is a nice addition to the 1984 story. I don't know David Knight but I assume he is a talented and good guy.

Hope this helps settle you down a little. No one is attacking you!

We just all want to have some fun.

Where can I hear I hear your Voice?

scriptgirl said:

Officially released by Patti LaBelle on the 'Burnin'' Album.


Back to Sugar Walls, it's nice to see some talk about this issue. I've always said, when asked, that there's no way that this track was written for Sheena Easton, it must've been given to her, despite Sheena saying otherwise on record.

Simple reasoning that Prince doesn't often write songs for people outside his camp. He will give them unused tracks usually. I've always thought Sugar Walls the odd exception, especially how the timing and overt innuendo of the lyrics would suit the V/A6 project to a tee.

Nice to see some sort of, at least second/third-hand, semi-confirmation that this is the case with this particular song.
[Edited 4/12/07 13:46pm]

NouveauDance said:

Glad we could help. It is always fun to find out the origins of some of these things. That is why I love UPTOWN mag, etc. Any source for this information is welcome.

squirrelgrease said:

Jestyr 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.

scriptgirl said:

I remember something that Black Beat magazine said about this song:

We love the track but we have to ask: Why didn't he save that groove for one of his own acts,namely Apollonia 6,who aren't exactly burning up the charts?


Somehow though,I don't think the song would have been a hit if Apollonia 6 had recorded it.Their album didn't receive the proper promotion.

Wowugotit said:

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

Not so long ago,we were discussing this song in the Associated Artist forum:

http://www.prince.org/msg/5/219523

Wowugotit said:

That is a great addition to what everyone has brought out here. I didn't have the dates (where did you find them or the reflections from Sheena herself-you mentioned that they were on a TV interview?) so I'll have to add this to my research. I've always been curious about this song as well because it really changed the course of Sheena's career.

This is why I love the org. You never know where the information is going to come from regarding Prince's history and the org is filled with people with experience and knowledge on these subjects.
[Edited 4/13/07 7:56am]

SoulAlive said:

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

jtfolden said: