There are a lot of stories about how The Revolution was disbanded, but I've never really heard about the letting go of the SOTT/Lovesexy band. I know Sheila was slated to release another solo album and left Prince's camp over disagreements about her career, but what about the rest of the band members? Were they fired, or did most of them just move on? Levi and Eric stayed on, but when did Boni and Cat officially leave? Please share your stories if you know them.

As far as I remember from back then, Cat left because she wanted to work with Tim Simenon, a hot and upcoming producer back then ( British, founder of Bomb The Bass, had a couple of hits in the late 80s/early 90s). The project didn´t lead to more than a single though...but I might be wrong.

Sheila had problems with her back ( and drug problems ) and left, and it took both of them years to hook up again.

I don´t know why Boni left but I know that she died of a brain aneurysm later on. She´s still my favorite back up singer to this day....not too dominant, not too quite, and a beautiful stage personality.

Miko left a year or two later.....I think he left during the European leg of the tour when the tour was in Rotterdam(Netherlands), and the last time I heard of him he was living on one of the Spanish islands, still playing guitar. He and Prince had a lot of arguments, and some of them are caught on bootleg recordings.

Fink left around the time Miko left, he was supposed to be in Graffiti Bridge but was given other duties to fulfill. The keyboard player in that movie is actually Phil C., a hair stylist in Prince´s camp back then.

I had read that Fink was replaced when he did not show up to a gig in Rio in '91 (?)

duggalolly said:

I had read that Fink was replaced when he did not show up to a gig in Rio in '91 (?)

Sort of.

This from The Vault book...

Early Dec 1990.

Rehearsals with a partially new band line-up begin. Long term keyboard player Dr Fink was replaced by Tommy Elm. Fink was doing some production work in Minneapolis and told Prince's assistant that he couldn't get away at short notice. He thought Elm was going to be a temporary keyboard player for the South American concerts in January 1991 and was bitterly disappointed when he realised that he had been replaced for good.

Tommy Elm was re-named Tommy Barbarella.

[Edited 8/29/12 11:46am]

KoolEaze said:

Sheila had problems with her back ( and drug problems ) and left, and it took both of them years to hook up again.

Is there a source for this? I've only heard that Sheila and Prince were working on her fourth album and she wanted to concentrate less on being a "sexpot singer" and more on being a musician, and that the disagreement over this caused a riff. And then there's the story about Prince's feud with Gilbert, which allegedly caused him to also get mad at Sheila.

The timing of when she left confuses me, too, since Prince started working on the Batman album almost immediately after the Lovesexy tour ended, yet Sheila is not on any of those songs...even the three that were written and recorded in 1988.

Efan said:

KoolEaze said:

Sheila had problems with her back ( and drug problems ) and left, and it took both of them years to hook up again.

Is there a source for this? I've only heard that Sheila and Prince were working on her fourth album and she wanted to concentrate less on being a "sexpot singer" and more on being a musician, and that the disagreement over this caused a riff. And then there's the story about Prince's feud with Gilbert, which allegedly caused him to also get mad at Sheila.

The timing of when she left confuses me, too, since Prince started working on the Batman album almost immediately after the Lovesexy tour ended, yet Sheila is not on any of those songs...even the three that were written and recorded in 1988.

yep, both are true, Sheila did have back issues( I never heard of drug problems) as a result of playing in heels for so long, and there was a huge disagreement with the direction of her new album

I also read that she wasn't ready to leave the band yet, so that might be a part of it, I remember reading or hearing her talk about it in an interview back then of asking Prince not to disband the group.

A lot of the Batman music was written during the Lovesexy period, and a lot of the 'rushed or/and sparse' feel to a lot of it might be why... not a lot of depth. But it doesn't mean she didn't play on anything. She played on Elephants & Flowers(studio) and another song or 2 on GB including Boni Boyer.

Graffiti Bridge: Featuring Mavis Staples and Tevin Campbell
Backing voice and Bass by Levi Seacer Jr.
Backing voice and Organ by Boni Boyer
Backing voice and Drums by Sheila E.
All other instruments by Prince
Orchestra arranged by Clare Fischer

We Can Funk:

Saxophone by Eric Leeds
Trumpet by Atlanta Bliss

This entry details an untitled album by Sheila E., recorded between early 1987 and late 1988, and planned for release in 1989. The album was abandoned when Sheila E. left Paisley Park Records in early 1989, however, and most of the album's tracks remain unreleased.

3 Nigs Watchin' A Kung Fu Movie was recorded in January or February, 1987.

Knucklehead was recorded in late October, 1987, after the opening of Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA,

with Latino Barbie Doll recorded in mid-December, 1987.

Scarlet Pussy was recorded in January, 1988.

The Ghetto (a cover version of the Donny Hathway song, was also recorded in either late 1987 or early 1988, although details are not known.

Soul Company and Girl Power were recorded in mid-November, 1988.

The other tracks on the album are not believed to have contained any input by Prince.

SuperSoulFighter said:

There was an interview with Michael B in a Dutch fanclub magazine where he (Michael) said that both Fink and Miko just got tired of being in the band. So yes, they just needed to move on. Don't know whereto though...

the both said the shift in the band had changed, it wasn't the same and Prince fell into the vide of the dancer guys

Dr Fink said all the new ones who came in acted like they had some kind of entitlement

Dr Fink and Mico stayed on till the end of the Nude tour

Prince slowly got rid of everyone from his 1980's era

A: So what was the reason you left ... I saw a video of a rehearsal some time ago where you got into a fight with Prince. He seemed pretty upset, stamped his feet with his high-heel and then walked off.

Mico: You've seen that video tape? So what did I do?

A: Well you left him standing there like a little kid.
Mico: I didn't actually know that this was out! How did you get a video tape with that? I remember this event!

A: Well he tapes almost everything and I saw this a while ago at a friend's place.
Mico: Really? I mean I thought that wasn't available to the public.

A: Well, don't panic, it is not circulating.
Mico: What happened to get the right story from my perspective ... I always keep my guitar on volume 10 -- meaning I can not go any louder. I always did that. But what happened was the sound man turned my guitar up so loud in the middle of the 'big thing' -- and I looked at him [the sound man] to tell him 'Hey man don't do that and Prince didn't see me motion to him and he looked at me and said 'Man turn that damned guitar down!' I was like 'It's not me, it's him' but Prince was really getting upset at me and said 'Look man if you wanna talk then you have an office. I'll go with you man and then we can talk about it but please don't yell at me on the microphone over something like this, which is not even my fault.'

You know I took it personal back then and he was still under this thing so I just said: 'Okay see ya!'

But I was just going to go to the office and he followed me around all the way to the door and he said 'Get out' and I said: 'Okay' and I left. He said 'leave' but it was not the kinda 'leave permanently, forever' ... [Later] He came to the club and we talked about it and he explained to me that because he was doing "Graffiti Bridge" at this time, there's a lot of pressure, and the only person that subconsciously he felt could take the pressure was me. I'd already been with him, I knew him, 'cause you don't get to be with somebody like him for so long if you don't know how!

A: So what was actually the reason that you left, or did he ask you to leave?

Mico: No I left on my own not because of him and I don't know if I feel good when I now say that it was because of the other band members. It was like: Prince -- The Band -- and Me. Me and him was cool but me with the band? Because I'm Miko one hundred per cent, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week always, never changing. But they -- when Prince came into the room it was like 'Okay -- lights, camera, action', a whole new personality came out and they weren't true to themselves. That's basically why I left.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Efan said:

Is there a source for this? I've only heard that Sheila and Prince were working on her fourth album and she wanted to concentrate less on being a "sexpot singer" and more on being a musician, and that the disagreement over this caused a riff. And then there's the story about Prince's feud with Gilbert, which allegedly caused him to also get mad at Sheila.

The timing of when she left confuses me, too, since Prince started working on the Batman album almost immediately after the Lovesexy tour ended, yet Sheila is not on any of those songs...even the three that were written and recorded in 1988.

yep, both are true, Sheila did have back issues( I never heard of drug problems) as a result of playing in heels for so long, and there was a huge disagreement with the direction of her new album

I also read that she wasn't ready to leave the band yet, so that might be a part of it, I remember reading or hearing her talk about it in an interview back then of asking Prince not to disband the group.

A lot of the Batman music was written during the Lovesexy period, and a lot of the 'rushed' feel to a lot of it might be why... not a lot of depth. But it doesn't mean she didn't play on anything. She played on Elephants & Flowers and another song or 2 on GB including Boni Boyer.

When he hired Rosie, she said he said something like "Your not going to be another Boni are you..." because she left to do her own thing

It's all kinda weird

because on 1 hand I've read something in an INterview Mag yeeeaaars ago of Prince asking Cat to not leave to stay with him, and Sheila E asking Prince to not disband or change the line up

Remember she also isn't in the Party Man video already having been replaced,

Eric & Atlanta were replaced by that horn section group. Even though Eric worked with Prince off and on... later joining Sheila's band for a while

Dr Fink, was in the vid Mico & Levi still

I remember hearing about back problems for Sheila, but I guess I never realized they were all that serious (until a few years later, when she suffered the collapsed lung and talked about how it also further affected her back).

From what I understand, Graffiti Bridge was going to be the follow-up to Lovesexy...until Batman came along and the project got pushed back. Since Sheila is on some of GB, I had always assumed she would have been on all of it if she hadn't left. Or maybe not...since she was making a fourth solo album, maybe she was going to give up being Prince's drummer and refocus on her own solo career.

Also didn't realize Boni left to do her own thing (mostly because I never heard of anything Boni did after that...except being on Sheila's Sex Cymbal album, which makes sense since Boni and Sheila were longtime friends).

Efan said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

yep, both are true, Sheila did have back issues( I never heard of drug problems) as a result of playing in heels for so long, and there was a huge disagreement with the direction of her new album

I also read that she wasn't ready to leave the band yet, so that might be a part of it, I remember reading or hearing her talk about it in an interview back then of asking Prince not to disband the group.

A lot of the Batman music was written during the Lovesexy period, and a lot of the 'rushed' feel to a lot of it might be why... not a lot of depth. But it doesn't mean she didn't play on anything. She played on Elephants & Flowers and another song or 2 on GB including Boni Boyer.

When he hired Rosie, she said he said something like "Your not going to be another Boni are you..." because she left to do her own thing

It's all kinda weird

because on 1 hand I've read something in an INterview Mag yeeeaaars ago of Prince asking Cat to not leave to stay with him, and Sheila E asking Prince to not disband or change the line up

Remember she also isn't in the Party Man video already having been replaced,

Eric & Atlanta were replaced by that horn section group. Even though Eric worked with Prince off and on... later joining Sheila's band for a while

Dr Fink, was in the vid Mico & Levi still

I remember hearing about back problems for Sheila, but I guess I never realized they were all that serious (until a few years later, when she suffered the collapsed lung and talked about how it also further affected her back).

From what I understand, Graffiti Bridge was going to be the follow-up to Lovesexy...until Batman came along and the project got pushed back. Since Sheila is on some of GB, I had always assumed she would have been on all of it if she hadn't left. Or maybe not...since she was making a fourth solo album, maybe she was going to give up being Prince's drummer and refocus on her own solo career.

Also didn't realize Boni left to do her own thing (mostly because I never heard of anything Boni did after that...except being on Sheila's Sex Cymbal album, which makes sense since Boni and Sheila were longtime friends).

1st of all: GREAT TOPIC!!!! we've all talked about it in little pieces but not like this, this period has always had a lot of mystery behind it.

Actually thought it was the Rave album that was to follow up GB and once the Batman piece opened up it put a lot of money in his pocket and he wanted to proceed with GB. According to Prince in a 1990 interview the film was supposed to be centered around the Time, and he was going to direct it.

ROLLING STONE (1990)

PRINCE TALKS

BY NEAL KARLEN

Originally, Graffiti Bridge was going to be a vehicle for the reborn Time, with Prince staying behind the camera. But Warner Bros. wouldn't go for it, so Prince wrote himself into a new movie. Later, visitors to Paisley Park saw a version of a script that was allegedly obtuse to the point of near gibberish. "That was just a real rough thirty-page treatment I wrote with Kim," Prince says. "Graffiti Bridge is an entirely different movie."

I guess if we could get Sheila & Cat to talk about what happened.

Robin Powers was a part of an all girl protege group in the wings of Paisley Park and she talked about Sheila E showing up with a friend to check out their rehearsals and how she was kinda attitudish toward them.

When he hired Rosie, she said he said something like "Your not going to be another Boni are you..." because she left to do her own thing. Boni & Levi of course came from Sheila's band, Boni replaced Suzi on keyboards for the Sheila E album

It's all kinda weird

because on 1 hand I've read something in an INterview Mag yeeeaaars ago of Prince asking Cat to not leave to stay with him, and Sheila E asking Prince to not disband or change the line up

Remember she also isn't in the Party Man video already having been replaced,

Eric & Atlanta were replaced by that horn section group. Even though Eric worked with Prince off and on... later joining Sheila's band for a while

I have always wonder about this deconstruction period.

KoolEaze said:

As far as I remember from back then, Cat left because she wanted to work with Tim Simenon, a hot and upcoming producer back then ( British, founder of Bomb The Bass, had a couple of hits in the late 80s/early 90s). The project didn´t lead to more than a single though...but I might be wrong.

In a lengthy 1989 interview,she said that Prince wanted her to stick around.He was even planning a solo album for her,but she chose to go elsewhere.She worked with Tim Simenon and released a single "Catwoman",but the planned album (tentatively titled I Am Energy) never materialized...

"Catwoman" by Cat (1989)

Another song from those 1989 sessions,"Now It Rains",leaked a few years ago....

"Now It Rains" by Cat (1989)

Efan said:

KoolEaze said:

Sheila had problems with her back ( and drug problems ) and left, and it took both of them years to hook up again.

Is there a source for this? I've only heard that Sheila and Prince were working on her fourth album and she wanted to concentrate less on being a "sexpot singer" and more on being a musician, and that the disagreement over this caused a riff. And then there's the story about Prince's feud with Gilbert, which allegedly caused him to also get mad at Sheila.

The timing of when she left confuses me, too, since Prince started working on the Batman album almost immediately after the Lovesexy tour ended, yet Sheila is not on any of those songs...even the three that were written and recorded in 1988.

the feud with Gilbert happened several years later.....around 1994/95.By that time,Sheila was no longer in the Prince camp.

My guess is that Sheila left right after the final Lovesexy gig,in February 1989.The album that she had been working on with Prince (including songs like "Girl Power","Latino Barbie Doll",etc) was abandoned.After a few setbacks,she then began working on Sex Cymbal.

SoulAlive said:

KoolEaze said:

As far as I remember from back then, Cat left because she wanted to work with Tim Simenon, a hot and upcoming producer back then ( British, founder of Bomb The Bass, had a couple of hits in the late 80s/early 90s). The project didn´t lead to more than a single though...but I might be wrong.

In a lengthy 1989 interview,she said that Prince wanted her to stick around.He was even planning a solo album for her,but she chose to go elsewhere.She worked with Tim Simenon and released a single "Catwoman",but the planned album (tentatively titled I Am Energy) never materialized...

I LOVE CAT!!!! But not as a solo artist, she was half thinking on that one,

Did she do this under Prince/Paisley Park? or was that opening "Prince's protege" someone elses add on?

Maybe the both noticed Prince wasn't what he used to be and decided to take a chance elsewhere

Cat should have went with Sheila, she has a good voice 4 rock

I always wonder what the GB era would have been like with Sheila E & Cat still with Prince

Efan said:

From what I understand, Graffiti Bridge was going to be the follow-up to Lovesexy...until Batman came along and the project got pushed back.

after Lovesexy,wasn't Prince working on an album titled Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic which got cancelled when he decided to do the Batman project? I found this info on wiki....

Rave unto the Joy Fantastic

The original Rave unto the Joy Fantastic album was shelved when Prince started working on the Batman soundtrack in late 1988. The album shared some tracks with Graffiti Bridge and the title track was finally released in 1999 on a new album of the same name.

Track listings

27 October 1988 configuration

The specific sequence of tracks is unknown, but tracks known to have been included are:

• "The Voice Inside"
• "Melody Cool" (A re-recording with Mavis Staples on lead vocals was released on Graffiti Bridge)
• "Rave unto the Joy Fantastic": (A different version released on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic)
• "God is Alive"
• "If I Had a Harem"
• "Stimulation"
• "Still Would Stand All Time" (A version with background vocals overdubs by The Steeles over Prince's original background vocals was released on Graffiti Bridge)
• "Elephants & Flowers" (A re-recorded version with different verses was released on Graffiti Bridge)
• "Big House"
• "We Got the Power"

No details are known about the sequence, other than that "The Voice Inside" is known to have segued into "Melody Cool".

27 November 1988 configuration

1. "Rave unto the Joy Fantastic"
2. "If I Had a Harem"
3. "The Voice Inside"
4. "Melody Cool"
5. "Stimulation"
6. "Elephants & Flowers"
7. "God is Alive"
8. "Still Would Stand All Time"

Mid-January 1989 configuration

1. "Rave unto the Joy Fantastic"
2. "If I Had a Harem"
3. "Good Judy Girlfriend"
4. "Pink Cashmere" (Released on The Hits/The B-Sides)
5. "Electric Chair" (Released on Batman)
6. "Am I without U?"
7. "God is Alive"
8. "Still Would Stand All Time"
9. "Moonbeam Levels"

interestingly,back in early 1989,I heard rumors about an album that Prince was working on, called Underground I wonder if that was just a working title for Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic?

CAT Catwoman (Rare original 1989 UK German-pressed 4-track 3" CD single, includes Bomb In The Bass Endorphin Mix and Tales From The Darkside Mix plus Now It Rains, housed in a 3" gatefold card picture sleeve RDTICD).

SoulAlive said:

Efan said:

From what I understand, Graffiti Bridge was going to be the follow-up to Lovesexy...until Batman came along and the project got pushed back.

after Lovesexy,wasn't Prince working on an album titled Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic which got cancelled when he decided to do the Batman project? I found this info on wiki....

Rave unto the Joy Fantastic

The original Rave unto the Joy Fantastic album was shelved when Prince started working on the Batman soundtrack in late 1988. The album shared some tracks with Graffiti Bridge and the title track was finally released in 1999 on a new album of the same name.

Track listings

Mid-January 1989 configuration

1. "Rave unto the Joy Fantastic"
2. "If I Had a Harem"
3. "Good Judy Girlfriend"
4. "Pink Cashmere" (Released on The Hits/The B-Sides)
5. "Electric Chair" (Released on Batman)
6. "Am I without U?"
7. "God is Alive"
8. "Still Would Stand All Time"
9. "Moonbeam Levels"

^^I remember seeing the "Catwoman" 12" single in a record store in 1989.I didn't buy it,though The song didn't receive any airplay in my area.

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

In a lengthy 1989 interview,she said that Prince wanted her to stick around.He was even planning a solo album for her,but she chose to go elsewhere.She worked with Tim Simenon and released a single "Catwoman",but the planned album (tentatively titled I Am Energy) never materialized...

"Catwoman" by Cat (1989)

Another song from those 1989 sessions,"Now It Rains",leaked a few years ago....

"Now It Rains" by Cat (1989)

I LOVE CAT!!!! But not as a solo artist, she was half thinking on that one,

Did she do this under Prince/Paisley Park? or was that opening "Prince's protege" someone elses add on?

Maybe the both noticed Prince wasn't what he used to be and decided to take a chance elsewhere

Cat should have went with Sheila, she has a good voice 4 rock

I always wonder what the GB era would have been like with Sheila E & Cat still with Prince

I think the potential was there,for Cat to succeed as a solo artist.But those two songs are underwhelming.The "Catwoman" song,in particular,sounds like alot of noise.

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I LOVE CAT!!!! But not as a solo artist, she was half thinking on that one,

Did she do this under Prince/Paisley Park? or was that opening "Prince's protege" someone elses add on?

Maybe the both noticed Prince wasn't what he used to be and decided to take a chance elsewhere

Cat should have went with Sheila, she has a good voice 4 rock

I always wonder what the GB era would have been like with Sheila E & Cat still with Prince

I think the potential was there,for Cat to succeed as a solo artist.But those two songs are underwhelming.The "Catwoman" song,in particular,sounds like alot of noise.

I think she could have succeed still working 2 some degree with Prince, she has the moves and the look but maybe it was too soon to leave the P camp

Great thread

OldFriends4Sale said:

Stevie Nicks and Sheila E, 1989

Nice! Thanks for these pics. Never seen them before. Do you know any details behind it? I know Sheila's brother was in Stevie's band for a bit...was Sheila just a guest on stage one night? Or did she play any songs with Stevie. I'm just curioius. Stevie dueting on Glamorous Life would be kind of awesome.

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

I think the potential was there,for Cat to succeed as a solo artist.But those two songs are underwhelming.The "Catwoman" song,in particular,sounds like alot of noise.

I think she could have succeed still working 2 some degree with Prince, she has the moves and the look but maybe it was too soon to leave the P camp

I think Cat in Graffiti Bridge would have been great! Although the movie still would have bombed. You cant fix a script without writers just saying.

That SNL performance rocked!

Awesome Thread! 1987-1989 is one of the most mysterious times for Prince! :)IMO

I love all of the details within it!

Thanks SO much )