GaryMF said:

paulludvig said:

I'm amazed that many think that Alan Leeds would be the right man to write a Prince bio. Alan Leeds is a disgruntled former employee. His brother is a disgruntled former employee, who plays in a band with disgruntled former employees, who's close family includes even more disgruntled former employees.

All of these disgruntled former employees have been the main source for all the books written about Prince to date. The book some of you are asking for has therefore already been written. We don't need yet another book based on stories told by disgruntled former employees.

These guys - the Leeds, The Melvoins, Coleman and a few others seem like a tight knit group. They speak with the same voice, and they have played their cards well. By making themself available to biographers, journalists and fans they have been able to control the narrative. The narrative being that Prince was a rather ignorant, but ambitious young man from the backwaters, semi-talented and hard working, helped along by his more sophisticated and talented friends from the big city. They have used their position to systematically undermine Prince as a musician and composer, to the point where many people today believe that they, and not Prince, were responible for the great work that Prince put out in the 80's.

Reading through interviews given by these folks at various times, you would be hard pressed to find any instances were they actually praise Prince as a musician, produser or composer, other than by backhanded compliments. They talk about his work ethic and ambission, they always give him that (maybe to downplay his talent), but rearly do you hear about his musical prowess.

Maybe they actually don't think his any good as a musicians, songwriter, producer and performer. Fair enough. Opinions differ. but should that be the final word on his talent.

We need a biographer who doesn't have an agenda. And that biographer must be someone who doesn't take everything that's being told to him at face value. For example - if someone claims that Eric Leeds introduced Prince to jazz, you have to ask the obvious question how is that possible when Prince's father was a jazz musician, a self styled Thelonious Monk? If someone wants you to believe that W&L introduced Prince to Joni Mitchell, despite Chris Moon's wife saying she let Prince listen to albums of female singer-songwriters as Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell in the late 70's, then you need to at least try to check the facts. If someone has the idea that Susannah came up with the idea to use Fishers strings on the Family album, you have to at least acknowledge that Prince already was a huge Chaka Khan and Rufus fan. And if Susannah mistakenly believes that Strange Realationship was written for her, why not try to find out when the song was actually written, and you'll find that it was written before he even met her. The list goes on.

[Edited 7/25/13 8:37am]

There may be some rabid W&L fans who claim some of the above, but everything I've read, heard or seen from W&L and Eric they are very clear that they think P is extremely talented and give him credit and don't try to act like they are responsible for his success. Just watch the Purple Rain Special Edition DVD... Wendy is pretty clear..... "No we didn't write Purple Rain" etc.

Did they help out? sure. Do they take credit for his success.... no.

Your post is just as extreme as the people you are criticizing.

Eye agree with both of U!.........With this latest news, that Prince unveiled about some of his heartfelt "masterPieces". Prince just made "Wendy's sister" look like a total fool! Eye wonder why the venom has come out against her!? Prince sure knows how 2 stir up controversy. This is going to upset Wendy to...

[Edited 7/26/13 17:36pm]

errant said:

Stymie said:

Yep.

Then again, Dr. Funkenberry goes into some wrong-headed semantics about "should" vs "want" when in this cirucmstance, they mean the same thing. Because he's a dummy. And I bet you anything, deep down he thinks Prince does actually want him to write a book about him

Well I don't think he's a dummy.

tab32792 said:

So...everybody's been wrong all these years? Or he's just talking more nonsense?

Wait a minute, I thought in that blog interview (see link below) Susannah did with Ms. Dyes, that she said she inspired some songs Prince wrote, I also remember many fans saying for years the same thing, but now...who knows what's true.

Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s The Beautiful Nights Blog
18 April 2013

'Miss Understood: An In-Depth Interview with Susannah Melvoin'

http://beautifulnightschi...-with.html

(Excerpt from interview) " Susannah Melvoin on Prince songs that she inspired: The infamous “Wally”, which no one heard because he destroyed the tape. There's a huge story behind that. “Strange Relationship;” “Nothing Compares 2 U;” In a Large Room with No Light;” “If I was Your Girlfriend.” God, you know there's more and I can't remember "

[Edited 7/26/13 20:13pm]

Has Prince ever said outright in an interview that he wrote any song about Susannah? Because that seems to be the crux of Funkenberry's "The Beautiful Ones is not about Susannah" blog post. I'm hoping he does a TV interview and give his thoughts about former associates opinions about his music once and for all. Just leave it all on the table.

Philip Norman

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

http://www.drfunkenberry....iful-ones/

Stymie said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Eye agree with both of U!.........With this latest news, that Prince unveiled about some of his heartfelt "masterPieces". Prince just made "Wendy's sister" look like a total fool! Eye wonder why the venom has come out against her!? Prince sure knows how 2 stir up controversy. This is going to upset Wendy to...

[Edited 7/26/13 17:36pm]

no, she doesn't look like a fool. There's her side, his side and the truth. People are choosing to believe him. Hell there is even a song called Susannah's Pajamas. That's not about her either?

No. It's about her pyjamas

rap said:

LadyZsaZsa said:

Stymie said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Eye agree with both of U!.........With this latest news, that Prince unveiled about some of his heartfelt "masterPieces". Prince just made "Wendy's sister" look like a total fool! Eye wonder why the venom has come out against her!? Prince sure knows how 2 stir up controversy. This is going to upset Wendy to...

[Edited 7/26/13 17:36pm]

no, she doesn't look like a fool. There's her side, his side and the truth. People are choosing to believe him. Hell there is even a song called Susannah's Pajamas. That's not about her either?

Eye'm not saying Prince is right or wrong! Eye'm saying Prince obviously read that innerview that Susannah did. Then decided to discredit her from his muziq. Not just "Beautiful Ones"! But the whole batch. To me its his way of saying. U don't know jack about who my "MasterPieces" are about & if U thought it was about U!? Think again! In other words keep your damn mouth shut!

Eye love it! Prince cracks me up.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

tab32792 said:

bashraka said:

2 Whom It May Concern: "The Beautiful Ones" is sooo not about Wendy's sister. Sheesh! In fact, NO song is. We all wish people would stop saying this. Listen closely to the wordz."-By some1 who would know....-FROM DR. FUNKENBERRY'S CELEBRITY NEWS PAGE

[Edited 7/25/13 17:53pm]

So...everybody's been wrong all these years? Or he's just talking more nonsense?

Of course it's not about Susannah. Everyone knows it's about Misty. Sheesh kebab...

N let the claws of former proteges come out?

https://www.facebook.com/...rryfanpage

From Funkenberry's Facebook Fan page is a post from Jill Jones about Susannah:

Not to be rude here or disrespect anyone. But he had a life BEFORE Susannah , during Susannah and After Susannah!!!! And a lot of his girls are actually dear friends of mine!! You forget the one thing about him and I know I have given him many a hard time, but he was and is an artist. A true artist. He wrote some beautiful songs and shared them with you. How much more do you guys want from the man???? Were Picasso's paintings always about an ex lover?? Does a man climb Everest because of some bad relationship? I honestly hate to see or hear his music reduced to some fodder that is baseless and basically no ones business. Simple fact is, he loved a lot. And he has been loved. And at the end of the day, respect him enough to STOP doing this baseless bidding and marketing for a man who obviously doesn't want to be a part of it. He has had more stimuli around him in his life, more than most need to have. And how he finds his way through it all, the nonsense, the real or the unreal , is challenging. As I have said, I have been hard on the man at times, but I can't read this dribble. It really diminishes his work. He is an artiste. But also just a man. Imagine how you would feel if someone dissected your every move. C'mon. Just enjoy what he has given you. And continues to give. Peace.

DrFunkenberry wrote a recap on his website http://www.drfunkenberry....urce=pubv1

Excerpt:

"Prince said Questlove should write a book about me. He appreciated music and he would do it right. He said should. Not want. Should. He didn't say Questlove needs to write a book about him and DrFunkenberry should help. My name was NOT brought up at all. Questlove should write a book. Period. Questlove. Not DFunkenberry. So all those trolls on message boards, need to chill the heck out."

And Jill Jones's response (to the song "The Beautiful Ones" not being about Susannah) shows a lot of insight and is not hateful at all. Prince is a artist, he is a man. Show respect and listen to his music. Discussing a person whom you knew 30 years ago on a panel to promote a pretentious book is silly.

A book about Prince's life should be about his music, not the gossip or his private life.

Honestly,I would rather read a book about Prince written by Per Nilsen and the Uptown magazine guys,as opposed to an "official",Prince-authorized book..It would be so cool if Per could update the DMSR book,and write about the years from 1989 til now.

paulludvig said:

I'm amazed that many think that Alan Leeds would be the right man to write a Prince bio. Alan Leeds is a disgruntled former employee. His brother is a disgruntled former employee, who plays in a band with disgruntled former employees, who's close family includes even more disgruntled former employees.

All of these disgruntled former employees have been the main source for all the books written about Prince to date. The book some of you are asking for has therefore already been written. We don't need yet another book based on stories told by disgruntled former employees.

These guys - the Leeds, The Melvoins, Coleman and a few others seem like a tight knit group. They speak with the same voice, and they have played their cards well. By making themself available to biographers, journalists and fans they have been able to control the narrative. The narrative being that Prince was a rather ignorant, but ambitious young man from the backwaters, semi-talented and hard working, helped along by his more sophisticated and talented friends from the big city. They have used their position to systematically undermine Prince as a musician and composer, to the point where many people today believe that they, and not Prince, were responible for the great work that Prince put out in the 80's.

Reading through interviews given by these folks at various times, you would be hard pressed to find any instances were they actually praise Prince as a musician, produser or composer, other than by backhanded compliments. They talk about his work ethic and ambission, they always give him that (maybe to downplay his talent), but rarely do you hear about his musical prowess.

Maybe they actually don't think his any good as a musicians, songwriter, producer and performer. Fair enough. Opinions differ. But should that be the final word on his talent?

We need a biographer who doesn't have an agenda. And that biographer must be someone who doesn't take everything that's being told to him at face value. For example - if someone claims that Eric Leeds introduced Prince to jazz, you have to ask the obvious question how is that possible when Prince's father was a jazz musician, a self styled Thelonious Monk? If someone wants you to believe that W&L introduced Prince to Joni Mitchell, despite Chris Moon's wife saying she let Prince listen to albums of female singer-songwriters as Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell in the late 70's, then you need to at least try to check the facts. If someone has the idea that Susannah came up with the idea to use Fishers strings on the Family album, you have to at least acknowledge that Prince already was a huge Chaka Khan and Rufus fan. And if Susannah mistakenly believes that Strange Realationship was written for her, why not try to find out when the song was actually written, and you'll find that it was written before he even met her. The list goes on.

but these people actually know Prince.They've worked with him,toured with him,spent countless hours with him.They have a history with Prince.Their opinions and insight carry alot of weight.And it's not like everything they say about him is negative.

SoulAlive said:

LotusMama said:

I am surprised that no one stated the obvious...at this point in his career the best person and the only person who should be writing about Prince right now is Prince. Prince is a prolific writer. I remember him saying at the BET Awards that he had made a lot of mistakes in his career. He needs to write them out. I do realize that he may be hindered in regards to talking specifically about the past because of JW but if he were to allow himself to be vulnerable he could reveal jewels of wisdom to younger fans and younger artist coming up. They need to see those mistakes and learn from them.

Older fans would buy the book just because he wrote it.

Plus writing about yourself allows you to pull things out that not only helps other people reading your story it also helps you reveal deeper in site about yourself. Writing your story is a very healing process. None of us are perfect. We all need healing.

I would think a book written by him would sell much better than yet another book written by someone else.

Do you really believe that Prince would write an honest,profound,insightful book about himself? Look at his recent interviews...we never really learn anything new.I doubt that he's willing to dig deep and expose alot of interesting stuff about himself and his music.

purple1968 said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

SoulAlive said:

Honestly,I would rather read a book about Prince written by Per Nilsen and the Uptown magazine guys,as opposed to an "official",Prince-authorized book..It would be so cool if Per could update the DMSR book,and write about the years from 1989 til now.

Per said he wasn't interested and I don't blame him.

such a shame because DMSR is probably the best Prince book of all

Superconductor said:

DrFunkenberry wrote a recap on his website http://www.drfunkenberry....urce=pubv1

Excerpt:

And Jill Jones's response (to the song "The Beautiful Ones" not being about Susannah) shows a lot of insight and is not hateful at all. Prince is a artist, he is a man. Show respect and listen to his music. Discussing a person whom you knew 30 years ago on a panel to promote a pretentious book is silly.

Did many fans really think The Beautiful Ones was about Susannah? I feel like the time frame would be a bit too early. I always thought it was just written for the movie. "Do u want him, or do u want me? Cuz I want u."

[Edited 7/27/13 6:31am]

SchlomoThaHomo said:

SchlomoThaHomo said:

Did many fans really think The Beautiful Ones was about Susannah? I feel like the time frame would be a bit too early. I always thought it was just written for the movie. "Do u want him, or do u want me? Cuz I want u."

[Edited 7/27/13 6:31am]

Nope.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

Did many fans really think The Beautiful Ones was about Susannah? I feel like the time frame would be a bit too early. I always thought it was just written for the movie. "Do u want him, or do u want me? Cuz I want u."

I,too,also believe that this song was written specifically for the movie.In the movie,Apollonia's character was hanging around with Morris and The Kid,and this song was The Kid's way of making her choose.It fits that scene so well.I find it hard to believe that it was written about another (personal) situation,months before filming started.

SoulAlive said:

Superconductor said:

DrFunkenberry wrote a recap on his website http://www.drfunkenberry....urce=pubv1

Excerpt:

"Prince said Questlove should write a book about me(PRINCE). He appreciated music and he would do it right. He said should. Not want. Should. He didn't say Questlove needs to write a book about him and DrFunkenberry should help. My name was NOT brought up at all. Questlove should write a book. Period. Questlove. Not DFunkenberry. So all those trolls on message boards, need to chill the heck out."

And Jill Jones's response (to the song "The Beautiful Ones" not being about Susannah) shows a lot of insight and is not hateful at all. Prince is a artist, he is a man. Show respect and listen to his music. Discussing a person whom you knew 30 years ago on a panel to promote a pretentious book is silly.

A book about Prince's life should be about his music, not the gossip or his private life.

Prince said Questlove should write a book about me(Prince) = GOOD. Me, possible freudian?

Prince did't ask Dr Funkenberry to write book but Questlove = Excellent.

And Jill Jones's response (to the song "The Beautiful Ones" not being about Susannah) shows a lot of insight and is not hateful at all. - and who said it was hateful????

Discussing a person whom you knew 30 years ago on a panel to promote a pretentious book is silly - not really if the book is about events that happened 30 years ago. I think old band members that were around during those eras provides some insight. Spreecast is not much different. They talk some gossip and it is all about what is going on in Prince's life and they even talk with old crusty's. With spreecast I think we are trying to promote Dr. Funkenberry's blog??

A book about Prince's life should be about his music, not the gossip or his private life. - possibly but sometimes real life works its way into the lyrics. So you are saying stay out of Prince's private life but going on twitter and stating songs are not about specific people and praising Jill Jones who basicly provided some insight to Prince's private life on facebook? Your claim to fame is you know a celebrity personally.

Diagnosis: Get an Education and make 250K per year. Quit being Prince's clown.

Stymie said: