The Academy Awards 3.25.1985 @ the Music Center, Los Angeles

On March 25, 1985, Prince would attend his first Academy Awards and take home the Oscar for Best Original Song Score for his hit film "Purple Rain." He's joined onstage by his bandmates Wendy Melovin (l.) and Lisa Coleman

Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner announced the nominations for the award category, which Douglas explained went a score that contained five original songs.

“Songs,” Turner added, “that serve a dramatic purpose, that move the story along.”

In the last year this category was used at the Academy Awards, Prince went up against Jeff Moss for “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and Kris Kristofferson for “Songwriter.”

Handing the envelope to Turner, Douglas said, “And the winner of a brand new ’84 Oscar is …”

“The winner is Prince for ‘Purple Rain,'” said Turner.

Wearing a sparkly sequined hooded cape, Prince took the stage alongside two women in big frizzy 80s hair.

Pausing to catch his breath, Prince poked his head out from under the hood and said, “Thank you very much. This is Lisa and this is Wendy.”

The smattering of applause suggested the crowd was clueless as to who they were. Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin were members of his band and appeared in the movie. Melvoin in fact wrote the first couple of chords to “Purple Rain.” The pair — later to be known as Wendy + Lisa — would go to enjoy a long and successful career writing music for television shows, including “Crossing Jordan” and “Nurse Jackie.”

“Hold it,” Prince says handing the Oscar to Melvoin, who grabs the statue and answers, “Absolutely.”

“This is very unbelievable,” he says in a shaky voice in. ” I could never imagine this in my wildest dreams.”

He concludes one of the shorter Oscar speeches on record by thanking the Academy, the film’s director Albert Magnoli, his manager and others, “and most of all, God.”

Watch Prince’s Oscar moment below:

1984 OUTTAKE #1

Traffic Jam (is an unreleased instrumental track recorded on 27 February 1984 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (on the same day as Love And Sex, three days before When Doves Cry). It is unknown if this song was intended for any project.

The track's ascending synth-string ending is almost identical to that of When Doves Cry, recording only three days later.

-PrinceVault

1984 OUTTAKE #2

Love And Sex is an unreleased song recorded on 27 February 1984 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (on the same day as Traffic Jam, three days before When Doves Cry). Engineer Peggy McCreary noted that Prince wanted a DX-7 Yamaha synth for the song (an already-outdated instrument), which she had to buy for use in the song; he used the DX-7 for many later recordings.

-PrinceVault

Baby I'm A Star

Prince first recorded a studio version of the song in late 1981-1982 at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA. Prince and the Revolution later recorded the song live on 3 August 1983 at First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA (at the same concert where I Would Die 4 U and Purple Rain were also recorded).

This live version was released with slight overdubs. It was included as the eighth track on the 7 November 1983 configuration of the album, and the seventh track on the 23 March 1984 configuration, but became the eighth track on the final 14 April 1984 configuration after some tracklist changes to the album.

-PrinceVault

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted Bobby Z. - drums and percussion Brown Mark - bass guitar and vocals Wendy Melvoin - guitars and vocals Lisa Coleman - keyboards and vocals Matt Fink - keyboards and vocals David Coleman - cello Novi Novog - violin and viola Suzie Katayama - cello

“WHEN DOVES CRY” -

originally recorded with bass, backing 2 sets of keys and guitar. Frustrated with the mix, PRN sat discouraged in the studio (Sunset Sound). Jill Jones came 2 visit, saw the long face and asked what was wrong. PRN was said to have said, “if. had my way the song would sound like this.” He then shoved down the bulk of the instrument faders and left up only the drums and the xylophone, when the voices began to sing the chorus. Jill then asked PRN why he thought he couldn’t have his way with the mix. There was no reply. Everyone who passed by the studio was enthralled by the strange sound coming out of Studio 3 that day. The next time Jill heard the song it was on the radio and it was bassless and stark. PRN had his way.

Eric Leeds & Jerome Benton with a fan 1985

Prince Wraps His First Film
Rolling Stone, February 2, 1984

Prince's feature film, Purple Rain, has finished shooting in Minneapolis, and director Al Magnolie is currently readying it for a springtime release. While Prince has sought to keep things under wraps, we can tell you that the film's plot revolves around a love triangle, with Prince and Morris Day of the Time vying for the affections of one Apollonia, played by nineteen-year-old Patty Kotero. Kotero, who officially changed her name to Apollonia, is a replacement for the luscious Vanity, who left the production before filming began and is said to be under consideration for the part of Mary Magdalene in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.

Other news from the set is that Prince's stand-in, Byron Hechter, was sacked after he told a local weekly that Kotero "can't act to save her life." And some who've seen the dailies say that while Prince acquits himself well, Day and his valet-sidekick Jerome Johnson yank the movie out from under the pint-size potentate.

Purple Hot Color As Prince Readies New Orleans

You can still buy purple underwear, and there's a new shipment of purple sashes, but anything else in purple was sold out well in advance of tonight's concert by rock dynamo Prince.

"We're out of purple belts," said Gina Misenhelter, a sales clerk at a shop catering to young suburbanites. "No purple socks. No purple pants. Out of purple sweaters, too."

Purple is the color associated with Prince since his semi-autobiographical movie "Purple Rain."

At least 50,000 people were expected to attend his concert tonight at the Louisiana Superdome.

"And you've got to wear purple," said high school student Tara Brown, who has a floor-level seat for the concert. "It says so on the ticket."

'I loved him': Devin Devasquez claims she had a secret romance with Prince back in 1985. She posted this photo on her instagram of herself in a Purple Rain outfit she says was given to her by the late musician

pinup Devin Devasquez says she had secret six month romance with Prince in 1985

By Rachel Mcgrath For Dailymail.com

Published: 19:34 EST, 27 April 2016 | Updated: 19:58 EST, 27 April 2016

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3562670/Playboy-pinup-Devin-Devasquez-says-secret-six-month-romance-Prince-1985.html

A former Playboy pinup says she had a secret romance with Prince in the mid-1980s that ended because she didn't want to be 'one of many girls.'

Devin Devasquez, 52, told People she was 'absolutely in love' with Prince whom she romanced on and off for six months in 1985.

She said she first met him after a member of his entourage showed the musician a photo of her and he invited her to come to his Chicago concert in December 1984.

Devasquez, who was featured on the cover of Playboy in 1985 and 1986, described the late star as 'small but such a sexy, charming guy.'

Miami 1985 last show of the Purple Rain Tour. Jerome and jellybean backstage with some of the crew

http://www.spin.com/2016/...n-raftery/

MELVOIN [For the title song] Prince came in with the melody and the words and an idea of what the verses were like. I came up with the opening chords, and everybody started playing their parts.

BOBBY Z. My first reaction was, “Wow, this is almost a country song.” It had a different feel than anything we’d been rehearsing for the rest of the album. I realize now it was probably, in his mind, the centerpiece of the story. But that’s Prince — his ability to thread the needle, so to speak.

BLINN The first time you hear that song, you realize that this person who’s built like a jockey and speaks barely above a whisper can just knock something out of the park.

Stevie Nicks @ Purple Rain premiere

St Paul Peterson

When I auditioned for The Time...(laughs faintly) I was scared to death. I'll never forget it. I was, of all things, on vacation in a place called Breezy Point and I got the call for the audition.

The first time I met Prince was at the first callback—my second audition (with The Time). He wasn't at the first one. I was nervous. He was this big rock star.

Filming "Purple Rain..." talk about being thrown to the wolves, in a good way. My phrase is "Be ready for the opportunity, because, you don't when it's going to strike." I was fortunate enough for that to be a pretty incredible opportunity.

Those guys put me right in the mix. One minute, I'm auditioning for the band, the next minute I'm filming for a little film. We didn't know what it was going to do-- now it's turned into an incredible entity and is part of music history. It's pretty humbling, but, you never know that going in. You have to be ready.

I think growing up in that family of mine prepared me for a lot of different situations. (But), it couldn't prepare me for what those guys gave to me. It was a whole new line of education.

The one and only scene where I had a line was when we're (The Time) walking through the back hallways of First Avenue and Morris Day leans back and says "How's the family?"

They had us there quite a bit, more than you would think. (There were) a lot of club scenes. We didn't have any major speaking roles, but, we were there a lot. It was freezing. I remember that.

God ~ Prince & the Revolution

Label: Warner Bros

ASIN: B003NZBYQI

God:the Dance Electric 3:59min

In the beginning,

there was God

He made the earth,

and the heaven

He gave us light to rule the day

And another light to rule the night
The Lord, thy God Made,

He made the seas

He made the fruit upon the trees
When He saw

When He saw that it was good

He made a man,

made a man

Only He could, o

nly He could

God made you

God made me too

He made us all

Made us all equally
Now you say

God made you

God made me

He made us all equally

Wake up children

Dance the Dance Electric

There isn't much time Who screamed? Was it you?

God was released as the b-side of Purple Rain, the third single from Prince's seventh album Purple Rain...other worldwide releases contained a completely re-recorded vocal version, simply titled God.

The vocal version, God, was recorded on 20 August, 1984, at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse, Eden Prairie, MN, USA.

The B-side, God, is a much more overtly religious number (Prince's most religious to date), recalling the book of Genesis. The song also features extensive vocal experimentation. Towards the end, Prince mentions "The Dance Electric", which was a song given to former band member André Cymone.

God was released as the b-side of Purple Rain, the third single from Prince's seventh album Purple Rain. The UK 12" release of the single contained God (Love Theme From Purple Rain), a 7:54 instrumental version heard in the movie Purple Rain

Initial tracking for God (Love Theme From Purple Rain) took place on 7 February, 1984 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (six days before Noon Rendezvous).

12" (UK)

• A. "Purple Rain" (long version) – 7:05
• B1. "God (Love Theme from Purple Rain)" (instrumental) – 7:54

The time Prince gave a free concert at a college for deaf students @

Prince was at the top of his game when he came to Washington in the fall of 1984. “Purple Rain” was one of the biggest albums and movies of the year, and he performed an astonishing seven concerts at Landover’s Capital Centre — selling out all of them — over the course of two weeks. But before he left, he stopped off at Washington’s Gallaudet University, a private college for the deaf. We have republished The Washington Post’s story about his remarkable concert on campus.

In a surprise, free performance at Gallaudet College, Prince, the rock star, dazzled and thrilled about 2,500 handicapped students from the campus and the city’s public schools yesterday afternoon.

There were blind students who could not see him. There were deaf students who could only feel the vibrations of the songs that have made Prince one of the country’s most popular performers. But none of that seemed to matter.

As Prince performed, often smiling and grinning as he played, hundreds of students raised their hands with thumbs, index and baby fingers extended and the two middle ones curved inward to tell him in sign language, “I love you.”

For Prince, the controversial performer whose risque “Purple Rain” tour has sold out a record seven concerts at the Capital Centre, the show was a bit toned down, apparently for the young “special” audience.

Promoters said Prince requested to do the show for handicapped students who would not otherwise be able to see or hear him perform. It was his second charitable appearance this week.

On Tuesday night he was the featured guest at a reception held to raise money for maverick Chicago educator Marva Collins and Big Brothers of America, which has more than 1,000 black males in D.C. waiting to be matched with role models, spokesmen said.

Prince wore a psychedelic crushed velvet Edwardian suit. Later, he threw his white glove, and some of his jewelry into the crowd. Members of his back-up band, The Revolution, tossed flowers and masks to the excited students, many of whom did not learn of the concert until yesterday morning shortly before they boarded for the trip to the quiet campus.

Several interpreters for the deaf, standing on podiums throughout the Gallaudet field house, translated the lyrics, danced and tried to convey what Prince meant when he screamed, screeched and plucked his guitar’s strings.

“I had a lot of fun. I felt his music,” Angela Maxey, 18, a deaf student at Gallaudet, said through an interpreter. “I couldn’t hear the words, but I could feel the vibrations. Deaf people really appreciate and love loud music.”

The interpreter, Joyce Doblmier, said, “Some deaf students have dim hearing ability and can hear when” the music is pounded into their eardrums. “They can’t feel the notes, but they can feel the rhythms.”

Joan Lee, the wife of the president of Gallaudet College, and several students presented gifts to the 26-year-old performer. Then Prince and The Revolution took to the stage for an encore rendition of the moody “Purple Rain.”

In all he played more than a dozens songs and melodies, including “1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” and “When Doves Cry.” Noticeably missing were his more erotic songs.

“He didn’t really go all out like he has before,” said Warren Graves, 19, a Prince fan and a student at Spingarn High School who said he recently overcame emotional problems that interfered with his ability to learn. “He really respected these young kids.”

During several songs, Prince emphasized phrases as if trying to motivate the handicapped youths, often discriminated against, ostractized and left out of normal activities.

“Be glad that you are free; there’s many a man who is not. Be glad for what you got,” he sang at one point. And later he sang, “God made you. God made me. He made us all equally.”

“The whole performance was touching,” said Carol Kirkendall, whose G Street Express company has promoted the Prince tour. “I’ve seen many shows and he was really at his best. I know that he was touched, you could sense it.”

By Edward D. Sargent
November 30, 1984

Prince at his concert at Gallaudet University on Nov. 29, 1984 (Courtesy of the Gallaudet University Archives)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/04/22/the-time-prince-gave-a-free-concert-at-a-college-for-deaf-students/

Wow Old Friends!!..You REALLY knocked it out of the park with those free concert shots..I've always wanted to see those..Thanks!

Bobby Z shares his Purple Rain memories on the album’s 30th anniversary

http://blog.thecurrent.or...niversary/

It was 30 years ago today that Prince and his band the Revolution released Purple Rain, still the best-selling album to come out of Minnesota. The record came out just over a month before the film of the same name would hit theaters, and the singles “When Doves Cry and “Let’s Go Crazy” quickly climbed to the top of the charts.

Few would argue that the album not only propelled Prince to his highest level of fame but also attracted attention to his hometown of Minneapolis, so much so that the style of music played on Purple Rain became one of the most clear-cut examples of his famed “Minneapolis Sound.” But what exactly was it about the nine tracks on Purple Rain that made the album so iconic?

“I think he was really ahead of what the ‘80s were about to become,” says Revolution drummer Bobby Rivkin, who is known on stage as Bobby Z. Rivkin was responsible for performing some of the most compelling and forward-thinking rhythms of Prince’s early compositions, and he’s helped to carry the Minneapolis Sound torch forward with his now-annual Benefit 2 Celebrate Life fundraising concert that takes over First Avenue this Saturday.

“The Minneapolis Sound is very simply Prince,” Rivkin says. “And the discovery he made of synthesizers doing horn parts—taking synthesizers and giving those horn stabs like what James Brown used to do with horns. When you think of the ‘80s, the horn stabs and the punches were done on these Oberheims and all these cool new synthesizers. Everybody else started imitating it. And that’s what we know now as the Minneapolis Sound: Prince in the studio by himself with drum machines and synthesizers.”

With Purple Rain celebrating a big anniversary this week—and with Prince’s co-star in the Purple Rain movie, Apollonia, coming to town...is weekend—Rivkin has had a lot of opportunities to reflect back on those early days and the distinctive sound that ended up defining an entire era of the Twin Cities scene. He was happy to give us a few anecdotes in advance of his show, and you’ll be able to hear them at the top of the hour all day today on the Current as we play each of the record’s tracks.

In honor of the 30th anniversary, here are Bobby Z’s track-by-track memories of Purple Rain, (we’ll be playing a song from the soundtrack every hour on The Current):

1. “Let’s Go Crazy” is a great opening, and you could just tell something was about to happen. The rhythm is just right, and I think the thing about the ending is this big Vegas ending, that big powerful ending, and doing that drumfill, going around it’s a pretty exciting moment. I got to be John Bonham for a second.

2. “Take Me With” you is just a beautiful song. It’s just so great how he got Apollonia in on that, and it’s just a beautiful song that really catches you every time. It’s so simple, isn’t it?

3. “The Beautiful Ones”: That’s what happens when you give Prince 24 hours by himself. We had other songs that people have heard about that would have been in the place of “The Beautiful Ones,” but I remember coming back to the studio 36 hours later and he said “Listen to this.” And that’s what you get with Prince by himself in a powerful moment, all fired up in a studio.

4. “Computer Blue” was a great Prince and the Revolution song. Highlight of that, echoing the movie in some weird, real way, was John Nelson, Prince’s dad, who wrote the insert, or the B-section suite called “Father’s Song.” That’s when it changes to this mysterious sound—and then [in the movie] they do the dance, the dip dance. It’s one of the most haunting pieces of music. The way Prince inserted it, arrangement-wise, was just thrilling.

5. “Darling Nikki,” as we all know now, was the song that got the parental advisory sticker. That’s Prince’s Prince. You heard “Dirty Mind” before, so you knew you were going to get some “Darling Nikki.”

6. “When Doves Cry” was the beginning of his real prolific genius on the Purple Rain episode. Just the ability to create those harmonies, that lyric, that vocal, and just the simplistic nature of the rhythm track—it’s just his ability to communicate, is what that song means to me.

7. “I Would Die 4 U” is a very lighthearted musical piece with a very heavy lyric, and it works really well. He knew exactly what he wanted to synthesize, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and the way it tied into “Baby I’m a Star” was a beautiful thing.

8. Ah, “Baby I’m a Star,” the song that used to go 35 minutes at the end of the Purple Rain tour, just before a 30-minute “Purple Rain,” with Sheila E and her whole band out there, and stop and goes that would make James Brown’s band sleepy. Stopping on the one, give me 10, give me 25 horn punches—I still can’t sleep at night sometimes, playing Simon Says with that song. But it was epic for the audience, for sure.

9. “Purple Rain” is just one of those moments, as a band, that you live for. From the first moment of rehearsal, when I heard the strains of it on Prince’s piano, to the last time we played it live at the Myth, just last May with him. He calls it medicine, and it is; it just really has something about it, the way it crescendos, the way it crashes, and the way the guitar solo takes you to a place where you just feel different about your life. No matter what, when you hear those opening chords of Purple Rain, you just stop time somehow, and just listen.

Prince @ the 1985 American Music Awards 1.28.1985

Prince & the Revolution @ the American Music Awards in 1985

12th American Music Awards -

held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, January 28, 1985

Prince & the Revolution + Big Chick

Sheila E & band sitting in front of them (performs the Glamorous Life)

Apollonia 6 in attendance

* Purple Rain Favorite Black Album

* When Doves Cry Favorite Black single
* Purple Rain Favourite Pop Album

nom: Can't Slow Down -Lionel Ritchie

Purple Rain -Prince & the Revolution

Thriller -Michael Jackson

Well What Is It? -Madonna

This Is Going to Come As a Surprise But It's .... Purple Rain by Prince & the Revolution!!! Huey Lewis

Madonna & Huey Lewis presents an award to Prince & The Revolution at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles

On behalf of Prince & the Revolution

We would like 2 thank U 4 believing & sharing with us

What we've been able 2 create 4 everybody on vynal

We would also like 2 tell U we believe in the spirit

and we thank U 4 believing 2

Thanks 4 this award -Wendy

Favorite Black Single

nom: Caribbean Queen -Billy Ocean

What's Love Got To Do With It -Tina Turner

When Doves Cry -Prince

"Thank U Very Much" - Prince

Lionel Ritchie: Outrageous Outrageous!! Prince you stay in your seat, you stay in your seat

Susan Moonsie Apollonia & Brenda Bennett

For all of us

Life is death without adventure

and adventure only comes 2 those

who are will 2 be daring and 2 take chances

I just want 2 thank first of all God

and all of the American public

my band Wendy Lisa Matt Mark & Bobby

and all the staff at Warner Brothers

and Dik Clark and all of U here tonight

and I just want... I don't know

I'm very thankful 2 be here

I'm very thankful 4 all of u

Good night