So I always took it that it was going to be Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires as the band Billy had to let go?

Looking over my July 2009 issue of Spin which celebrated 25 years of Purple Rain i found the following facts which dont get mentioned much:

In 1980 Prince was staying right across the street from The Dakota the night John Lennon was killed. This has a profound affect on him. With all eyes on him whenever he walked into a room, he always felt like a target.

Vanity not only left because of a blowup/breakup with Prince but because she was offered the part of Mary Magdalene in Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Production of that was eventually halted until 3 years later and a different cast.

Auditions were held to find Vanity's replacement. Gina Gershon auditioned. Eventually the replacement was found, David Lee Roth's current girlfriend, Appolonia.

A test screening was done in Dallas Texas in front of all white audience to convince the studio to open it more widely. It then opened in 900 theaters instead of the initial 200. 1000 more theaters were added the second week.

Wow. I was just posting something about interesting themes I noticed while watching Graffiti Bridge for the first time in probably 30 years and my phone died and I lost it all. I take that as a sign maybe the world isn't ready for what I feel I need to say.

I have some "crazy" ideas about who Prince is. This is the first post I read after my phone came back up. I think this may confirm what I have believed for a very long time... Vanity as Mary Magadlene. Interesting.