A government of love & music boundless in it's unifying power
A nation of art 2 production
Sharing ideas, a shower of flowers

And the Music continued 4ever...

the players:

Studio 3
Prince

Studio 2

David Z

Coke Johnson
Susan Rogers

Brown Mark

Tony Christian
Mazarati
Jill Jones

Rebecca Blake
Monique Mannen

Wendy Melvoin

http://prince.org/msg/7/446459 ♥ or $ ~ Prince & the Revolution 2.5.1986

Uh!

U don't have 2 be beautiful 2 turn me on
I just need your body, baby, from dusk till dawn
U don't need experience 2 turn me out
U just leave it all up 2 me, I'm gonna show U what it's all about

CHORUS:
U don't have 2 be rich 2 be my girl
U don't have 2 be cool 2 rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

U got 2 not talk dirty, baby, if U wanna impress me
U can't be 2 flirty, mama, I know how 2 undress me (Yeah)
I want 2 be your fantasy, maybe U could be mine
U just leave it all up 2 me, we could have a good time

CHORUS

U don't have 2 be rich 2 be my girl
U don't have 2 be cool 2 rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

Yes, oh
I think I wanna dance, uh
Gotta, gotta, oh
Little Girl Wendy's Parade
Gotta, gotta, gotta

Women, not girls, rule my world, I said they rule my world
Act your age, mama, not your shoe size, maybe we could do the twirl
U don't have 2 watch Dynasty 2 have an attitude, uh
U just leave it all up 2 me, my love will be your food (Yeah)

chorus

U don't have 2 be rich 2 be my girl
U don't have 2 be cool 2 rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm compatible with!
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

B Side: ♥ or $

Jeff Katz photo shoot

Kiss demo 4.28.1985 @ Sunset Sound

Kiss is a 1986 single by Prince and The Revolution, from the album Parade. "Kiss" started as a short acoustic demo, about a minute in length, with one verse and the chorus. Prince gave the song to the funk band Mazarati for their debut album. Mazarati BrownMark & producer David Z. drastically reworked the song, giving it its stripped-down minimalist sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he was amazed at their work and decided to take back the song for himself. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form. Mazarati were credited for their backing vocals, which Prince left intact.

25 Essential Prince Songs

The best of the Purple One's world-changing, genre-defying hits

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/25-greatest-prince-songs-20160421/kiss-1986-20160421

April 21, 2016

"Kiss" (1986)

The Mazarati Version

"For a long time, Prince had been talking about forming his own record label,” says David Z, who by then was heavily into the creative employment of sampling, synths, loops and drum machines that had already become characteristic of that era. "One day, he called me and said, 'There's a group that I've just signed and want you to have something to do with. Come to LA.' So, I went there, walked into Sunset Sound, and he said, 'You're going to produce this group called Mazarati.' That was the first time I'd been labelled a producer, which I'm very grateful for. It got me started.”

Formed by the Revolution's bassist Mark Brown (aka Brown Mark), Mazarati was a funk/R&B outfit whose only hit was the Z-produced/Prince-co-written '100 MPH', but whose greatest claim to fame was a recording that never saw the light of day — at least, not in the form that the band members intended.

"We did a bunch of songs for Mazarati's album,” Z recalls. "Then, when we needed a single, Prince gave me this demo of him just playing straight chords on an acoustic guitar — one verse and one chorus — while singing in a normal pitch; not the falsetto that's on the finished record. To us, it sounded like a folk song and we were wondering what we could do with it. No way was it funky. Anyway, starting with a LinnDrum, I programmed the beat and began experimenting. Taking a hi-hat from the drum machine, I ran it through a delay unit and switched between input and output and in the middle. That created a very funky rhythm. Then I took an acoustic guitar, played these open chords and gated that to the hi-hat trigger. The result was a really unique rhythm that was unbelievably funky but also impossible to actually play... I'm sure that sound influenced the fabulous new Daft Punk song 'Get Lucky', because it uses the same trick, with the guitar gated to some sort of rhythm and sequencer.

"Next, I remembered a little piano part from a Bo Diddley song called 'Say Man' and put it on there, and then Tony Christian sang the lead part, an octave lower than what Prince wound up doing. The background vocals I adapted from the Brenda Lee song 'Sweet Nothings' — good music is always taken from somewhere else — and that was that. The whole thing was done in a day.”

Or David Z and the guys in Mazarati thought it was. The fact is, in this form 'Kiss' sounded OK — a so-so dance number. However, Tony Christian's lead vocal was a little soulless and uninspiring, and when Prince heard the track he decided to head in a different direction... with himself at the helm.

"When I came back into the studio the next morning, Prince had already taken it off the machine, replaced the vocal with his own falsetto performance — which, I guess, he felt it needed — got rid of the bass part and added a James Brown 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' guitar lick,” Z recalls. "'What happened?' I asked, to which he replied, 'It's too good for you guys. I'm taking it back.'”

Boasting a four-octave range, Prince sang virtually the entire song in head voice, reverting to chest voice for the final line, as well as a single note before the last chorus. "At the time, I think he was into using a [Sennheiser MD] 441,” says Z.

"We only used nine tracks for that song, including a bass drum on one track, the rest of the drums on another and the hi-hat on a separate track. As for the lack of bass guitar, we always ran the kick drum through an [AMS] RMX16 and put it on the Reverse 2 setting to extend the tail of the reverb. That served as a kick drum and a bass, and it was a signature sound that we used all the time with Prince. We didn't need a real bass. And there was no reverb on anything else; just the kick. The guitar was dry and gated, and everything else sounded kind of different to the corporate rock that was on the radio at that time.”

Mazarati's backing vocals ended up on the finished record, yet this was scant compensation for what they had hoped would be their breakout hit.

"They were pissed,” says Z. "Prince had promised everyone a share of the songwriting credit, but that never happened and they were kind of mad about it.”

While Z had engineered the Mazarati recording in Sunset Sound's Neve 8088-equipped Studio 2, Prince used the API/DeMedio-equipped Studio 3 to record his overdubs.

"We had a factory going,” Z says. "I did a bunch of things like that, with him always in the other room. That's also how we worked at Paisley Park.”

According to David Z, the minimalist arrangement of 'Kiss' required him and Prince to spend only "about five minutes doing the mix”. Nevertheless, he wasn't involved with the 12-inch mix, which, built around the funky guitar lick and featuring additional lyrics as well as a more comprehensive arrangement — complete with organ and bass guitar — could be heard in Prince's critically-panned, commercially disappointing 1986 musical-drama movie Under The Cherry Moon, which he directed and starred in.

"The 12-inch was done by Prince after the fact,” Z explains. "He was obligated by the record company to do a dance version, and it was just a matter of editing in eight bars and then another eight bars of something different. Prince did a lot of his own engineering; sitting behind the board and singing, playing guitar or playing bass while punching buttons at the same time. He worked super-fast. And, apart from the first album, that went for everything we did."

http://www.soundonsound.com/people/prince-kiss

On Sunday April 28, 1985, Prince was recording the tracks “In All My Dreams” and “Evolsidog” at Sunset Sound in Studio 3, and David Z. and BrownMark were working on songs for Mazarati in Studio 2. “We were in the studios next to each other, checking each other’s progress,’ recalls engineer Susan Rogers. “And at some point they said that they needed a song. Prince stopped what he was doing, I remember this very clearly, he had a little boom box, a little pale green, Sharp one which he had to record ideas on, and he took it and an acoustic guitar to the next room, put it down, put in a blank cassette and he pressed record. On the acoustic guitar he then played "Kiss". It took a few minutes to get the lyrics; he recorded the guitar on one track and the vocals on the other track. He then took out the cassette and said: 'Here, finish this off.'"


“Prince gave us this straight version with just one verse, an acoustic guitar and voice, no rhythm’, explained David Z. ‘It was almost a folk song.”

“Nobody liked the song,’ recalled Mazarati member Tony Christian. ‘It sounded like a country version of something else.’
“I had that song for a long time,’ Prince would later claim. “Changed it around a lot.” The lyrics about confidence and extra time reflected Prince’s affection for Joni Mitchell’s track “Jericho”.


The song was transferred to 24 track and engineer Coke Johnson went to work. “I took that to studio 2’, recalled Johnson. ‘We started fiddling around with it. We used the same changes, but instead of using that acoustic guitar, we ended up gating that guitar and the hi-hat. That is the weird sound you’re hearing. It’s playing the same rhythm the hi-hat’s doing, but it’s doing the changes the acoustic guitar did. That is one of the biggest hooks with it. David thought of the idea, and I hooked up the gate. He was flipping the switch to throw the delay in and out, and actually created that sound for ‘Kiss’.”

Musically, the piano part was lifted from Bo Diddley’s 'Say Man,' and the backup vocals from Brenda Lee's 'Sweet Nothings.' Terry Casey’s vocals were added and most of the band left after 11pm. David Z., BrownMark, Johnson and Tony Christian stayed until the following morning adding depth to the song.

The following morning David Z. wasn’t happy with the results. “We were trying to build a song out of nothing, piece by piece. It was just a collection of ideas built around the idea of a song that wasn't finished yet. We didn't know where it was going. We were getting a little frustrated, and we were exhausted.”


Eventually, the results were revealed. Coke recalled the reaction. “We played it for Prince, who went ballistic, went out to the basketball court playing it loud on the ghetto blaster. He pretty much said: ‘This is too good for Mazarati.’ It pissed us off as we had been up all night working on it.”


Prince took the tape back into Studio 3 and began making his own changes. He quickly eliminated BrownMark’s bass ( “It fills up the bottom so much you really don't miss the bass part, especially if you only use it on the first downbeat,” says Z.) and added the James Brown/Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag style electric guitar riff as well as his vocals, which he recorded an octave higher than Terry’s. David Z. asked him what was going on and Prince confirmed his earlier position on the song. “He said to me, ‘this is too good for you guys. I'm taking it back.’”

The track was completed on Monday April 29, 1985.


11 years later, Prince reflected on the song’s origin, but ignored the input from those in the studio. “You go to a higher plane (of creativity) with that. “’Kiss’ doesn’t sound like anything else. They aren’t conscious efforts; you just have to get them out. They’re gifts. Terence Trent D’Arby asked me where “Kiss” came from, and I have no idea. Nothing in it makes sense. Nothing! The hi-hat doesn’t make sense.”


In the end, the basic song was written by Prince, but without David Z., Coke Johnson, and BrownMark, the track probably wouldn’t have gone to #1 on the charts.
It would be the first (and possibly only) Prince track that he shared ‘co-producer’ credit with anyone, which reflects how much he respected the work done without his input.
(Info from early draft of PRINCE: The Studio Sessions by Duane Tudahl)

http://musicthing.blogspo...-kiss.html

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

"Kiss" is the first Prince song that I ever loved. And I still love it!

Kiss

Kiss video

featuring

Prince

Wendy Melvoin -guitar

Monique Manning -dancer

Rebecca Blake

Born in Belgium, Blake grew up in the United States and studied at New Yorks High School of Music and Art and afterwards, at New York University. Her distinctive style of fashion and beauty photography put her in demand by some of the worlds most prestigious clients, including Estee Lauder, Revlon, Avon, Clairol, Elizabeth Arden, Yves Saint Laurent, Nikon, Polaroid, Michelob, Seagrams, Piaget and others. Her editorial work has been published in Vogue, Esquire, Spin, Zoom, Harpers Bazaar, NY Times Magazine and Rolling Stone.

Her book of Photography, ?Forbidden Dreams, was published by Quartet Books, London. Blakes photography work has been exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum, The International Center of Photography (ICP), The Witkin Gallery, Nikon House Gallery, The Rizzoli Gallery, and The Light Gallery.

Her debut as a live action director was the Prince music video Kiss, which won an American Video Award as video-of-the-year. She went onto direct several more videos for Prince, including Cream (which won the MTV best dance video award) and for other artists such as Babyface, Vanessa Williams, Sheena Easton, rock legends Kiss, George Benson, Billie Myers, Carmen Electra and Michael Bolton.

The music video world suffered a huge loss, as did the world, when pop music icon and musical genius Prince passed away yesterday. We were fortunate enough to interview one of Prince’s music video directors, Rebecca Blake, a few years ago. Here, she recalls the experience of working with Prince on his videos for “Kiss,” “Cream,” and “Diamonds and Pearls.”

Rebecca Blake: I was really kind of established as a fashion photographer in New York, and I was doing some record album covers. And I photographed Sheila E. in Los Angeles and his limo showed up at the shooting and then he sort of walk-through–I was shooting Sheila E. and her band. And he rolled down the window of the limo slightly and had a good look at me while I was working and then just disappeared. And then I think it was few weeks later I got a call from his management saying that Warner Brothers was interested in my directing the ‘Kiss’ video for him. And I ended up on the phone with him, and it was my first major project, and it was certainly my first real film project. And since I didn’t know that much about how he operated, in my first phone call with him I told him, “Well, yes, I will be interested in doing it, but I have to do my own concept and I have to bring my own people and I’m going to bring a choreographer in.” And he amazingly agreed to everything.

GAMV: Wow.

Rebecca Blake: Yeah. Which I think was just–I mean, that was–you know, at that time and also because of his stature, it’s really kind of amazing. I think it was just–I was really just–I was very artistic and I didn’t know that much about that end of the business. And I just went with my gut instinct on how to best support in a music video. How I would do it. And that basically how it progressed.

GAMV: Well, that’s great. Now, when he called you, and asked you about directing this video, had you gotten a chance to listen to the song and kind of come up with a concept?

Rebecca Blake: Yeah. Well, they sent me the music track and then I wrote a concept and I went out to LA and actually had a very excellent production and I was very into design and so I designed the set and everything kind of followed from there. What was fascinating was how once the stage was put together, how brilliantly he move around in the space of the set for the film. Like, I would set-up a shot and then he would kind of interpret it in terms of how he moved physically. And that was very interesting.

GAMV: So how much of the choreography was a choreographer, and how much was him, or was it both?

Rebecca Blake: It really melded. The choreographer worked with the dancer who I brought in, in the ‘Kiss’ video who is dressed in this black veil. And the choreographer worked with her very closely and worked with him indirectly because he would never have direct contact with the choreographer. He would only speak to me, so I would have to relay what the choreographer suggested. And I think he would sort of go off and practice on his own. And frankly, when he showed up and did the moves that he did, they were pretty amazing. Truly.

GAMV: Yeah, it’s really an amazing clip. And one of the things that I noticed in it is that it also reflects the minimalism of the song. I mean, it’s a big set but there’s not a lot going on.

Rebecca Blake: No. Exactly. I was very determined that it not looked like a music video, whatever that meant at the time, and that it would just sort of have this very pared-down discipline. And because I had a lot of theatrical lighting and I also use that conceptually, I didn’t try to flood the frame with a million lights and things like that. I did it in a kind of very minimal way, purposely.

GAMV: Now, was there–was there some issue as far as something not working? Because I talked a little bit with Stan Harris, the art director. strangely enough, and he said there was a set of doors that were supposed to separate, and it didn’t work.

Rebecca Blake: Oh, yeah. I know what he’s referring to. Yeah. Actually, I had wanted the grid, the steel grid that we built to work to open by some kind of remote mechanism at exactly the right moment in the song to match the choreography. And I don’t think that was functioning well, so it had to be done manually and–but it was done and it ended up working out very well….I think what happened was I was using some kind of a techno crane at the time, and I wanted it to slide through and have the gates of the grid basically open. And eventually, they did and it was done manually, off camera. But that’s basically what happened. And you have to realize that that was shot prior to the advent of a lot of visual effects that would made it a little bit much easier. It was all done in camera. He didn’t know it was amazing because it was, you know, including his performance. I think everyone on the set was very–they were just kind of really impressed with how Prince moved and danced. A humorous note was when he came out on the set for the first time. He was very into buttons and he had buttons all up and down the costume and I remember saying to him, “You know, what’s with the buttons?” And he looked at me and said, “You should have told me you don’t like buttons.” “It’s not that I don’t like them…” (Laughs)

...

http://goldenageofmusicvideo.com/prince-music-video-director-recalls-kiss-cream-and-diamonds-and-pearls-shoots-he-loved-improvising/

I'm loving all the posts, OF4S. Thank you for posting!

206Michelle said:

I'm loving all the posts, OF4S. Thank you for posting!

U R Welcome

Did the Mazarati folks contribute any lyrics? I ask because the song is obviously longer than a minute in Prince's final version.

Also, could you start a post breaking down a song of Prince's that is uncontroversially Prince's? I like song breakdowns but this subject is kind of a sore one.

purplerabbithole said:

Did the Mazarati folks contribute any lyrics? I ask because the song is obviously longer than a minute in Prince's final version.

Also, could you start a post breaking down a song of Prince's that is uncontroversially Prince's? I like song breakdowns but this subject is kind of a sore one.

I believe the group Prince turned the demo over too completed the lyrics.

* I do these threads out of appreciation for the song in the moment etc not for any strife sake

I've done song thread like this across Prince career

i'm unconvinced that mazarati completed the lyrics - they would definitely of gotten a credit if they did (or would of mentioned it by now). I believe Prince already had the lyrics written down (and gave those to david Z), but didn't see it necessary to record them onto the demo. i think there is more to this story that we think.

Great thread!

sulls said:

Great thread!

Great time and moment in Music History

Bitch move by Prince indeed.

A Kiss (Extended Version) 7:16
Arranged By - David Z.
Backing Vocals - Mazarati, Jill Jones

The 12" single of the song is an extension of the album track. The extended section is based on the funky guitar line and contains much fuller instrumentation than the main track, including bass, keys and horns. New lyrics are present from Prince with Jill Jones that ends with a humorous dialogue between a wife and her husband watching Prince on television. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(song)

U don't have 2 be rich 2 be my girl
U don't have 2 be cool 2 rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm compatible with!
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

Woman overboard, everybody on the ground
10 toes goin' up, 10 toes goin' down
Got the gun pointin' at 'cha
We're never gonna cut our hair
(Come here, let me cut that hair) No!

Gotta, gotta
(My body wanna tell U 2 take control)
(This way 2 this purple soul)

Oh, pretty mama, I think I wanna ride

Sophie, 4 God's sake
If U touch the television, I'll kill U Sophie

Sol, can U please change the channel 4 God's sake?
I don't care, leave it alone, sit down!

I can't stand David Letterman, he looks like a banker

U don't have 2 watch Dynasty 2 have an attitude
Leave it all up 2 me, my love will be, will be your food
Everybody will have short hair
Let's cut it, mama! (Pretty mama)
I think I wanna ride
Put the daddy in the front seat, me and the girl outside
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

Oh my God, isn't that Prince on television, Saul? {fade out}

OK Sophie, it's obvious
No, wait a minute, I bought this television
Why'd... why U ruin it 4 me 4 God's sake?

Is he the strangest lookin' thing U've ever seen or what?

U wanna talk strange Sophie? OK, let's talk strange

Saul, don't U touch that channel!
Leave it alone, Saul!

Sophie, U're strange, I'm changin' the channel

Sol, do U... do U value your life?
Sit down Saul!

I just listened to the Prince accoustic demo, the Mazarati outtake and of course the final version. Prince should have given them co-writing credit, but people acting like Prince's involvement in the song is nearly nothing, must not have been listening. The original Prince demo is recognizably the same song(even if it is more bluesy than funky), the Mazarati version has more funk in the arrangment and groove and accompaniment but the singing seems flat and less expressive (with the exception of the highly effective background vocals) and theguitar solos are either not there or really faint and not as funky as Prince's. (at the beginning and during 'I think I wanna dance." and during "little Wendy's parade".)

As for the additional lyrics, I wonder why they didn't state something about adding additional lyrics. Maybe, they did. But as someone on here stated, just because Prince did not sing the lyrics, it doesnt mean he didn't give them handwritten lyrics to go with the demo. It is odd that no one claims the rest of the lyrics. I wonder why no one says "Hey, I wrote 'Act your age momma, not your shoe size.'"

Prior to hearing this song (and not to turn it into a different discussion) but I heard Old Friends 4 Sale on the radio. It was played often in connection to the upcoming new movie by Prince. And then Kiss was the next song. I was excited by the new sounds for sure. Disappointed that Old Friends 4 Sale was not released as well.

Monique Mannen [Dancer from the 1986 Kiss video by Prince & the Revolution

How old were you when you appeared in the “Kiss” video?

21.

Where were you living at the time

Los Angeles.

What music videos, shows, or movies had you appeared in prior to that?

The Eleo Pomare Dance Company; The George White Dance Ensemble; Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (I still remember the song, seriously; Bebe Neuwirth, who later played Lilith on Cheers, was either in it, too, or she was assistant to the choreographer, Jerry Mitchell—both of them great dancers, by the way); a Sapporo beer commercial for Japan; the Off-Broadway musical Cotton Club Magic Revue; the lead in the show Dancing in the Streets that toured in Israel; the TV show Motown Returns to the Apollo (I did a number with Vanessa Williams, who is the nicest person, and got to hang out backstage with some amazing artists like James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Sarah Vaughan, etc.).

Videos with Cameo and Billy Joel.

Movies: Playing for Keeps, which starred Marisa Tomei and was Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s first movie for Miramax Films; A Chorus Line, starring Michael Douglas. That job was a blast and has so many great stories. One of them was that Michael Jackson (he loved dancers) would come and sneak up to the 2nd balcony and watch us work on the stage (it was shot in a Broadway theater).

Half the cast was from Los Angeles and they encouraged me to move to L.A. They introduced me to my agent, Julie McDonald, who picked me up from the airport and let me stay with her until I found an apartment. Thank you, Julie.

How were you cast?

I auditioned for it and was taped on callback so that Prince could choose from tape. Turns out the choreographer was the great, late Louis Falco. I had a scholarship with him in NYC but I only worked with him shortly because I got Chorus Line. I trained my butt off but got comfortable in L.A. and wouldn’t train much because I was working a lot. After the audition, the first thing Louis said to me—with love—was “What happened to you?” I wasn’t dancing on the caliber that he remembered. That was a rude awakening for me.

Do you remember what your reaction was when you were cast in “Kiss”?

I was excited and happy. We performers love getting that call from our agent and hearing the words “You booked it.”

Were you a Prince fan?

I liked his music and liked him as a performer but wasn’t a “fan.”

Where was the video filmed?

On a sound stage in Culver City.

How long was the shoot?

Two very long days.

How did you feel making the video?

Proud and excited. I love to work, especially [when it’s] great work, and this one was great.

What was the hardest part of the shoot?

The hurry-up-and-wait, but that goes for all jobs.

How was it to work with Prince? What was he like? Did he hit on you?

It was great working with him. He’s such a hard worker and such a pro. He was very nice and thoughtful. No, he did not hit on me. When I got introduced to him, we shook hands and looked each other in the eyes; I told him that it was nice to meet him and I was looking forward to working with him. I set the tone to be professional and that’s where it stayed. Because of that I got respect from him and made him feel at ease with me.

Any funny stories from the shoot?

Yes, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, Sharon; she was checking how the shoot was going (she is a huge Prince fan). Prince walked by and I told her; she then [asked] me to put him on the phone. I asked him if he would say hello to my friend and he said okay. He got on the phone but her crazy butt didn’t believe him so she said, “Yeah, right, who is this? Put Monique back on the phone,” which he did.

When she found out it was really him, she begged me to put him back on the phone and he was nice enough to do so and then she put him on hold for another call. Unbelievable! She [again begged] to get him back on the phone and I told her that she blew it and that I wasn’t going to ask him again. Who puts Prince on hold?

Anything go wrong on the shoot?

None that I noticed. I’m sure there’s always something, but the show goes on.

What did you think of the video?

I loved it. It is a beautiful video. Rebecca Blake, the director, did an amazing job.

What did your parents think of it?

My mom liked it and I don’t know if my dad knew; I didn’t speak with him at that time, so I didn’t [hear] his reaction.

Did the video ever affect your dating life in any way (i.e. when you first told boyfriends you were the woman in it)?

No, it did not affect my dating at all. When they found out, it was usually the same reaction: “that was you?”

Did you receive fan mail? If so, do you still have any of it?

Yes, but not from the “Kiss” video because people didn’t know who “the girl” was.

Did the video generate any controversy that you know of?

Not that I know off.

What were you paid?

$2,500.

Were you ever recognized in public?

Yes, but not for “Kiss.” Mostly for Coming to America, or people would come up to me and ask, “Where do I know you from? Did we go to school together?” I was in New Orleans with the TV show Florida Lady, for which I was a series regular; I was walking with a couple of producers of the show and a man came up to me and he was so excited. He was saying, “It’s you, it’s really you.” The producers joked with me and asked me if I had paid him to do that. Turned out he recognized me from a Johnny Kemp video. I couldn’t believe it.

Speaking of, what other music videos did you appear in?

Sting’s “We’ll Be Together,” Peter Cetera and Amy Grant’s “Next Time I Fall,” Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red,” Atlantic Starr’s “Always,” [and videos by] Tina Turner, Taylor Dayne, Pebbles, Georgio, Johnny Kemp, Commodores, Cher (choreographed by Kenny Ortega), Red or Jazzy Red (I remember this one because the producer was Lawrence Bender, who later became a big film producer; we had an unusual but fun salary negotiation—that’s normally done by my agent—in his office), David Lee Roth, Rebbie Jackson [Michael Jackson’s oldest sister].

I did a video that Paula Abdul choreographed, but I can’t remember the name of the artist. She contacted me after she found out that I did “Kiss” and told me that she couldn’t wait to work with me. We became friends but lost touch after she blew up. I did bump into her five years ago and I was happy to see that she was still sweet.

Did you ever meet other women who were female leads in a mainstream ‘80s rock video?

No, I didn’t.

If you went to college, where and what did you study?

My college was scholarships at Alvin Ailey, Joffrey Ballet Academy, Martha Graham School, Jennifer Muller, and Louis Falco.

What are you doing these days?

I’m still in the entertainment business. I produced a short film [27 minutes] All4Charity that was in the 2012 Pan African Film Festival.

If you are/were married, what was your future husband’s reaction when he learned you were in this video?

I don’t know his initial reaction because I did not tell him but it probably was the same as most (“that was you?”)

Kids?

Yes, I have two kids, 17 and 8 years old.

What do they think of the video?

My 17-year-old son thinks it’s “cool” and my daughter thinks it’s “awesome”!

What did you think when you first heard from me?

It made me smile. I was touched that you went to so much trouble to find me. You blew up my Facebook.

Has anyone else ever interviewed you about this?

Yes, Dance magazine, immediately after the video first aired.

Have you appeared at any fan conventions to sign autographs? If not, would you?

No, I have not and I’m not sure if I would do it.

Did you stay in touch with Prince?

I did not but seven years ago, I did bump into Jerome from The Time. It was really nice running into him. We caught up and he told me that he couldn’t wait to tell Prince that he ran into me.

When was the last time you were in touch with Prince?

I stayed in touch with the rapper TC and the Glam Slam dancer Tony (he later rapped on Prince’s song “Get Off,” Kirk [Johnson], and Miko [Weaver] [Graffiti Bridge cast members]. When Prince performed in Holland (I was born in Suriname and raised in Holland), I was home visiting my family and [Tony, Kirk, and Miko] invited me to the show; of course Prince had to approve it.

I went with my friends Debbie and Rudy and we hang out in the green room with Tony, Kirk, and Miko. We had dinner with them and then we saw the show from the sound and light booth smack in the center of the audience—pretty awesome. That’s when I truly got Prince and why people love him so much. He lives to perform and will give the audience his all. I was blown away by his performance.

How do you look back on the experience?

With mixed emotions. It makes me smile—those were great times and [I am] sorry that I was so blasé about working with him and didn’t take pictures with him. It would have been nice to have a scrapbook of my work with Prince, especially for my kids and future grandkids. I have that regret with all my jobs.

Anything you’d like to add?

I hope that my answers will make the Prince fans smile.