violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Who are the guys in this picture?

I think a 'local' radio station dj. There is one of them with the Time too

SoulAlive said:

the artwork from Brenda Bennett's unreleased late-80s solo album

This was an album cover I designed for Brenda Bennett at her request when she was to do a solo album in the late 80's...she went to London, but the project was scrapped at some point. My friend George was a close friend of Brenda's before her career with Prince.

Brenda Bennett is a singer from Boston, Massachusetts, USA that married Prince set designer Roy Bennett, and became Prince's wardrobe mistress. Prince gave her a "tough-girl, cigarette smoking" persona and Brenda became a member of Vanity 6 in 1982, then Apollonia 6 in 1984. She also had a part in the film Purple Rain......Cynthia-Blair (artist)

That's a great cover! Very 80's, but would have been cool back then. Prince should have finished her solo album. She had the best voice of the girls in the group.

I was thinking about The Time and Vanity 6...Prince's first two protege acts.These two acts were totally original and unique.We had a ton of funk bands back then,but the Time really stood out.They had a strong visual image...the pimp-styled suits,the Stacy Adams shoes,the baggies,Morris' outrageous attitude.And of course,Vanity 6 were unlike any other girl group the in-your-face,blatant sexuality....the lingerie.....shocking lyrics and attitude....just like The Time,they had a strong visual image.Back in those days,Prince was a sheer genuis in marketing and promoting his acts.He came up with some great ideas.

SoulAlive said:

I was thinking about The Time and Vanity 6...Prince's first two protege acts.These two acts were totally original and unique.We had a ton of funk bands back then,but the Time really stood out.They had a strong visual image...the pimp-styled suits,the Stacy Adams shoes,the baggies,Morris' outrageous attitude.And of course,Vanity 6 were unlike any other girl group the in-your-face,blatant sexuality....the lingerie.....shocking lyrics and attitude....just like The Time,they had a strong visual image.Back in those days,Prince was a sheer genuis in marketing and promoting his acts.He came up with some great ideas.

Yes, and it totally felt like Prince was giving a background story to his music. I've always mixed a story playlist with his albums and protege albums. In this instance 1999 What Time Is It? Vanity 6

Vanity 6 was not 'trashy', The Mary Jane Girls came across as like street walkers almost. And it makes sense because Rick James was out there too. But Prince the noituloveR, Vanity 6, the Time was stylish and chic

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

I was thinking about The Time and Vanity 6...Prince's first two protege acts.These two acts were totally original and unique.We had a ton of funk bands back then,but the Time really stood out.They had a strong visual image...the pimp-styled suits,the Stacy Adams shoes,the baggies,Morris' outrageous attitude.And of course,Vanity 6 were unlike any other girl group the in-your-face,blatant sexuality....the lingerie.....shocking lyrics and attitude....just like The Time,they had a strong visual image.Back in those days,Prince was a sheer genuis in marketing and promoting his acts.He came up with some great ideas.

Yes, and it totally felt like Prince was giving a background story to his music. I've always mixed a story playlist with his albums and protege albums. In this instance 1999 What Time Is It? Vanity 6

Vanity 6 was not 'trashy', The Mary Jane Girls came across as like street walkers almost. And it makes sense because Rick James was out there too. But Prince the noituloveR, Vanity 6, the Time was stylish and chic

I think Prince was definitely "helped" by the Rick James's Mary Jane Girls for his creation of Vanity 6:

*

[Edited 10/2/18 5:39am]

yes, but not directly. We did a timeline of it some years ago. Prince actually beat Rick to the punch. Rick had talked about doing a girl group and Prince got Vanity 6 out before the Mary Jane Girls. Plus I think Vanity had a lot to do with bringing the look together. The MJG always looked like this below, but Vanity 6 many times also looked like Chic high society women

Now you can see a big difference in the look when it became Apollonia 6. Apollonia 6 looked like the below MJG often in photos

violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes, and it totally felt like Prince was giving a background story to his music. I've always mixed a story playlist with his albums and protege albums. In this instance 1999 What Time Is It? Vanity 6

Vanity 6 was not 'trashy', The Mary Jane Girls came across as like street walkers almost. And it makes sense because Rick James was out there too. But Prince the noituloveR, Vanity 6, the Time was stylish and chic

I think Prince was definitely "helped" by the Rick James's Mary Jane Girls for his creation of Vanity 6:

*

[Edited 10/2/18 5:39am]

Could be. It does seem that Prince took inspiration and ideas from Rick though. Rick was doing a lot of this stuff before Prince joined him on his tour. I think Prince was a "super sponge" at that time, and soaking up any and all ideas. I looked up the MJG on Wiki, and it says they were formed in 1979. The girls were backing him on stage during that time, but they were not officially the MJG at that point. So, for the formal group setup Prince did beat Rick with Vanity 6, but I do wonder if he came up with the idea by watching the girls on stage with Rick. Hard to know for sure.

*

No doubt though, that with any ideas Prince found from others he was still able to expand on them, and make them better or unique in some way.

Also, was it ever confirmed that Vanity was really dating Rick James when Prince first met her in early '82?? If so, then I would bet that was even more frustrating for Rick - not only running with his idea of forming a girl group, but then taking his girlfriend and putting her front and center!!

violetcrush said:

Also, was it ever confirmed that Vanity was really dating Rick James when Prince first met her in early '82?? If so, then I would bet that was even more frustrating for Rick - not only running with his idea of forming a girl group, but then taking his girlfriend and putting her front and center!!

I don't think he was dating or anything with Vanity, just wanted to maybe

OldFriends4Sale said:

violetcrush said:

Also, was it ever confirmed that Vanity was really dating Rick James when Prince first met her in early '82?? If so, then I would bet that was even more frustrating for Rick - not only running with his idea of forming a girl group, but then taking his girlfriend and putting her front and center!!

I don't think he was dating or anything with Vanity, just wanted to maybe

Wiki has that she was Rick's date to the AMA's the night that Prince met her.

*

Awhile back, I happened upon a a YT video of Rick James and his band being interviewed in Europe in 1979 or 1980 when he was doing some shows over there. Rick did an "air kiss" to someone off camera, and when the camera panned over to the direction he was looking, there was a girl standing against the wall who looked just like Vanity. I will see if I can find that video again.

violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't think he was dating or anything with Vanity, just wanted to maybe

Wiki has that she was Rick's date to the AMA's the night that Prince met her.

*

Awhile back, I happened upon a a YT video of Rick James and his band being interviewed in Europe in 1979 or 1980 when he was doing some shows over there. Rick did an "air kiss" to someone off camera, and when the camera panned over to the direction he was looking, there was a girl standing against the wall who looked just like Vanity. I will see if I can find that video again.

Nevermind....found that video on YT, and it was NOT Vanity standing against the wall. Must have mixed that up with something else.

violetcrush said:

Could be. It does seem that Prince took inspiration and ideas from Rick though. Rick was doing a lot of this stuff before Prince joined him on his tour. I think Prince was a "super sponge" at that time, and soaking up any and all ideas. I looked up the MJG on Wiki, and it says they were formed in 1979. The girls were backing him on stage during that time, but they were not officially the MJG at that point. So, for the formal group setup Prince did beat Rick with Vanity 6, but I do wonder if he came up with the idea by watching the girls on stage with Rick. Hard to know for sure.

*

No doubt though, that with any ideas Prince found from others he was still able to expand on them, and make them better or unique in some way.

Just thought about the fact that Rick had stolen Prince's equipment before he left the Fire It Up tour, which then, as the story goes, gave him grooves for his Street Sounds album If all of that is really true then Prince should get credit for helping to produce Rick's most successful album and tour

violetcrush said:

violetcrush said:

Could be. It does seem that Prince took inspiration and ideas from Rick though. Rick was doing a lot of this stuff before Prince joined him on his tour. I think Prince was a "super sponge" at that time, and soaking up any and all ideas. I looked up the MJG on Wiki, and it says they were formed in 1979. The girls were backing him on stage during that time, but they were not officially the MJG at that point. So, for the formal group setup Prince did beat Rick with Vanity 6, but I do wonder if he came up with the idea by watching the girls on stage with Rick. Hard to know for sure.

*

No doubt though, that with any ideas Prince found from others he was still able to expand on them, and make them better or unique in some way.

Just thought about the fact that Rick had stolen Prince's equipment before he left the Fire It Up tour, which then, as the story goes, gave him grooves for his Street Sounds album If all of that is really true then Prince should get credit for helping to produce Rick's most successful album and tour

lol

violetcrush said:

Krystalkisses said:

violetcrush said:

I think Prince was also just a brilliant marketer, and understood from a young age what would be interesting and enticing to the public. Guys like Chris Moon helped him in that area too. Moon said most of the songs Prince was wriiting early on were about a girl gettnig pregnant - I guess becuase it was something they were taught to worry about back then. Moon told him those lyrics would not appeal to teenage girls, and he should focus more on love and sex Then Moon wrote Soft & Wet, and the rest is history!

*

The whole Dirty Mind period was Prince making a conscious effort to creat shcok value in his songs. He purposely wrote about the lascivious aspects of the mind. The Time was the "pimp" aspect, and Vanity 6 was the "loose girl" aspect. He was very smart to create all of these facets of music which appealed to different people., and he knew the raunchy/sexy innuendo in the music would sell.

I agree with you, he was brilliant at marketing and image..its kinda unfair how great he was at just about EVERYTHING!...I also think historical context was an important factor in his success and how his style and creative ideas really took off...The "King of Porn Chic" chapter in Toure's book made a good case for that I think...the VHS revolution, post sexual revolution and right before the AIDS crisis took hold.

Oh yes, definitely no question that Prince was in the right place at the right time. The perfect storm for his music and protege projecst to take off. Of course, his genius and exeptional musicianship were the reason he had such successes, but the time period definitely helped him.

Rick's problem is that he would come up with ideas but he would take forever to make it happen in the early 80s,he had plans for a sexy girl group,but took too long to get their album out.Meanwhile,Prince was able to get the Vanity 6 album released in August 1982 and took them on tour with him later that year.In 1982,Rick mentioned that he was planning a semi-biographical movie called 'Spice Of Life'...a movie that would also feature his proteges.It never happened,but Prince's own movie 'Purple Rain' came out in the summer of '84.Prince was just faster about getting things released.

SoulAlive said:

Rick's problem is that he would come up with ideas but he would take forever to make it happen in the early 80s,he had plans for a sexy girl group,but took too long to get their album out.Meanwhile,Prince was able to get the Vanity 6 album released in August 1982 and took them on tour with him later that year.In 1982,Rick mentioned that he was planning a semi-biographical movie called 'Spice Of Life'...a movie that would also feature his proteges.It never happened,but Prince's own movie 'Purple Rain' came out in the summer of '84.Prince was just faster about getting things released.

Yes!!! I just watched a YT clip of an interview with Rick back in 1982 when he was performing in Europe. During that interivew he introduces the band, including the girls, and states that he is planning for them to do their own record. Clearly, Prince was much more determined and focused on the work than Rick was!! Sort of demonstrates the benefits of more work and less partying

Vanity 6 was EVERYTHING, even their live show was awesome.

[Edited 10/4/18 0:37am]

Regarding the song "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)"....who do you think had the best lines?

SoulAlive said:

Regarding the song "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)"....who do you think had the best lines?

Definitely Brenda!! With the "other female" being a close second

Goddess4Real said:

Vanity 6 was EVERYTHING, even their live show was awesome.

[Edited 10/4/18 0:37am]

Well, no doubt the guys thought it was fantastic. What's not to love about 3 attractive women dancing and hip-swinging in lingerie?!! I think what kept the show going was the boys playing live behind the curtain

Also, I never realized that Jill Jones was backstage during the V6 shows providing backup vocals. Princevault has her listed as doing vox during the tour. The things you learn...!!

OldFriends4Sale said:

Hard to make out this picture. I know that's Brenda and Susan, but what is happening in this shot??!

violetcrush said:

SoulAlive said:

Regarding the song "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)"....who do you think had the best lines?

Definitely Brenda!! With the "other female" being a close second

yeah,her lines are classic for a minute there,it looked like Vanity was getting totally humiliated by the "Jamie Starr" character,but Brenda comes in and saves her,lol

if I wasn't a lady,I'd take my money and buy you a brand new face

then I'd take my underwear,stick it in your mouth and you'd love it cause you got no taste