So, way before the internet and social media, the only real way we had to know something about an artist was magazines, and maybe some entertainment show.

I remember thinking that Prince, and Wendy & Lisa hated each other after The Revolution broke up;t hat it was somehow a miracle Fink was still in the band; that Brownmark really disliked Prince (he didn't even thank him on his first record that I remember). Did Prince ever really care about Apollonia after the movie? She made one or two (or how many?) appearances on the Purple Rain Tour, but out of sight, out of mind. Did he hate Morris ("we gon' chop that tree down tonight")?

These were things we questioned. Back then.

Sometimes it was just rare to really hear anything (probably NDA or just the non-interest in talking about it) from previous friends or band members, etc. And it's taken the age of the internet to clear up a lot of those things over time.

What was a misconception you had about Prince or those around him back then that proved to be totally false?

Hamad said:

Obviously the André Cymone one, that MTV interview and the DMSR sure contributed for a built up. But upon listening to Andre’s interviews here & there - mostly the Michael Dean show - I didn’t get the impression that it was a feud per se, mostly André outgrowing the band and wanting to try it on his own. I could feel there was genuine love between them, due to many reasons accumulated from the fact that André’s mother helped shelter & nurture Prince like he was one of her own (her story alone without the boys is a fascinating one). Now Lenny Kravitz, there’s an implied resentment there confirmed by Miles Marshall Lewis (who interviewed him for that infamous last ebony magazine interview). [Edited 6/4/21 0:57am]

What interview ?...

Hmm, I'm always amazed there was a grain of truth to what we did know, and it was even that accurate, because it felt like we didn't know anything that wasn't total gossip or like it was naive marketing narratives. All of them have a story about interacting with him again even after those feuds and those are the stories we never got.

We now know his relationships with those people really were difficult at times and it was true. Of course, it's been more interesting to learn the full stories that he reached back or kept in touch with those same people, and there was love there, or always more of a Prince family. Mayte really never met most of those people, but she says he talked lovingly about them all when they came up.

Your list was pretty comprehensive but I'll add Andre, and Dez to that. Seems like there was some Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis interaction too (which makes sense given Jerome).

Maybe the biggest one is with Michael Jackson.

[Edited 6/4/21 1:59am]

Hamad said:

The last ebony magazine, the remark was kept off the record though. Miles brought it up during the Michael Dean interview but didn’t disclose the quote, for fear that like the initial interview, it would catch some smoke.

Thanks..I´ll look it up.

LoveGalore said:

His relationships with Vanity and Apollonia are funny to me. There obviously is more to the Vanity story we don't know but I suspect they were in contact for a really long time - longer than you would typically interact with an ex you only dated for a couple years. Remember that weird sculpture thing she brought on a talk show and gave to him or something? And then he was still giving Apples money up to the moment he passed. To me, it always seemed like once you were gone you were gone. People said that! But I don't think that's exactly true.

It's interesting to hear Vanity stayed in Minny and was around longer. I get him supporting her after she gets sick, or leaves the industry, but do we know much more than that they would talk every so often? There are fans that say they dated on and off or would still spend time together, but that's hard to trust.
Same with Apollonia who was only a pretend/platonic girlfriend.

Did he do that with Susan? Doesn't seem like it.

For a guy that was so estranged from so many people, he kinda wasn't.

lavendardrummachine said:

It's interesting to hear Vanity stayed in Minny and was around longer. I get him supporting her after she gets sick, or leaves the industry, but do we know much more than that they would talk every so often? There are fans that say they dated on and off or would still spend time together, but that's hard to trust.
Same with Apollonia who was only a pretend/platonic girlfriend.

"Orgasm" was a way for him to get money to Denise, since she was technically an artist on the track. I don't know how much she got from it based on COME's sales, but it was surely a help in any capacity.

I remember an MTV Cribs episode with Carmen Electra. She lived in this duplex sorta thing, really nice, big, lux. She says, "hey, come see my neighbor." They go outside, and the door right next to hers opens, and it's Apollonia & her husband (who she was married to during Purple Rain, btw). THAT was a moment like, "hey, maybe all these former associates didn't hate each other or were jealous of each other." It was a silly TV show, but it sorta humanized and normalized these folks in some fashion.

Speaking of interviews, I remember one with Wendy where she said something about Suannah, and Prince. About Susannah she said, "I shared a womb with this person, do I have to share a stage?" Maybe I took that wrong, but it sounded bitchy. Like, how you mad at your twin for anything?!

With Prince, she said sometimes Prince was sweet, other times he was like "Stand there, be quiet, and play your part." So when they left the band (or were fired, depending who you listen to), I assumed back then it was a not-so-great taste left in everyone's mouth.

TrivialPursuit said:

"Orgasm" was a way for him to get money to Denise, since she was technically an artist on the track. I don't know how much she got from it based on COME's sales, but it was surely a help in any capacity.

I remember an MTV Cribs episode with Carmen Electra. She lived in this duplex sorta thing, really nice, big, lux. She says, "hey, come see my neighbor." They go outside, and the door right next to hers opens, and it's Apollonia & her husband (who she was married to during Purple Rain, btw). THAT was a moment like, "hey, maybe all these former associates didn't hate each other or were jealous of each other." It was a silly TV show, but it sorta humanized and normalized these folks in some fashion.

Denise was religious by then, I think, so using her orgasm to support her was still a little funny.

I think part of it is with distance when they weren't being abused by him in tiny ways, they had love for him, but also they all wanted to leave door open to work with him and the others one day.

The theme that pops up is taking an interest in people having a roof over their heads, and at some point he seemed really into the kids all of his colleagues had.

The timeline with W & L's solo record is another one that goes against narrative and shows it was more complex (and also the kind of thing that someone will argue about on here that it didn't happen).

Hamad said:

I wrongfully assumed that Jill Jones was this firecracker who bit everyone’s head off

Isn't the first half of that still true though?

She's kind of like Jerome in that she bridged some periods, and people weren't threatened by her. Seemed like Prince trusted her in a different way and maybe she was just someone who kept in touch with people?

lavendardrummachine said:

Hamad said:

And I wouldn’t really put her in the same category as Jerome at all.

Why not? He's in multiple bands, he's around formally from 1981-86, then comes back a couple times, and he's still performing Prince's material, etc. Plus people liked him.

[Edited 6/4/21 16:28pm]

Hamad said:

Jerome is a roadie turned hype man, Jill is an established singer even before she joined the Prince camp. I like him too, but saying they’re alike is like saying Robin Power is like Rhonda Smith. Their talents are different.

We're having different conversations.

LoveGalore said:

His relationships with Vanity and Apollonia are funny to me. There obviously is more to the Vanity story we don't know but I suspect they were in contact for a really long time - longer than you would typically interact with an ex you only dated for a couple years. Remember that weird sculpture thing she brought on a talk show and gave to him or something? And then he was still giving Apples money up to the moment he passed. To me, it always seemed like once you were gone you were gone. People said that! But I don't think that's exactly true.

He and Vanity kept in contact. Tobin, Vanity's brother in law, was here on this forum and confirmed this information, he has some of the letters, if I remember correctly.

Prince also paid some of Vanity's medical bills.

He went to go send Apples some money right before he passed, but when his team contacted Apples for her account number she didn't give it to them, because she thought it was fake.