I was on wayback machine yesterday around 2001 and there was a "NEWZ" report on NPGMC in 2001 about God Is Alive stating, [everyone who has been in Paisley been featured on GIA vamp as well as Patti Labelle singing live vocals to bring the house down]. Gosh I wish I did a print screen of this.

I looked up on princevault and no such information is found about this. Maybe something to look into or anyone else know more? So cool to know Patti got another song with Prince in the vault...I would want to know myself did he remove Mavis or keep her on there?

I'd love to hear a live or studio version of this. God Is Alive is another fantastic track that should never have been left on the shelf. I love Patti Labelle. Her voice & range are phenomenal. I love her contributions to Wade In The Water & Positivity from the Roseland Ballroom gig in '88. Yo Mister is one of the greatest songs lyrically that he gave away. They had a great relationship spanning decades so who knows what is in the vault. 💜

I also remember that (i.e. that many singers recorded vocals for GIA), but I have no idea where I read it...

kookooman73 said:

I'd love to hear a live or studio version of this. God Is Alive is another fantastic track that should never have been left on the shelf. I love Patti Labelle. Her voice & range are phenomenal. I love her contributions to Wade In The Water & Positivity from the Roseland Ballroom gig in '88. Yo Mister is one of the greatest songs lyrically that he gave away. They had a great relationship spanning decades so who knows what is in the vault. 💜

Agree. I wonder what year she put her vocals on it.

Hamad said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if they recorded a whole album together. She did amazing on Yo Mister, Love ‘89 & I Hear Your Voice, and you can tell from interviews she loved him just like he was her baby. I also wouldn’t be surprised to know that she recorded God Is Alive too, but it begs the question, how many versions of the song are out there?

I love God is Alive. It is one of a very few of his religious tracks that actually inspires me. It would be amazing to hear it with Patti Labelle.

The acronym, GIA, has to be one of the worst of all time It makes it sound like an ode to a hooker or something.

FrankieCoco1 said:

I’ve done some digging on Prince Vault about Patti LaBelle working with Prince, to possibly help with this conundrum. ‘God Is Alive’ was initially recorded at Paisley Park in June 1988, then Prince and Mavis Staples worked on it further at Olympic Studios, London on 27 July 1988. Patti LaBelle recorded lead vocal overdubs on ‘Yo Mister’ and ‘Love 89’ at Paisley Park on 21 May 1988. So it is possible GIA was worked on then too (but perhaps unlikely given the initial recording date). In a Vanity Fair interview Patti said, “When I recorded with him, I think I might have been there for a week, and he made the week feel like Christmas.” Patti LaBelle guested with Prince at the Roseland Ballroom, in the early hours of 3 October 1998. There was a Prince Lovesexy show earlier that night (2 October 1998) at Madison Square Garden, where ‘God Is Alive’ was sung as part of the ‘I Wish U Heaven’. There was another show at Madison Square the next night (3 October 1998) and again GIA was sung as part of IWUH. So may be there was other recording of GIA with Patti LaBelle around this time. Patti La Belle added lead vocals to ‘I Hear Your Voice’ between May and September 1991 (assumed to be at Larrabee Sound in August 1991). So may be she did vocals to GIA then.

The unreleased song ‘Power From Above’, was recorded on 26 August 1991 at Sunset Sound or Larrabee Studios, Hollywood, California. A repeated phrase in the song was sung by Patti LaBelle, presumably on or around this date. On 4 September 1991, Prince performed (at Paramount Studios, Los Angeles) for the recording of an appearance on the Arsenio Hall show, which was first aired on 9 September 1991. Patti LaBelle appeared on the show too. There was a one off performance the night of the recording (early hours of 5 September) at the 20/20 Club, Century City, California, with the exact set list unknown but included Call The Law, a jam, Dr Feelgood, Respect, plus no guests are known (e.g. whether or not Patti LaBelle was there, and if she was, did she sing anything). In 2010 (Sunday June 27), when Prince received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the @betawards , Patti LaBelle joined @janellemonae , @esperanzaspalding , and @aliciakeys in a moving performance of Prince's hits. As Alicia and Patti passionately sang "Purple Rain," Patti's shoe flew into the crowd and was caught by none other than Prince himself. There was a one-off performance that night (early hours of 28 June 2010) by Prince and others at Soho House, West Hollywood, California. Controversy was played by Prince (on guitar), but the rest of the set is unknown. Could Patti LaBelle have guested and sung GIA?

Wow you did you research! Thank you so much. Hopefully they will update this song as we go on princevault since this did come from his website. I am assuming he had her cover this song some time in the 90s but you never know. I don't think I have heard Power From Above (is that song circulating?).

FrankieCoco1 said:

Just to add to the above, Patti La Belle also guested on I Wish U Heaven, at the Lovesexy show in Philadelphia on 18 October 1988. I don’t know about Power from Above by Carmen, but I’m sure if you search for it, you might find it.

Oh okay. Dang Carmen Electra. What was he thinking..I mean...we know what he was thinking...