https://www.rollingstone....235500926/

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Apollonia Says Prince ‘Would Be Appalled’ by Estate Effort to Control Her Name

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In a new court filing, Apollonia claims that two months before Prince's overdose death, he was "adamant" she should keep using and performing under her name

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[Edited 1/17/26 10:02am]

bizzie said:

ShellyMcG said:

bizzie said:

https://www.rollingstone....235500926/

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[Edited 1/17/26 10:02am]

It's easy to say that now that Prince isn't around to contradict her. Having said that, whether Prince would have given his blessing or not, I think it's extremely petty of the estate to prevent her using the name professionally. They did something similar with The Time too. I wish that rather than fight against Apollonia and The Time they would work with them to promote the ultimate Purple Rain Super Deluxe Edition. Prince Outtakes including his original versions of The Time songs. Remastered Ice Cream Castles & Apollonia album. But no, they'd rather release nothing and be petty over the use of a name. [Edited 1/17/26 10:55am]

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It's not about the Estate trying to prevent her to continue using the name – it's about who owns the trademark. Obviously the Estate doesn't want to end up in a situation where they would have to license the use of the name from her whenever they would want to produce something that includes the name.

johnpiex said:

I think he would be more appalled by Apollonia claiming that she cowrote Manic Monday and The Glamorous Life.

So true

johnpiex said:

I think he would be more appalled by Apollonia claiming that she cowrote Manic Monday and The Glamorous Life.

THAT PART!

She was becoming a reliable historian and such, until she flat out lied about all that. Thank God for Fink and others who totally discredited her. Because she used to be a bit better about history than Sheila then we virtually joined the ranks of revisionist history.

When it comes to side projects, my undertanding is that Prince was adamant to keep band's names, but that he wasn't going to go as far as asking people to change their own stage names. I may be wrong, but I believe he's the one who came-up with the names Vanity, Apollonia, Sheila E. (I think she used to use her full "Escovedo" name until that point), St. Paul and Carmen Electra, and AFAIK he never objected to them pursuing their careers using such names. Now IDK, it's just an observation.

[Edited 1/19/26 16:31pm]

databank said:

When it comes to side projects, my undertanding is that Prince was adamant to keep band's names, but that he wasn't going to go as far as asking people to change their own stage names. I may be wrong, but I believe he's the one who came-up with the names Vanity, Apollonia, Sheila E. (I think she used to use her full "Escovedo" name until that point), St. Paul and Carmen Electra, and AFAIK he never objected to them pursuing their careers using such names. Now IDK, it's just an observation.

[Edited 1/19/26 16:31pm]

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Yes, I guess so too. I can totally unerstand P wanted to retain the band names - they were his projects, his brands. Personal stage names are a different case (especially something like 'Sheila E' which is basically a version of her real name, so there's no court that wouldn't have laughed P out of court had he tried to stop her from using that name.)
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'Apollonia' is a tricky one though, as it's not only a personal stage name, but it's also almost the same as the 'Apollonia 6' band/brand name, and to complicate matters even more, it's also one of the leading roles in the movie. Obviously she doesn't want to lose the name she became known by, it's understandable. But it's also understandable that the Estate doesn't want to risk having legal issues about licensing a Purple Rain musical, book, movie or whatever – they cannot let her trademark the name.
I would try to reach an agreement with her that grants ownership of the trademark to the Estate, but lets her continue to use the name (free of charge) until the end of her life. I don't see any justification why she could be granted the trademark or be allowed to form a new 'Apollonia 6' group, for example.

[Edited 1/19/26 17:08pm]