O.k

Madonna made Alanis Morissette in2 an Icon
Doctor Dre made Eminem in2 an Icon
Eminem made 50 Cent in2 an Icon
Terry Lewis & jimmy Jam made Janet Jackson in2 an Icon

The list goes on & on. Muscians and artists who make other artists big stars

Why hasn't Prince, probably the most talented artist around at the moment in terms of all the things he can do-created an Icon. The biggest creation I can think of that he gave us is Carmen Electra, and that was more 2 do with Baywatch. Whats up with that?

What's wrong with T.C. Ellis?

As he rapped with remarkable accuracy: "U must know failure before success"
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langebleu said:

yeah right

You do have a good point.
It just seems that Prince wasn't ever interested in anyone's talent but his own.They were just a product to carry his massive output.
I'd say the only thing close was that he made Sinead O'Connor make 'Nothing Compares 2 U' an iconic song.

---

I think what U just said is so bloody accurate!!
Prince 'uses' other Artist's as extensions of himself, as his alter-ego's so that he can explore himself not only as Joey Coco or Jamie Starr but as The Family or Vanity 6. When U hear or see Appollonia 6 performing Ur seeing Prince exploring a fantasy of himself...

Juice said:

What About Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. They are the most successful producers ever.....

Madonna signed Alanis Morissette to her label, but she didn't influence the music. She DISCOVERED Alanis but Alanis made herself an 'icon'. There are plenty of other acts on Madonna's label that have bombed, so it's not exactly like she's got the golden touch!

Jam and Lewis are famous producers so it's not surprising they've made a few 'icons' - that's their job! They are not famous for their own musical career as such. Almost every artist has producers behind them that are musicians, whether they're well known or not.

I wouldn't call The Bangles 'icons' but Prince gave them their first big break with 'Manic Monday' - so that's one success story! And of course he created The Time. He's tried hard to stay in the background with a lot of his 'proteges' but more often than not they've failed. Perhaps it is because he keeps the good stuff back for himself - see how he took back Kiss from Mazarati as an example.

I think the reason a lot of his proteges have failed is that he picked not very talented weak-willed people who looked to him to do everything and make them stars, rather than strong minded, opinionated people with a firm idea of what image and style of music they want to create.

metalorange said:

or maybe he was satisfying a highschool dream to be a producer, in an early interview a very shy schoolboy called Prince commented in his school magazine "I'd love to write songs for other people but performing, thats another thing"

Prince will only ever work with people who kiss his ass all the time, that gets in the way of creativity!

Except of course Wendy and Lisa and look at what they did together! (that is good, COLLABORATED music) Didn't Prince and Andre cymone fall out, he was talented!

Tc Ellis got to work with Levi Seacer 4 his album, which was a good match I thought!

Prince does collaborate but it's a shame that P will only hire people 'cause they suck up to him, all his friends are on the payroll really right!

there'd be no Carmen Electra without Prince..she'd still be Tara.(Mtv/Baywatch/MTV again)
There'd be no Vanity, just Denise Matthews
there'd be no Apollonia (Purple Rain/Falcon Crest)
there'd be no Morris Day (not on a recognizable level anyway, went on to do Television)

these are just a few names that the general public got to now mainly through their affiliation with Prince in media forums outside of Prince's shadow.

yeah but they did not go on 2 be Icons, which is what the thread is asking. I beleve the selfish, paranoid 'I won't use Ur music or ideas' 'suck up 2 me, Im the boss' Kid character in PR was pretty accurate

FunnyWayOfStoppinTheJuice said:

i just took icon as meaning a recognizable name. none of the peeps i mentioned recorded anything musically earth shattering after dealing with Prince, but moved on to other media outlets..television, movies etc
[This message was edited Thu May 20 9:05:48 2004 by meltwithu]

Prince will make me an icon...wait a minute ya'll...

Prince did things far greater than creating individual icons. He took music to a whole new level and his contributions will continue to influence and inspire musicians perhaps "until the end of time..."

CherrieMoonKisses said:

are you 5'5 ,110 lbs and dark haired and lovely?? THEN FORGET IT!

Maybe Prince is so unique, only Prince can make prince songs something amazing...

it's a blessing & a curse

This is not an original thought, I realize, but I'll say it anyway... Prince is a massive control freak, and he will not work with people who approach his level of talent because he perceives them as threats.

That's my armchair diagnosis for what it's worth.
[This message was edited Thu May 20 18:49:44 2004 by flipwilson]

chookalana said:

Right? They graduated from the School of Prince.