A friend to me and at least one other on these forums and a MASSIVE fan of Prince, Mr.Cordes was essentially a solo artist as P.M. Dawn but took his brother along for the ride as a backing vocalist from the 90s through till 04 then ejected him due to a disagreement and due to health complications (he was partially paralysed by a stroke) took on his cousin Gregory Carr "Doc G" as a sort of carer and band member.

unfortunately when he was in hospital with mounting complications, diabetes,renal failure,further strokes, partial blindness, leg amputations etc his cousin did what had never been done and officially registered the trademark "P.M. Dawn" for himself so anything post 2004 should be considered compromised - there are several cooked up albums on iTunes and Amazon where Doc G re-recorded original P.M. Dawn songs without Be's vocals then latched 11 of his own solo songs on , calling them P.M. Dawn and doing concerts wherever clubs would have him. The song "99 Bottles - stripe and goose" is a song completely seperate from Cordes and has the name just due to the trademark being acquired, its a song about shagging drunken women at BBQs and nothing to do with what the group was about

Cordes recorded at Paisley and was in contact with Prince, exchanging demos and getting offers of songs from Prince on at least one occasion.

He dueted with Boy George ("More than Likely") https://www.youtube.com/w...GThUTWxrBs , Elton John ( "When I think about Love") https://www.youtube.com/w...Bs5fW_hTh4 and remixed for Simply Red https://www.youtube.com/w...XU0PpBf6X8
https://www.youtube.com/w...BrsoYoLZbM , penned for a number of solo artists and groups, mixed and produced etc.

The Beegee's Still Waters album was originally produced by the group and they dueted on a couple of tracks the studio decided not to include when they opted to have more regular Beegee producers come in, the above mentioned cousin didn't help matters, being found mocking Barry Gibb's singing and kicked out of the studio.

like Prince a number of hits by Cordes were apparent love songs but actually were spiritual , conversations with God e.g. Patient Eyes( https://www.youtube.com/w...PPvA3buNLU ) , Sometimes I miss you So Much . ( https://www.youtube.com/w...SUgijnixM8 )

as part of a medley at the end of the Jesus Wept album Be did a soft ballad style version of Prince's 1999 which transitioned into Once in a lifetime and Coconut (check it out!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo5U4ZQ0fLQ

Smokeverbs will feel this like I am. rest in peace Prince Be AKA P.M. Dawn

PM Dawn was one of the most visionary and unusual pop/soul duos we'd seen in years, with harmonies and melodies rivaled only by the likes of Hall & Oates. Jesus Wept is still one of the best albums from the 90s. It didn't hurt that it had a guitar/piano acoustic cover (albeit abbreviated in a medley) of "1999" at the end of it. I loved their long song titles, the way they sampled songs like few others could dream of (and certainly got in trouble for it early on), and wrote original stuff. Their takes on love and spirituality and God, etc. are comparable to Prince himself.

That's really awful, hope he was not in much pain.

Prince Be was an amazing writer, singer and producer. He was brilliant

His writting was genius. I loved what he did.

[Edited 6/17/16 20:05pm]

RIP I loved their 2nd album, The Bliss Album? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence) , fav songs Plastic, The Nocturnal Is In The House and When Midnight Sighs.

[Edited 6/17/16 20:18pm]

hausofmoi7 said:

That's really awful, hope he was not in much pain.

Prince Be was an amazing writer, singer and producer. He was brilliant

His writting was genius. I loved what he did.

[Edited 6/17/16 20:05pm]

he was so brave. he had strokes in the very early 2000s, lost vision and got 50% paralysed , worked his way back to performing, we got him out to Australia for a tour and had to literally help him walk and we had attitude from one stupid club manager who preferred thuggish rappers until the hobbling Be opened his mouth for an acappella sound check and the voice of an angel pleading with his god on "Patient Eyes" floored all of us there at rehearsal.

he was involved in a car accident and lost so much more - I won't go into details but its as per original post, things people would consider horrors on their own but combined. the renal failure, the amputations, further strokes etc.

one explanation for "Be" (which he was less formally known as rather than "Prince Be") is that he 'had to be here but his mind was elsewhere' - reality doesn't have to be his friend anymore

the dude used to leave his keys in the ignition when he would park up places in the 90's figuring anyone who took his car needed it more than him, naive? sure but he was a sweet guy who in person would posture a little to protect that side of himself and called himself like an anti P.Diddy in the way they would sample i.e. sampling something adding a softer edge vs sampling and adding a harder edge.

I'm thankful that I had a heads up about how serious this was getting and that i had 9 years to comprehende how ill he was after the Australian tour where he needed fresh dressings on wounds, assistance to walk and injections to get by. thats how I'm coping today.

Be was referred to as a walking musical encyclopedia - he lived and breathed it not unlike the other musical idol we just lost.

I wish they could have done more together, Be liked to give props to Prince, dropping lines from sometimes it snows in april as he referenced "the Purple one makes a point and I quote..."



much respect from Questlove https://www.instagram.com...x14Q7Qa5p/ "

Man. We did #PrinceBe dirty. Forever etched in the minds of true school hiphopers as an undeserving piñata in krs' darkest hour---actually as I write this I will say *that incident* marked the beginning of the "political correctness" period of hip hop. Or it could mark the beginning of its ending (another "Prince" example, I never see#SignOTheTimes as "the masterpiece!!!" More than I see it as "the curtain call of genius" only to show up now and then---the ending)---after "the incident" nothing was the same. Nada. (For Kris or Prince Be...actually for hip hop period but that's another story) Prince Be coulda been hip hop's Brian Wilson. Eccentric. Rich. Textured. Talented. A Sad Beauty. Melancholy....Genius? 3 Dimensional? I quietly championed him that saddens me. Why? Cause I didn't want the other kids to think I was some sappy dweeb that felt bad for the kid from *that incident*?---yeah man. In my 40s now idgaf about speculation of my "coolness" and "downess" Actually I can't be dweeby enough...but yeah man---behind closed doors I'd marvel at how his mixes were so cotdamn clean. And his harmonies on point. And his content? All that spacey metaphysical emo "nextness" that defined post aughts/modern hip hop was his lane all day. And let's just get it out in the open: De La Soul deserves a#MacarthurGenius for #EyeKnow's rhyme cadence ALONE. Glass half fool is: "why mofos bitting De La flow!?!?" Glass half full is: "duh! When you are pioneering as De La & #3FeetHighAndRising was (listen up@mtv the pubescent reviewers they hire) it's gonna INFLUENCE & shift the axis: Digable/Arrested/Roots/Kast---everyone learned from that album--It's just that#PMDawn friggin mastered that jawn perfectly. Dude I so don't wanna be the posthumous post guy---I tried to not sermonize Ali because part of me knew that everyone would wax poetic. But the itch and the thought that #PrinceBe could make an exit in silence frightens me. Cause it ain't like no one that's been in the top 10 for the last 10 years on iTunes will say anything. that's maddening. This dude was a friggin mind blowing artist who deserved better than this man....thank you comrade for your contributions to hip hop."

now I wanna cry! as a dawn fan I know whats being slept on and internalise that. great but bittersweet to hear someone like Questlove nail it

[Edited 6/17/16 22:32pm]

You're finally at peace, old friend. You kicked death's ass before, but now your suffering is over. Much love and THE REAL PM DAWN 4EVER.

I used to love Set Adrift On Memory Bliss. It's just a nice memory from my childhood. And the 1993 album too, which I have somewhere. I'd Die Without You was also a stupendous song. I'm so sad to hear this.....

RIP I met him once and he was so down to earth.

-

Tragedy runs the birds from the roost.

The grey sky concedes more than clouds.

Bliss is heaven beyond any darkness.

Great musical act. Way better when rap wasn't all about drive by shootings, killing cops and banging hoes.

<youtube>https://youtu.be/PK2Aa4Ylk2M</youtube>

I never knew he covered 1999........

3rdeyedude said:

I never knew he covered 1999........

yeah, dropped lots of overt references to P and had great respect for him. I don't know Under a Cherry Moon that well (film) but the 'camera pans to a cocktail glass,behind a blind of plastic plants,finds a lady with a fat diamond ring' bit in Set Adrift is a reference to a scene in that ?

ETHERSPIN said:

called himself like an anti P.Diddy in the way they would sample i.e. sampling something adding a softer edge vs sampling and adding a harder edge.

Which reminds me of how he flipped the Sylvia Striplin sample from Junior MAFIA "Get Money" to produce Backstreet Boys "If You Stay" for the Booty Call soundtrack. The YouTube comments are all about how amazing their harmonizing is, but I am sure that is Prince Be at work.

Cinny said:

ETHERSPIN said:

called himself like an anti P.Diddy in the way they would sample i.e. sampling something adding a softer edge vs sampling and adding a harder edge.

Which reminds me of how he flipped the Sylvia Striplin sample from Junior MAFIA "Get Money" to produce Backstreet Boys "If You Stay" for the Booty Call soundtrack. The YouTube comments are all about how amazing their harmonizing is, but I am sure that is Prince Be at work.

in 07 or so Be did his own version of this and its very cool. there *WAS* a music video recorded for it but it isnt on youtube right now. I'll leave it to his family to decide about putting his version around if it isnt already there but I heard 4 prospective versions for the album "P.M. Dawn loves You"
he was consolidating his covers like Fast car, under the bridge etc and apart from when he did his own songs as covers (i.e. stuff he wrote for other people ) they were very worth listening to, there would be a total change of tempo or a new vocal twist, not trying to ape the style of the original artist.

there is also this https://itunes.apple.com/...d322169810
he wrote the album for the guy and it shows , figure 8 and life goes on almost sound like P.m. Dawn tracks.

Elton John and Boy George have joined the tributes in the last couple of days (both recorded duets with Be)

Im waiting to see if Barry Gibb says something - they have a lot of unreleased material recorded together from memory.

Be was one of those artists *incredible* in person cause you'd wait for the live vocal to be a rougher thing and it would be smooth as silk. in Melbourne 07 he did Boyz II men End of the Road as a joke response to the crowd but he sounded like each of the parts in the song.

JC has a track out there as well, its fantastic but Be didn't think it was a perfectly executed pop vocal. shame about their rift but .. hey.

[Edited 6/21/16 7:30am]

RE the Amnesia clip linked up thread , the clip looks a lot like standard hiphop fare but again the lyrics were more than that, I love that he responds to genre peers (or perhaps family and acquaintances) "y'all don't love enough to, call it something you create" and then keeps flipping around about how everybody is everyone else is god is him etc and we have all forgotten (Amnesia)
"you're special to you, I'm special to me, you're special to you,we're special to each other!"
I get shivers thinking about how much he opened himself up through his music and tried to pour love into the world

just having a whole album dedicated to his son Christian (Dearest Christian,I'm so sorry for Bringing you here" motivated by the deep sense of dread he got bringing a child into this harsh world. the reason for the song "I had no right" https://youtu.be/IgejaI06BFA?t=176
the link is supposed to take you to 2:57 - "Then you ask the angels, to make you a better You, dream all you want ,cause all the light you occupy, they will try to take it all from you, I had no right
baby...."
such a sincere voice!

[Edited 6/21/16 7:43am]

Such beautiful music they produced, will never forget listening to their albums all those years back in the 90s. I remember discovering them in a wrecka stow, after I was browsing through the gangsta rap section when I found the Bliss Album and Jesus Wept tucked among Cypress Hill and MC Ren. I bought both of them purely on the cover art and listening to them at home I was blown away by the esoteric lyrics and metaphysical textures of the music. I was so angry about them being pidgeon holed in that section that I went back to the store and confronted the storekeeper, I was like "hey asshole, did you even listen to the music? Just because they're black doesn't mean they are in gangsta rap" and he said "you ain't black, what do you care? you ain't white either, so stop bitching about things that don't matter" and I was like "touche my friend". RIP P.M. Dawn.

Anil Dash who has posted on here before and is a massive Prince fan has written the best piece about Be, its well researched (or maybe he knew all this already,as a fan) and includes some tragic stuff too - there was a seriously melancholy tone to so much of P.M. Dawn's material

https://medium.com/cuepoint/set-adrift-beneath-the-surface-of-p-m-dawn-f1e17520eba4#.n28l0xomp

Sad to hear this, he made very beautiful music and had a more spiritual and positive message than most rap and R and B of the 90s. I remember their first huge hit - Set adrift on memory bliss, that borrowed the Spandau Ballet rift and I really liked it, then PaperDoll and Patient eyes along with their best song in my opinion "I would die without your love"

.

Have the feeling this guy was quite fat though and unwell most of the time, so sad, as he was only in his 40s, the age I am now. And yes I picked a big Prince vibe in his music and would wager to guess Prince Be's favourite P album was Lovesexy?

An argument could be made that "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" is the greatest song ever
based upon a sample.

P.M. Dawn is one of my favorite groups and I tried to get you all to buy their stuff: http://prince.org/msg/8/426177.

.

I still listen to P.M. Dawn all the time. Favorite songs: 9:45 Wake-Up Dream, Misery In Utero, Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, I'd Die Without You, So On and So On.

.

Have to put it out there that KRS-One is the worst kind of a human being, and that he is a thug and a bully who robbed Prince Be of the success he should have had, and Prince Be forgave him anyway. You can look all that up if you want, it still bothers me to think about it. It's worth looking out for unreleased tunes like Medley Mine Mind, where he directly addresses his feelings towards KRS_One *seven years later*.

.

I almost saw P.M. Dawn, once. They were in town where I was but they had to cancel due to illness. They had pretty much stopped making records by that point, and after that really dropped off the map.

.

But let's remember a smooth voice, inspired songwriter, innovative sampler, and by all accounts loving husband, father and human being who was always searching for truth in God and music.

.

9:45 Wake-Up Dream: https://www.youtube.com/w...-bmqqHbeho

Medley Mine Mind: https://www.youtube.com/w...3uviZJNmOs

.

Don't forget their cover of Under the Bridge, originally by the Red Hot Chili Peppers: https://www.youtube.com/w...tN_Qg46cXk

[Edited 6/25/16 21:10pm]

POOK said:

P.M. Dawn is one of my favorite groups and I tried to get you all to buy their stuff: http://prince.org/msg/8/426177.

.

I still listen to P.M. Dawn all the time. Favorite songs: 9:45 Wake-Up Dream, Misery In Utero, Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, I'd Die Without You, So On and So On.

.

Have to put it out there that KRS-One is the worst kind of a human being, and that he is a thug and a bully who robbed Prince Be of the success he should have had, and Prince Be forgave him anyway. You can look all that up if you want, it still bothers me to think about it. It's worth looking out for unreleased tunes like Medley Mine Mind, where he directly addresses his feelings towards KRS_One *seven years later*.

.

I almost saw P.M. Dawn, once. They were in town where I was but they had to cancel due to illness. They had pretty much stopped making records by that point, and after that really dropped off the map.

.

But let's remember a smooth voice, inspired songwriter, innovative sampler, and by all accounts loving husband, father and human being who was always searching for truth in God and music.

.

9:45 Wake-Up Dream: https://www.youtube.com/w...-bmqqHbeho

Medley Mine Mind: https://www.youtube.com/w...3uviZJNmOs

.

Don't forget their cover of Under the Bridge, originally by the Red Hot Chili Peppers: https://www.youtube.com/w...tN_Qg46cXk

[Edited 6/25/16 21:10pm]

the under the bridge track is from an album with excellent covers that didn't make it to release but had amazing stuff like Fast Car,BBC and Superstition on there . it was gonna be called Jim Sullivan Syndrome and had really cool original tracks too.

*IF* it was his intention in any way then I hope more Be material sees light of day. he deserved more limelight than his health allowed

Prince Be's lyrics were deep stuff, very metaphysical and often quite depressive. I've just learned the news and I feel very sad.

Anil Dash, who understands very well what PM Dawn was about, wrote this very beautiful article about the band right after Prince Be died: http://anildash.com/2016/...-dawn.html

databank said:

very metaphysical and often quite depressive.

depressive yes absolutely but if anyone here hasn't listened to the later couple of albums (Dearest Christian is the pinnacle of this) they'd be forgiven for getting the wrong impression - Be's version of depressive was expressing verbally how someone had hurt him, what his fear was, how he had been betrayed, in a soft voice before some kind of transcendant mantra about how he would pour his everything into resolving the sadness and healing the relationship - one song without such overt resolution or balance is "I had no right" - about the above mentioned "Christian" who is his first child, he apologised for bringing a child into a world that he had his own deep fears about and pleaded with a higher power to make him a better man so he could be up to the task of caring for his kids - that attitude and will of course makes for a beautiful father.

an example - Misery in Utero , a track about a family member who didn't act as a loving rock.. Be said his love would be enough to cover for that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKBmzZXPXw

Give me strength

ETHERSPIN said:

databank said:

very metaphysical and often quite depressive.

depressive yes absolutely but if anyone here hasn't listened to the later couple of albums (Dearest Christian is the pinnacle of this) they'd be forgiven for getting the wrong impression - Be's version of depressive was expressing verbally how someone had hurt him, what his fear was, how he had been betrayed, in a soft voice before some kind of transcendant mantra about how he would pour his everything into resolving the sadness and healing the relationship - one song without such overt resolution or balance is "I had no right" - about the above mentioned "Christian" who is his first child, he apologised for bringing a child into a world that he had his own deep fears about and pleaded with a higher power to make him a better man so he could be up to the task of caring for his kids - that attitude and will of course makes for a beautiful father.

an example - Misery in Utero , a track about a family member who didn't act as a loving rock.. Be said his love would be enough to cover for that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKBmzZXPXw

Once, years after I began trippin on Dearest Christian..., I was going thru quite a long depression and I listened to the whole album while reading the lyrics. It was a precise, almost surgical depiction of everything I was going thru, I was so totally bluffed. I didn't mean depressive as a negative statement, in the case of this album it's just so accurate and at the same time so well, poetically written, that it's just an awesome artistic statement.