Vanity

[quote]All I had become was thus painted on my face-vanity-and what i had thus spoken from my vile tongue spewed forth from my juvenile breast of disdain.But this was just the beginning of my surrealistic journey, my make believe “i am the new hoopla” squeezed appropriately, sufficiently, distended in your black box, televising all my oddities up close and effectual.

Hoo boy, that's bad writin.'

I wish her well, though. I always liked "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)."

I use to love Vanity. Too bad she went koo-koo when she became an evangical Christian.

Also, I read her autobiography - it's terrible. It's mostly written like a teenager trying to sound deep while writing poems and there is NO gossip in it at all and NO kiss and tells. It's incredibly boring and preachy. Also, there's several spelling mistakes in the book.

It was a bit difficult getting through some of the book (particularly with the kind of typeset it was printed in), but it was definately an interesting read. She went through hell and back as a child.

If a Girl Answers... is a hilarious track. One of my other faves from that album is Make-Up.

She sent me a copy through the mail, and put an giant inscription in the front of it. It took forever for the book to come out, but it finally did about a year ago, maybe a bit longer.

She and Carl Weathers set the screen ablaze in "Action Jackson".

I liked her. Don't know a thing about her pre-Prince, and actually, very little of her even from those years. Samuelle was my favorite song from her debut album.

Pre-Prince, she mostly modeled in Canada and Japan. She also did a couple of B-films, including a bit part in the Canadian Jamie Lee Curtis horror flick "Terror Train", and the Girl-Meets-Gorilla soft core film "Tanya's Island".

Didn't Prince originally try to dub her Vagina but she balked and they agreed on Vanity instead?

I think being around Prince probably fucks up most of the women who have been in his life. While I think he is a genius and puts on a great show, I find him really creepy.

Yes, R8. Her "group" (I think they were just 2 backup singers) was called Vanity 6, had she agreed to be called Vagina the group would have been Vagina 6.

Now you're wondering why a girl group with 3 members would bill themselves as anything "6"? Prince choose 6 to refer to their collective breasts. True story!

Not sure what's worse, all this or Prince's original name for his girl group proteges: The Hookers.

Of course all of these assholes have since "found God"...

She couldn't sing worth a damn, but "Nasty Girl" is a fun song.

I did hear her one solo album "Wild Animal" on Motown (there was a single called "Pretty Mess"), and it wasn't as much fun as the Vanity 6 album.

Appolonia Kotero, who took over the "6" briefly had more of a voice.

It's odd that neither the Vanity 6 or Appolonia 6 alblums are available on iTunes, at least not the last time I checked.

There was another Prince protege group called The Family that released a self-titled album that's got some good cuts on it, including a version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" that I think is better than Prince's version. That was the only record, and it not available via iTunes either.

Vanity showed her boobies in a forgettable 80s movie called "52 Pick Up"

The suggestion to call a girl singing group "The Hookers" cracks me up

R11, a lot of folks would disagree with you in terms of Apples's and Vanity's singing voices. Neither one of them were Whitney Houston, but Vanity's vocals were much improved by the time her second album for Motown, 1986's "Skin on Skin", dropped.

R12, Vanity showed her boobies and more in several films and pictorials.

Here's "Under the Influence"

Speaking of 52 Pickup, that sleazy little film also starred a young Kelly Preston.

They always turn religious once their career crashes and burns. Anyway I used to love "Nasty Girl", it was so dirty.

This ALWAYS gets the party started

LOVE this sleazy little video and song!

Vanity! John Stamos! Gene Simmons! '80s schlock at its best (worst)!

The Pretty Mess video is a classic, I couldn't believe they got away with that - even if it flopped. Some of her other music is seriously ahead of the time.

This coked up appearance and coming on to bearded dwarf Noel Edmonds is bizarre and sad.

Speaking of "coked-up", check out this American Bandstand interview. I wonder what ol' Dick was thinking?

Pretty Mess always grossed me out a little.

The excellent "Romantic Voyage" from Skin on Skin

[quote]Vanity's vocals were much improved by the time her second album for Motown, 1986's "Skin on Skin", dropped.

It would be more accurate to say that Skip Drinkwater, the guy who wrote and produced that album, constructed it in such a way as to minimize her considerable vocal weaknesses as much as possible. She was always a lousy singer - even by her own estimation, she wasn't much of a singer. She knew she was getting by on her looks and aura. Motown spent a lot of money to sign her when she split from Prince and it raised eyebrows, because, well, nobody thought she had any kind of musical talent. After the flop of the first album, Motown was determined to get some return on their investment with the second one, and that meant doing all that was possible to make her sound better, in those days before Autotune and ProTools.

With that said, I actually prefer the music from Wild Animal. Mechanical Emotional has a great synth riff, and I like the way they used Morris Day on it. Strap On Robbie Baby has a great driving rhythm to it too.

Her vocal really were thin - most of her "singing" sounded like sexy talking.

I hate her. Her material was quite spiritual and could've taken on a new depth of meaning with her Christian faith. Instead, she decides not to sing anything at all. She's a loser.

Vanity is NASTY!

Well I wonder if she gave back all the dirty money she made doing those devilish deeds.

Bet not.

I hope she can forgive herself for whatever is weighing heavily on her. Obviously she was involved in some situation where she felt debased and used. Welcome to the club girl. You learn and you move on. Or you snap.

Sad.

Christ she was beautiful! And it's not often you get to say that about someone and really mean it.

[quote]Her material was quite spiritual and could've taken on a new depth of meaning with her Christian faith.

Oooookay.

Beautiful is putting it mildly, R28. She made Halle Berry look basic.

R27, I don't think she has any more of that "dirty money" anymore. In fact, I read that some sitcom wanted to use her likeness from when she was Vanity, and she declined, even though it would have made her some money.

Remember that episode of "Friday the 13th: The Series" she did? I used to love that show.

That was a fierce bitch, R26!

Vanity has the same "voice" as Janet Jackson. Miss Jackson had the family connection and better management ; otherwise, no difference.

Remember Apollonia's stint as Lance's love interest on [italic]Falcon Crest[/italic]?

Why yes, R33, I totally remember that!

Think again, R32. Janet Jackson has tone and inflection in her vocals. She may not have uber-range, but she can sing the hell out of a ballad (see video below). She can also be powerful when need be ("Black Cat", "What About", etc.). Vanity could convey sex and get crazy with her voice, but her vocal ability was not as versatile as Janet's is.

p.s. There was a rumor back in the mid-80s that Vanity tried to steal James Debarge away from Janet, as she and James were both big time druggies back then, and probably had more in common that James and Janet.

Vanity was IMO the most gorgeous female celeb ever. It's a shame her career wasn't bigger. She also fucked a lot of famous people-Rick James, Adam Ant, Prince, Miki Free, Nikki Sixx, Billy Idol and she mentioned once in an interview after becoming an evangelist that she "tried women" too.

Unfortunately her messed up childhood left her mentally unstable. She was a fun-loving gal who was very headstrong. She knew she didn't have much talent besides the ability to look fucking ridiculously beautiful, so she knew she would have to go the "sex sells" route. She started smoking crack because deep inside she hated being so provocative and it made her more at ease with it.

She was Prince's prototype muse-and most of the women he's been with since her look like a lesser version of her in 1 way or another. Prince and Vanity used to fight all the time because unlike the other women, Prince had too much trouble controlling her, and she also didn't want to just be in the background. While she loved Prince, she also used him to jumpstart her career and it worked. Her use of drugs definitely cost her the chance at a better career. There's 1 report online you can read from someone who gave her limo driver directions to an audition, and when he saw her, he noticed she was wasted in the backseat.

As far as singing goes, there's no doubt Vanity could have sung at least half of Janet Jackson's hits. THey did have similar voices, but Janet is just a bit better. Janet actually COPIED Vanity's vocal style to become popular. Jimmmy Jam and Terry Lewis had Janet singing the way Vanity did on "Nasty Girl", and the result was Janet became a huge star. If Vanity had had those Janet songs, Vanity would have been much bigger.

I heard a rumor the women she "tried" may have been when she was with Prince, since he was fucking a lot of women while they were together. Some thought it could be Susan Moonsie, who was in Vanity 6 with Vanity, and was also Prince's bf a few years before he met Vanity.

When Vanity gave an interview on HBO for her playboy spread, she also mentioned that she "always admired a beautiful woman" so it comes as no surprise to me that she was either bisexual or bicurious.

Vanity was a crazy chick. It was rumored near the end of her career in the early 90s, she had her drug dealer living with her and was sleeping around hollywood to help pay for her crack addiction, since her movie parts and singing career had dried up.

I loved some of her songs! Not a good singer but she had great beats and I didn't mind her thin voice. Even as a gay I just love looking at her pics and video clips from back then. So beautiful.

Yeah I would like to know which women she fucked, as well as any other more famous men. I'm sure there are plenty we don't know about lol.

I still love Vanity's trashy hits to this day. Nasty Girl, Under the Influence, Make-Up etc. are fantastic 80s pop. You don't hear songs like this anymore. Just great trashy fun.

And yes, she was absolutely gorgeous. She made Halle Berry look common.

Rick James, Prince, Billy Idol, Nikki Sixx and Adam Ant? damn that's quite a list of the "It" boys of the 80s lol. Vanity really went out and got some haha.

I would've loved to have fucked Billy Idol in his prime, he was so hot. Lucky bitch.

As good looking as Billy was, I think he and all those other men were the lucky bitches lol. As a gay even I would have fucked Vanity back then if I could take a time machine lol

Oh Vanity was a bad bitch. Fuck posers Rihanna, fuck Ke$ha...Vanity lived a brief but crazy hollywood life.

Vanity was NASTY! These days...not so much.

I loved Vanity, and still have the autographed photo I got from her in the 80s.

A friend of mine became friends because we were both misfits, and for some reason would spend hours driving around town listening to Vanity's "Under the Influence" album.

That "Romantic Voyage" song brings me right back to that time, and makes me nostalgic.

Samuelle, Nasty Girl, Pretty Mess, Drive Me Wild and Vanity's versions of Manic Monday and Sex Shooter are all great songs.

@ Christopher Tracy, can you tell us what meeting Vanity was like? I've heard she was always really sweet to fans and even more beautiful in person.

Has anyone heard her "Vibrator" demo that leaked online from when she was recording the 2nd and ultimately unfinished Vanity 6 album with Prince? Lol I love that track.

For r47:

Prince and Jill Jones are doing the spoken bits!!

Thanks for posting link r26, the vocals were not great, but she had IT. Prince was great at finding talent. The Time killed it also.

It's dad that the cheesiest music from the 80's is better than everything out now. I feel old.

Another huge fan here. I remember when she dropped out of Vanity 6 and Prince is pretending that Appolonia is just as gorgeous and there is no difference. Um, yeah, there was. Next to Vanity, Apple looked matronly.

Denise did go to Christ, as did many former girlfriends of his. She is obviously committed to it and doesn't hurt anybody, so why the hate? She needs a kidney transplant and nearly died several years ago, but she appears to be happy.

I imagine her book isn't a kiss and tell because she doesn't want to dredge all that up. By her own admission, is was debasing and disgusting.

Vanity was high as a kite on Soul Train. Today, she would have on sunglasses so nobody would know.

Well, if Vanity is not going to dish, then Susan or Brenda need to write a tell-all, then.

[quote]Her other music is seriously ahead of the time.

That means sucky

[quote]I loved Vanity, and still have the autographed photo I got from her in the 80s

So she was working at Musicland and you asked a clerk for her autograph?

Unfortunately for those of us who LOVE gossip, Denise said that in the early 90s she wrote the early version of her autobiography and even had offers on it to make it a film. It contained a lot of dirt and all the tea about what she did, what others did to her, who she was with etc...but then she reflected and prayed and decided it wouldn't be appropriate to release that book or turn it into a film so in the 2000s she re-wrote it into the version some of you have read today. There's no gossip in it and the only man she talks about is Prince (besides her father).

While I'm glad Denise is alive and well, I really miss Vanity. She was so much fun and just fucking gorgeous.

@ R51 but no one would care about a book by Brenda or Susan lol. Vanity was the only really famous one of that bunch and even then a lot of people these days have forgotten her or are too young to know.

Yeah damn I wish she would have published that first version 20 years ago haha. A woman with her looks in hollywood? I want to hear all the tea lol. and you know Prince musta done some fucked shit to her. He was pissed when she left him. Vanity even halted production and filming of Purple Rain when she left him lol

I just want to say that I am high as hell, but I just watched Under The Influence and she is the most amazing woman I have ever seen. She moves like a fucking cat! Words fail me to describe her beauty.

her own beauty was too much for her, I think. she couldn't handle the power it had over other people.

Yeah I agree. It's a shame her career wasn't bigger-so what she wasn't the most talented. Half of the most successful singers and actors are not that talented, and Vanity was the most beautiful of them all. Fuck Halle Berry, Rihanna and the others-Vanity's beauty blows them the fuck out.

The funny thing is Vanity never thought she was that pretty. In interviews she said that and said she just "was really good at putting on makeup". But if you look online, there's a pic of a young Vanity without makeup and she still looked crazy pretty.

Ahhh, thanks for affirming me R60! Because I was looking at her (while stoned) and I was BLOWN AWAY. not just by her physical perfection but her sexual charisma was off the charts! I was thinking, this thing she has, has GOT to be so fucking rare.

I just wanted to add that I don't need to be stoned to notice Vanity's incredible charisma, it just intensified it to surreal proportions.

I would totally read a tell-all from Susan or Brenda--just imagine the shit about what a control freak Prince is, how much coke the Time were doing, how Lisa and Wendy were lezzing out in front of everyone, and the drama that went DOWN when Vanity gave the stiff middle finger to the midget and split for Motown!

Go to youtube and look at her interviews to see her charisma and beauty in action lol. The 1984 one with Donnie Simpson was right when she was embarking on her solo career. She had him wrapped around her finger without even trying lol

Damn, she was drop-dead gorgeous. No young actress or singer today compares to how beautiful Vanity/Denise was in her prime.

That's why it's shocking to me that Vanity didn't have a better career. Sharon Stone had a good career just based off her looks, while Vanity had a few hit songs and films here and there, but mostly was a B list star. Everyone in the industry knew of her, and most people knew of her, but she wasn't always talked about.

What a lot of people don't know is Vanity was a trendsetter in terms of stlye. A lot of other female celebs copied her outfits or some aspects of them.

She didn't have a better career because she was already broken. Her absolutely stunning exterior didn't match how she felt about herself inside. She then became a drug addict to cope.

Looking at her, I absolutely believe beauty can be a curse.

Actually, the posters who were comparing Vanity to J***t J*****n were probably not that far off the mark. After all, the Time was the backing band for Vanity 6, so it makes sense that Jam and Lewis would continue in the same vein, albeit with a vocalist who could also dance. It's not that far-fetched to picture Vanity singing J***t's songs--they do have the same thin voice.

Times were different. Berry broke barriers. Had Vanity arrived post-Berry, things might have been different for her.

Oh without question, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis used Vanity's vocal style on "Nasty Girl" as the new template for Janet Jackson. If you listen to Janet's music before she met those 2, she had girl-next-door poppy r&b albums with a light sound that led her nowhere. Suddenly she did that talk-sing thing Vanity did, and became a huge hit. It's NO coincidence one of Janet's first big hits was called "Nasty". Janet was a less sexual, more mainstream version of Vanity.

Vanity had natural rhythm and did freestyle dancing during her performances, but Janet was a trained dancer. If Vanity had been given Janet's material, she would have been the bigger star.

All Jackson had was the name and the famous brother. Without that, she'd be working retail.

Prince dumped her fat ass when he realized it was Sheena Easton that had the look

I'm sure R72 is just trolling lol but Vanity was the one who left Prince, something he was bitter about for years. Unlike his other women, he couldn't control her free spirit.

Anyway, listen to this-I wish Motown had released this track as a single. It's very catchy and I think it could have been a hit on r&b, pop and dance charts. It's also very gay-themed haha "Manhunt"

youtube.com/watch?v=Jv3qQTK1K1o

[quote]What a lot of people don't know is Vanity was a trendsetter in terms of style

Indeed. Even Madonna bit HARD off of Vanity's style (wearing lingerie on-stage/the in-your-face sex kitten persona), and she didn't have one iota of the sexuality and beauty that Vanity did. Vanity had that thing that made other women who co-starred with her pale in comparison. Melanie Griffith, Sharon Stone, Robey, Kelly Preston--all of these women looked like Plain Janes in the films/shows they co-starred with Vanity in.

As for Janet, I really don't see the link save for both of them being beautiful black women who worked with The Time. Janet was too much of a tomboy to be as vixenish as Vanity was. Speaking of Janet, it was rumored that Vanity fucked around with James DeBarge when he was still Janet's husband, which made Janet crazy with envy. James and Vanity were both big drug addicts back then, so I can see the plausibility in him hooking up with her.

I loved that Vanity knew she wasn't the most talented woman out there, but she exuded confidence with what she did have--personality and looks. There's a Playboy interview that she did where she said that she knew women were jealous of her, but that it didn't bother her because that was their hang-up, not hers. She also talked extensively about Prince and said that he was her first true love.

She did have some great tracks. Her "Skin on Skin" album was miles better than "Wild Animal", but even WA had some jams. "Under The Influence" is pure pop/funk perfection, and her ballads "Skin on Skin", "Romantic Voyage" and "Samuelle" deserved to be hits.

Here's that Donnie Simpson interview someone upthread brought up. Watch her strut down that hallway. Girlfriend was B.A.D.

The seductive "Skin on Skin"

The campy "Manhunt"

Vanity and Apples together (with Brenda on the left)

Brenda and Susan were reportedly jealous when Prince chose Vanity to be on the cover of Rolling Stone with him.

Oh, please. Susan had a mustache and Brenda only got in because she was a hanger-on a married to crew.

Catherine Zeta-Jones wouldn't have had such a huge career if there weren't a Vanity void.

Same with Leonardo DeCaprio/River Phoenix and Cindy Crawford/Gia.

In Nikki Sixx's memoir "The Heroin Diaries," he totally degrades Vanity and basically calls her trash and admits he punched in the face one time. That was what she was dealing with, men who treated her as less than garbage.

That's what she thought she [i]deserved[/i].

Vanity dated mostly horrible men, and that stems from the issues she had with her physically and sexually abusive father. It's sad.

oh Vanity is still influential these days, even if the press doesn't mention her name.

Beyonce's "Naughty Girl" is basically a fusion of "love To Love You Baby" by Donna Summer and "Nasty Girl". In her live performances of this song, Beyonce usually samples lyrics directly from "Nasty Girl" near the end.

Amerie, Lil Kim and others have performed "Nasty Girl".

Jazmine Sullivan has a song that has Vanity 6 mentioned.

Rihanna, Beyonce and many others have worn outfits that look almost like copies of what Vanity wore in her day.

Oh for sure Janet Jackson copied a bit from Vanity. Before Vanity 6 came out, Janet had this good girl, cheesy r&b and it didn't do well at all on the charts or in sales. There was an article last year in which Janet said when she was a teen she saw the 1999 tour with Prince, The Time and Vanity 6. She became interested in Vanity 6 because her mother was so shocked by their blatant sexuality. A couple years later, Janet has a song "Nasty" that was created by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Janet started the sing-talking Vanity did. Janet was never as sexy, but she took the badass thing she saw in Vanity and ran with it.

What's interesting is after being rumored to have messed around, or at least gotten high with James Debarge, Vanity did background guest vocals on El Debarge's song "Secrets of the Night". I wonder if she messed around with El too lol.

I like the vampire-themed "Flippin' Out":

Nikki Sixx is a piece of shit himself.

I love a lot of her songs: Pretty Mess (because of the sexual overtones lol), Wild Animal (She's singing about the Gorilla in her softcore "Tanya's Island movie LOL), Samuelle, Under The Influence, Romantic Voyage, Skin On Skin, Confidential, Ouch (um it's crazy lol), Undress and Faraway Eyes.

Just wish her career was bigger...

Vanity was the business! I can't stop looking at her pics and I hear her songs every now and then. Plus, I loved her costars Taimak, Carl Weathers and John Stamos lol

If you look at Vanity's interviews on youtube, all the male hosts were drooling and falling all over her. From Donnie Simpson to Gary Shandling to Arsenio Hall to Don Cornelius, heck even gay old Merv Griffin got excited over her lol

Vanity's funkier version of Sex Shooter is more Sheila E than Apollonia.

[quote}Rihanna, Beyonce and many others have worn outfits that look almost like copies of what Vanity wore in her day

Speaking of Rhi-Rhi, a few years ago when a remake of "The Last Dragon" was being tossed around, Rihanna was in talks of taking over Vanity's "Laura Charles" character.

I LOVE this Arsenio interview. She talks about how she broke into a big old "haunted" house in L.A. and was arrested for tresspassing. Eddie Murphy (whom her sister was dating at the time) bailed her out.

The men in the Soul Train audience were puddy in her hands when she performed "Undress" on the show.

It's beyond bad, but I loved "Never Too Young To Die". What's not to like? Vanity kicking ass and toting guns, John Stamos in full young, hunky, VPL-in-every-scene mode, and Gene Simmons camping it up as transsexual madman/woman Velvet Von Ragnar. Oh, the '80s...

No no no, Rhianna needs to stay far away from anything that references Vanity. They have nothing in common.

It's funny-in one of her interviews in the mid 2000s, she said that sometimes people would mistake her for Halle Berry and sometimes even Apollonia lol. In the late 90s and early 2000s before her latest health issues, Denise still looked very hot. It's only the last 7 years or so that she looks more her age, although she's still beautiful.

Im grooving to "Manhunt" right now haha

Traded one addiction for another

Yeah she is a crazy bible thumper these days. it's sad. It's great she's off drugs and no longer suicidal but...

Anyone like her song "Ouch"? haha it's ridiculous I love it. Shitney Spears and Rhianna ain't got shit on Vanity except they were luckier with success.

I still listen to Vanity - her music was just great 80s pop, and "Nasty Girl" is still delightfully filthy even all these years later. And she was ridiculously gorgeous. She makes today's pop tarts look look like plain janes in comparison.

"Make Up" is like freestyle poetry to me.

The debut album still gives me titters - and I'm a huge Brenda fan for the record - V's vocals not detracting too much. But how big of a fuck-up do you have to be to be too much for Nikki Sixx?

And scour for her Jesse Johnson throwaway, 'Undress'

I liked "Undress" too. You can really hear how similar how voice is to Janet's in that track.

@ R101 LOL "when you kiss me when you love me you make me wanna cream" outrageous lyrics haha

I love "Make Up"!

Best lines:

If I wear a dress, he will never call So I'll wear much less, I guess I'll wear my camisole

and

Smoke a cigarette, I'm not ready yet!

I wanted to post "Bite the Beat" (which is a rap performed by Brenda about eating pussy), but I can't find it on YouTube, goddamn it.

Here's a streaming version of "Bite the Beat":

"Make Up" is a great song to play when you're getting ready to go out. There's a remix on Youtube that is really good.

I was replaying "Faraway Eyes" today for a bit...by far my favorite vocal by her. It's too bad-it seemed like just when she was finally figuring out what kind of vocals suited her voice, her recording career stopped. I bet her third album would have been awesome. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and the late Tony Le Mans were gonna produce it.

Vanity did a classy cover of "Nature Boy" that was rumored to be on her unreleased third album...it's on youtube if you want to hear her version. I miss the days when it wasn't so "trashy" for top stars to pose naked. In the 70s and 80s the younger hot stars were doing it. By the 90s it was just the B and C listers and hasbeens...

109 posts on this trashy no-talent? She can't even sing, if it weren't for the genius Prince, she's be a skid row crack whore.

R110 you better not be a fan of Madonna, Janet, Paula, Shitney Spears, Rihanna, Katy Perry or Ke$ha if you want to have credibilty lol. Sure, Vanity didn't have much talent but she's for sure on the level of the above lucky bitches, and she was the most beautiful female celeb ever.

Also, she would have been successful without Prince, but probably just as a model and actress. Who knows-maybe she wouldn't have gotten into drugs.

she would have been successful without Prince.

Vanity would have made it without Prince she had it factor.

Her sexuality was a lot like Gia Carangi you couldn't take your eyes off her she was sexy without trying to be.

She should have just stuck to modeling and avoided Prince.

She would have made as a model and probably hooked up with a millionaire and had a totally different career.

Still surprised someone with her looks didn't do more or be more successful.

Prince was her down fall.

She got caught up in his ego bullshit it stunted her career to being all about being connected to him.

but at least some of the above Madonna, Kesha for instance can sing a little and co-write a decent pop tune. This bitch is virtually 100% talent-free and a Xtian to boot. There's nothing worse than a reformed whore!

lmao Madonna is the biggest fraud ever. Most of the songs that are "written" by her are instead written by someone else that she paid off so she could take the credits. This is where Beyonce got that $ for writing credits idea.

None of the women listed are good singers, and Vanity could sing most of their songs just fine. She sounds OK in most of her songs from 1986 onwards. "Faraway Eyes" sounds decent.

Besides what has been discussed, another of Vanity's problems was being on Motown. By the 80s Motown was no longer a big music force, and didn't do promotion or single selection well at all. Vanity has a number of hit-worthy songs on her second album but instead they chose the second single to be "Animals" which is a weak song.

Anyone remember Donna De Lory, who is most known for being one of Madonna's backup (aka carrying Madonna's weak-voiced ass through songs) singer and dancers. She did backup vocals for Vanity on the Skin on Skin album and then for Belinda Carlisle. Madonna then picked up for a longterm deal.

But Vanity had what? one hit. Madonna has been a star with many hits for decades. This tramp's not even in the same ballpark. Why are you defending this Christian whore?

Anyone remember Elisa Fiorillo of "Who Found Who?" Jellybean-produced fame? Sounded exactly like a Madonna song. Or Alisha "All Night Passion" - all the gay strippers at Show Palace used to dance to that one, another Madonna ripoff.

Madonna's fame is more luck than talent. She never had much talent. I don't care how successful she is. I never said Vanity's career was in Madonna's league, but talent-wise there's not much difference. Beauty-wise obviously there is a huge gulf.

She was great on Falcon Crest though

Speaking of Alisha, her "Too Turned On" was THE theme song of bridge and tunnel skanks back in the day.

Elisa Fiorillo performs in Las Vegas - Off the strip, and she sucks!

R116 you're calling her a Christian whore? While I don't agree with her decision, she is the real deal and practices what she preaches. This is unlike that Kaballah-shit whore Hagdonna, who preaches kindness and all that jazz but still acts like an entitled fucking bitch to anyone she deems beneath her.

I was always intrigued with the men Vanity chose. She seemed to go for the thin, glam pretty boys. Rick James, Adam Ant, Prince, Nikki Sixx, Billy Idol, Miki Free etc...ironically she ended up marrying a football player (they're divorced now and he's actually on trial for 4 murders but anyway)...

Did she ever have children??

No, she never had children.

didn't Pearl from Prince's Diamonds and Pearls became a born again Christian and Minister too. She speaks in tongues now!

A lot of people who used to work with Prince became religious in the last 20 years haha. I guess that mean motherfucker can do that to people.

Co-sign. Prince is a great musician but what a CUNT he was and still is. He really is an asshole. The way he treated people who worked with and for him was pathetic. I'm glad Vanity ruined his plans for once and left him prior to Purple Rain. He didn't see it coming and she's the only woman who really took it to him like that.

"Let's Have A Kiki" is a total beat ripoff of "If A Girl Answers".

R127, very interesting trend. Sheila E. is very religious although she's a lesbian. I still don't think she's ever come out.

Can you say the same for the men being religious in Prince's circle or is it just the women? I know that Larry Graham converted Prince to being a Jehovah Witness back in the 90's.

Of course, the Vanity 6 album is not on iTunes.

Story of my life, r131. Half the music I would like to download is nowhere to be seen on iTunes.

Brenda

R130 not all of them but there are plenty of examples. I'm pretty sure Jesse Johnson, formerly of the Time is into religion now too. There was someone else too but I forget. Denise (formerly Vanity) mentioned it in one of her recent interviews.

R131 yeah Prince controls that. He put out his music, but not any of the groups whose music he produced. I'm sure Denise would probably request that her Vanity 6 and Vanity music be kept off itunes anyway, although the say is not hers as she doesn't own any of her old music.

That's awesome, R133! Now if we could only find Susan...

[quote]She was great on Falcon Crest though

That was Apollonia on "Falcon Crest", not Vanity.

[quote]Vanity did a classy cover of "Nature Boy" that was rumored to be on her unreleased third album...

She sang it when she guest-starred on "Friday the 13th: The Series". It had a Phyllis Hyman-like quality to it.

R138 yup. That episode came out in 1989, and it's believed that song was going to appear on her 1988 album that never materialized for 1 reason or another.

There's a site called AllisVanity or something that has loads of pics and magazine/newspaper clippings of her. Really cool stuff there.

Vanity was a such a style trend setter in the 80s. She went to Trashy Lingerie in LA before more people like Madonna started going there. Vanity used to also shop at antique shops and would find out prints, fabrics, leather, fur and lace and would have a tailor make an original outfit for her-none of this designer, personality-less shit the stars do these days. When other female celebs saw Vanity, she just looked so hot they started to jack her style.

Yes, r126.

Her name is Robia Le Morte.

I love "Wet Dream" haha. It's cool to hear a female singing about it

lol R142 it's a fun song. What's interesting is all the Vanity 6 songs except "He's So Dull" were written by Prince, who was trying to do it from an aggressive female's POV.

[quote]When other female celebs saw Vanity, she just looked so hot they started to jack her style

SO true

She and Melanie Griffith had some chemistry in their scene from this episode of Miami Vice (it's toward the middle of this video). I wonder if they "partied" together.

awww Vanity and Melanie (with her original face) looked pretty together. Too bad Vanity's character was killed off in 1 episode-it would have been cool if they had given her a recurring role. I realize hookers usually die or go to jail in shows/movies though lol

We all know that Vanity partied HARD, and Melanie too (it's been said that she wrote the book on slutdom), so can you imagine what it was like for both of them to be on that set?

R147 don't forget Don Johnson lol He did drugs, alcohol and Melanie.

Right! I'm sure any partying they did involved Donnie!

To me Vanity is alot like Britney Spears. I question her talent and do not like her music, but there's just something so engaging about her. And Vanity is more beautiful than Britney.

[quote]Vanity is more beautiful than Britney.

That's putting it mildly. Britney Spears is hardly engaging, and shouldn't even be put into the same sentence as Vanity as far as beauty is concerned. She's but a little girl.

OMG please don't compare Vanity to Shitney Spears. The only thing they have in common is you can question how much talent they have. It stops there. Vanity in addition to being ridiculously gorgeous, had great stage presence and a wonderful personality. Shitney is not all that pretty, has no personality and is almost robotic. I don't find Shitney engaging or interesting at all.

lol don't fuck up this thread by mentioning Shitney.

Has anyone heard this worship song about her from some obscure 80s group? listen to the lyrics lol

youtube.com/watch?v=PZYSOyeYA4o

I think I heard this a couple of times. Takes me back.

Vanity!

I worked on 52 Pickup. Vanity would arrive four hours late in a limo in a fur coat with nothing underneath. Tons of coke to even coax her out of the limo. When she was out, it was more "Let's party" than "Let's work." She was obsessed with sex and fucked almost every guy on the set, obviously not me. She loved to guess guy's dick sizes by looking at their noses and said she could tell if a guy was uncircumsized by looking at the bulge in their pants. Highlight or lowlight, depending on your thinking, was when she fucked the Domino's pizza delivery guy as his tip.

I can't picture Vanity just fucking every guy haha I would hope she'd be attracted to them at least lol. Although I did get the impression she got some of her jobs by having sex with someone in charge lol.

That woulda been hot to see her naked except a fur coat! almost enough to turn me straight

If you've heard The Time's song "Wild & Loose", it was a tribute to the Vanity 6 image. Prince wrote a song called "Wonderful Ass" about Vanity and Billy Idol even named a song after her "Vanity". Men were obsessed with her and we can all see why.

Here you go, Vanity 6 live:

[quote]Prince wrote a song called "Wonderful Ass" about Vanity

Yep, and it's a JAM--one of his funkier unreleased gems...

[quote]I worked on 52 Pickup. Vanity would arrive four hours late in a limo in a fur coat with nothing underneath. Tons of coke to even coax her out of the limo. When she was out, it was more "Let's party" than "Let's work." She was obsessed with sex and fucked almost every guy on the set, obviously not me. She loved to guess guy's dick sizes by looking at their noses and said she could tell if a guy was uncircumsized by looking at the bulge in their pants. Highlight or lowlight, depending on your thinking, was when she fucked the Domino's pizza delivery guy as his tip.

I read an interview with actor Robert Trebor, who played "Leo" in "52 Pick-up", and he kind of said the opposite of what you said. He said that Vanity was pretty much a cocktease, and that during the shoot for the porn party scene in the film, he, Vanity and some of the adult film actresses who were extras hung out in a hot tub in the house they filmed at. He said she kind of rubbed up against him, but not much more than that.

Speaking of working on that film, what was it like? I'm a fan of the movie, and thought that all of the performances were great. What was Kelly Preston like? Did she and Vanity hang out a lot? Kelly was pretty wild back then too, from what I've read.

[quote]That woulda been hot to see her naked except a fur coat! almost enough to turn me straight

Here ya go...

Vanity was screen tested for Purple Rain, but she couldn't act. The whole crew threw her a going away party, but Prince didn't come. It's said she broke his heart

She wasn't screen tested, she was set to be the female lead. She even helped write a draft of the script. She decided she wasn't getting paid enough and left the production.

who cares about this former cokewhore now a talentless dried up Bible thumper?

Ewww, R166 is FULL of nastiness and hate.

R161 it is! I love the lyrics. Prince lists all the problems of the relationship but implies he accepts them because of Vanity's wonderful ass lmao

Vanity was a very cheeky (pun intended) gal. In Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries book, he said her license plate on her car was "ho ho ho" because she told him Prince one time told her she "ain't nothing but a ho ho ho".

Even Mark Fuhrman, the would-be racist detective in the OJ case, hit on Vanity years ago. He supposedly pulled her over for speeding. I remember during OJ's trial, they brought it up how Fuhrman couldn't possibly be a racist because he hit on a black woman. They were even talking about putting Vanity on the stand at one point!

too bad he's so racist. When he was younger you know he was a good looking guy with a hot body. I'm sure he wanted Vanity but I'm also sure he didn't think she was black. Vanity said a lot of people thought she was Puerto Rican back then because she was light skinned.

Vanity is such a cool mix-her mom is of Polish/Jewish background and comes from Germany while her father was a mix of Africa American, American Indian and Hawaiian.

Vanity and John Stamos in the back of a limo at the "Never Too Young To Die" premiere

This thread has one more post than the Lizzie Borden thread

Now it has 2 more

Now it has three

R172 they look good together. Their scene in "Never Too Young To Die" was hot! Both have such beautiful faces...

I'm shocked Vanity never did an action film with Schwarzenegger or Stallone. She would have been great with either.

She did one with Carl Weathers, and it was great.

I loved her hair in Action Jackson! Vanity was one of the few women who made Sharon Stone's beauty take a backseat lol That was a fun movie and too bad the idea for it to be a 3-part movie never happened...

That coral dress they gave Vanity in Action Jackson was awesome too! It was form-fitting and she looked amazing.

I don't believe that Vanity was a compulsive slut on 52 pick up because if she was a slut in general Nikki Sixx would have said so. He trashed her in his book.

The impression I had is Vanity did sleep around, but it was only with guys she thought were hot or ones who were higher ups/could get her jobs. I don't think she fucked most of the crew on 52 Pickup but I can totally see her being a cocktease and getting their attention.

Nikki Sixx did trash her in his book and it was tasteless but we have to keep in mind a couple things: 1) during their relationship Vanity was on crack and Nikki was on heroin, crack, alcohol and evertying so it's hard to believe everything either would say or "remember" is the whole truth 2) they didn't see each other all that much because of their schedules. We know he fucked around on her all the time but I'm sure she had a few flings of her own too. Vanity was one of the most desired women in hollywood by both fans, other entertainers and head honchos alike.

I was probably one of Vanity's biggest fans, and still listen to her music. I wrote her an email a few years ago, telling her how much I liked her music and videos back in the day. She wrote me back and said thank you, and glad that I liked her work. Considering the crowds she ran with, and her serious addiction to cocaine, it's great that she's still around, living and surviving.

I hope she has some peace. I think she deserves it.

R182 really? I've read on other forums that when people praise her about her old music, she doesn't like it and then starts preaching to them because her music was "sinful". She even walked out of a mall once because they were playing "Nasty Girl" in the background (obviously they didn't know who she was etc).

Bananarama briefly tried to go the Vanity 6 route after Siobhan left the group. It didn't last long.

I wrote a couple things like how I bonded with friends over her music, and knew that she had moved on from those days. I also thought she might not want a "fan email" regarding that time, but she responded within a week or so, and was appreciative.

*I posted 182

She once said that if she married Nikki Six, she'd be Vanity Six again, LOL.

Vanity was IT in terms of beauty and sex appeal. The light cocoa skin, the long black hair, the Coke-bottle figure...she truly made every other woman that they rave about in Hollywood look like 12 year-old boys.

Vanity said the Nikki Sixx joke when she was interviewed by Arsenio Hall. She always had a cheeky sense of humor to match her stunning looks.

bump

I don't know how to link on this site, but if you want to see just an example of a stunning Vanity pic, go to flickr and search "Vanity Playboy". 1 of the pics that comes up is RARE. It's a pic of Vanity nude and seemingly washing herself while standing in front of a graffiti covered shower curtain. It wasn't for 1 of her layouts-this was a single shot taken in 1987. She looks amazing.

Vampish. Vanity. I AM VAMP!

R190 wow! It is a hot pic! Almost enough to turn me straight lol

I can't find the Playboy pic in question.

Bump for the poster in the "Hottest Chick In Music" thread.

thanks R194. R193 and R190 here...I know what the pic is. She looks amazing in it of course. and yes, it was after her boob job lol. It's from 1987 I believe.

Wow, that's her R195? Never saw that pic.

R196 yes it's her! :) She was a Playboy fixture lol. She first appeared in a brief feature in 1979 as D.D. Winters. Then for a spread as Vanity in 1985 and her bigger spread in 1988 but she also made cameos here and there throughout the 80s. This pic is rare and 1 of her lesser known pics. People think Rihanna is edgy and sexy? or Halle Berry is a knockout? They got nothing on Vanity. She was more daring with her outfits and photoshoots (especially for her time) and more beautiful. I'll post some others tomorrow or soon.

Yeah, I know how hot she was back then. I've been a fan of hers since the '80s. She first did some modeling at the start of her career under the name DD Winters, and appeared in some Canadian films under that moniker (Terror Train, Tanya's Island). We all know, Prince dubbed her "Vanity", and that's the persona everyone knows her as. She was really a better actress than people gave her credit for, and she had presence to burn. Her second album for Motown was better than her first, and her film career could have been really big too. I'd seen many of the Playboy pics, but that one you posted was new to me, LOL.

Her real name is Denise Mathews and I am linking to her official web site.

She was a stunner back in the day! My God!

"Romantic Voyage" is an amazing song. Wish she released more ballads like this. The subtle vocoder in the chorus is quite beautiful.

Denise's posts on her facebook are so unintentionally hilarious. She is a sweet woman but is clearly a bit crazy.

She does dialysis three times a week? Damn. That must have been some heavy-duty smack she was doing.

Here she is doing some evangelizing. Completely different person.

R203 she is still beautiful. To have that kind of good skin in her early 50s WITHOUT any plastic surgery or fillers/botox? Amazing and especially given her health problems over the last 18 years.

Anyway here is a pic of when Vanity first went solo and joined Motown...I love her outfit and her hair.

LOVE this pic. Rihanna edgy? try this, cunt. Vanity was so daring in her photoshoots and a lot of girls throughout the 80s, 90s and even today have copied her style.

Vanity dated Billy Idol for a while in the 80s. Too bad it didn't last, they would have had some gorgeous kids.

She had sexiness and personality to burn back then.

LOVE this look she started-sexy lingerie with knee high boots, gloves and a men's jacket. That is edgy. Fuck Madonna.

Have they ever done an Unsung on Vanity? I would be shocked if Prince would authorize the use of his music, but she has had such an interesting life.

R209 they have not...and I'm shocked in the mid 90s when E! started doing those true hollywood stories that they never did Vanity either. I'm not sure Denise would agree to an Unsung now, since typically they praise someone's career. Denise only says good things about "The Last Dragon" in her interviews these days and wouldn't want to talk about her music.

This is one of my favorite Vanity pics...it's from 1984 when she just went solo. It was taken in her apartment.

Notice the lingerie thing which Madonna and other 80s ladies would copy and the hat that Janet would copy, all in just a couple years. No doubt the other female celebs at the time were threatened by Vanity's beauty and style. Sure, her songs apart from Nasty Girl didn't make much of an impact (Under The Influence did decently though) but a lot of that was due to Motown not promoting the album well enough. The other female celebs definitely saw her pics in magazines and picked up style tips from her.

love this candid of her performing as part of Vanity 6 during the 1999 tour. Just so gorgeous! and love the nipple showing through haha

That's a gorgeous pic, r212, but I think you mean 1989 tour.

Nikki Sixx in his book made it seem like he never really like Vanity and it was an one way relationship but if you read articles from the 80's he was the one who chase her.

Denise could really blow the lid if she really wanted to and write a true tell all. But I guess she's past that time in her life.

R212 no it was called the "1999 tour". That was Prince's album and he toured with Vanity 6 and The Time in 1982 and 1983. They began touring soon after "Nasty Girl" was released and Vanity became a rising star for her beauty and style and of course those raunchy lyrics/dance moves. Look up the live clips online if you haven't-Vanity 6 danced in that sexy way that girl groups hadn't done before. Now every female star who is sexy dances that way but it was fresh at the time.

R214 Nikki Sixx is such a liar but you have to remember his "Heroin Diaries" book had excerpts from his personal diaries and he was on so many drugs then that of course the real story is not always being told. He was the one who chased her-in 1986 he was watching MTV and they were still showing "Nasty Girl" video. He saw it for the first time and was taken by Vanity, so he had his people set up a date with her people. They really had nothing in common except drugs. Of course they had sex a lot because what man wouldn't with her?

They were engaged and planned on getting married in 1987 in Egypt but then he broke it off. Tommy Lee even mentioned a fight 1 time that ended with Nikki flushing Vanity's ring down the toilet. Their fights got physical too which is a shock for addicts.

Vanity rebounded by hooking up with Billy Idol for a short time lol

enough to make a gay man straight:

That pic is really sexy and erotic...Prince even wrote a song about Vanity called "Wonderful Ass". Her ass was great but I can't believe Prince didn't write something about her ridiculously gorgeous face too.

Other Prince songs supposedly about Vanity are "Little Red Corvette" and "Pop Life".

On another subject, I remember during the OJ trial they were going to bring Vanity onto the stand to prove that Mark Fuhrman wasn't a racist, because he supposedly hit on her back in the '80s.

They interviewed Vanity for Jet or something during the trial and she said "back then" in the 80s a lot of people didn't know she part black. Her father's side is a mix of african american, native american and hawaiian while her mother's side is polish but from germany. A lot of people thought she was latina or had no idea what she was lol so Mark really couldn't use her as an example.

You can really see her bone structure in this pic. Her face looked so delicate.

R74.

Excuse me but don't get it twisted.

r195 I have an original oil named Vanity by artist Steven Wardlow. It was purchased in Kona,HI. in 1988. Very large painting 36" wide by 48" tall. The artist used a photo from the 1988 Playboy photo shoot as the subject. IMHO the artist creates something even more beautiful and stunning. His use of shadow and detail is amazing. vanity is an artists dream model.

She simply was the most beautiful celebrity ever. She still looks pretty now. Here's a pic of her from last fall, a few months before she turned 54. She only ever had a boob job, nothing done to her face. Despite the decade of substance abuse and her current health problems/numerous surgeries, Denise looks great.

btw recently she spilled a bit of tea on Prince. She gives interviews now which usually are about her preaching. She takes calls and 1 caller from Sherman Oaks asked her about leaving Prince. She said he only paid her $250 every week. This salary didn't go up after "Nasty Girl" became a huge hit, and he didn't pay her anything extra for the 1999 tour she and the rest of Vanity 6 went on either. On top of that, he only offered her $5000 to do Purple Rain. Money was a big factor in her leaving, as she got other, more financially rewarding offers. She didn't go into the personal reasons of course. I mean we all know Prince fucked other women while Vanity was his girlfriend and that bothered her.

Wow, she looks great! She was so so beautiful back in the day. Glad she's got her act together.

I just wish she wasn't so hardcore but I realize a lot of people who become religious after years of hard living go to the extremes. At least she's off drugs.

a couple of clips that have been reposted recently on youtube. check them out if you haven't!

Vanity doing "Samuelle" at the 1985 Motown Revue. This was the show in which it was reported that she infamously did coke in the dressing room with James Debarge and Janet went back there and chased her out. lol at Smokey and Arsenio at the beginning of the clip

this clip is from Vanity's 1985 appearance on the Tonight Show with guest host Joan Rivers. 1 thing that's interesting to note is how Vanity always had her outfits custom made for her. That's why she always looked so different from the other starlets-she wasn't doing designer labels but her own ideas. She started going to Trashy Lingerie in LA and then Madonna copied that too.

She had so much natural charisma. It was hard to take your eyes off of her.

haha "I really, actually thought he was gay". Many of us have/still do, Denise

Do you think she ever tried anal?

R240, with Prince, yes.

That bit about Trashy Lingerie is very true. Vanity started going there in the early 80s when Madonna was still on her chunky/hipster chic impersonation fusion of Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hyndes and Cyndi Lauper. Madonna didn't hop on the Trashy Lingerie train until the mid 80s. That was where all the hot, sexy, "bad" girls went and Vadge wanted in on that after she hired a personal trainer.

R230 Vanity probably did. She hinted in her interviews in the early 90s after dropping the Vanity persona that she "tried everything" including women.

that sample is enough to make me NOT want to read the rest of her self-absorbed spew. It STINKS!!!!

... did she fall on her head or something!? I mean, who talks like that?

Romantic Voyage is the best song ever. Pop ballads with vocoders warm my heart.

I like "Samuelle" as it was a haunting song and she looked stunning in that performance.

It was a rumor that Janet and La Toya were jealous of Vanity's beauty. I would have loved to have seen the alleged Janet-Vanity confrontation.

The interesting thing is Vanity also appeared on El Debare's debut album, on the song "Secrets of the Night". She only whispers in it, but it was around the time Janet was married to James. Janet must have been pissed.

I doubt there was any fued between Janet and Vanity. In fact, Janet and her dancers used to listen and dance to "Nasty Girl" all the time for fun while rehearsing for the "janet." tour.

R239 that's interesting, as it's my theory that Janet's popularity came about due to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis making her a more commercial, less sexual (in the 80s) version of Vanity. That song "Nasty" had a lot of attitude but wasn't sexual. It was the street tough-girl answer to "Nasty Girl".

I love his music more than any other

YAAAAAS look at Vanity working the Solid Gold stage in her lingerie, high heeled boots and men's suit jacket. This was daring for 1982. Now you see most of the girls wearing this little clothing. None of them looked as good as Vanity though

Claudette Ortiz of City High and R&B Divas LA gives me Vanity tease (along with looking like she and B Scott could be twins).

**NUTS!!**

She wasn't all that.

R243 Claudette is very pretty but still not on Vanity's level.

R245 she certainly was, and much more than Apollonia.

The Joan Rivers interview linked at r244 is funny. In the intro, the Vanity 6 clip shown is focussed on Susan, with Vanity in the background. And the still they showed of Vanity and Prince is really of Apollonia and Prince.

Thanks all for bumping my thread. R240, Janet's Nasty came about when some guys were hassling Janet at a Minnesota nightclub, not because of Vanity 6s Nasty Girl. And yes, Madonna was a cheap imitation of Vanity.

Vanity made Halle Berry look boyish by comparison.

R248 that is the story, but it was Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who were behind the hit. The slang sense of "nasty" was very big at the time,which was happened after "Nasty Girl" became a hit. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were in The Time when Vanity was with Prince. There is definitely a connection. They gave Janet more of a street look and sound.

Denise was a very seductive and bad girl even back in Toronto. Arviv's anyone? Cocaine was only fun back then, but her eyes glittered with consumption and conquest. She was an available chick for anyone who could do something for her.

I hate to say it, but every moment of her life and career was based on being a desirable slut. She really would fuck anyone who could get her somewhere or something. Of course they abused her, because she was so easily had.

When it all fell down, she fucked anyone who could keep her in drugs. She had some talent and was surely beautiful, but she was a damaged girl. A cautionary tale. She may have trumped Madonna in her presentation, but Madonna was in control of herself and destiny. Madonna was a video vixen, but Vanity was a real live whore.

I am glad she lived through it all and found something to believe in. Religion might be the only way to both accept and wipe out her past.

She survived. That is what she knows how to do.

Vanity did use sex to get ahead. She alluded to sleeping with higher ups in hollywood when she first dropped the Vanity moniker. Her quote was something like she prayed at night that "if I had to sleep with a man to get what I wanted, at least let me like him". Her relationships with men were bound to be damaged as her father was a physical and sexual abuser.

I think Vanity could have been bigger but the drugs got in the way. She fought SO hard to make it in hollywood and once she did, she seemed to take her foot of the gas. What I'm saying is, she initially signed with the Morris agency but they laughed at her when she said she wanted to be a singer and actress. Her manager then consoled her by giving her backstage tickets to the American Music Awards (1981). She then ran into and basically hypnotized Rick James, Michael Jackson and finally Prince, who then convinced her to move to Minneapolis so he could make her a star. Prince treated her like shit, fucked around with other girls and didn't pay her much at all.

The exposure she got from Vanity 6 in both their tv appearances and while on the 1999 tour led to a buzz being created about her. In 1983 she got an offer to play Mary Magdalene in The Last Temptation of Christ but then the film had a budget problem so it didn't work out. By 1988 when the movie was finally made, they hired someone else for the role. Vanity ran into Suzanne de Passe at the see-and-be-seen restaurant The Ivy in LA, which led to de Passe signing Vanity to Motown for a solo music and film career.

At this time period (1984), Vanity's drug addiction really took off and I think that's what ruined her chances at becoming even bigger. She was a very creative and stylish woman, but she lost that intensity and focus and became more of an airhead.

Madonna also fucked her way to a career, let's not forget that. If she had never hooked up with Jellybean, her first album would have flopped. The difference is she didn't do drugs and made others respect her, even if she is a straight up unoriginal bitch.

Wow, R251 and R252, you guys know a lot. I knew she'd had some dalliances with Rick James, but didn't know she bumped into MJ at the AMAs that year as well. There was a Vanity Playboy interview video on Youtube some time ago that's since been taken down, but it took place around the time she was promoting ACTION JACKSON, and it's one of the most focused and insightful interviews I've ever seen her give. She was sniffling throughout most of it (a "cold", she said), but she was lucid and not as flighty acting as she is in other interviews. She went into some depth about her beginnings in Canada, modelling in Japan, coming back to the States and meeting Prince in LA, and so on and so forth. She also talked about how in love she was with him, but that when it was time to go it was just time to go.

She also talked briefly about other women in the business who were jealous of her, saying that's their problem, not hers. She said in the interview that she knows what she's got, and that she's not the best singer in the world, but (with tongue firmly implanted in cheek) she's "getting better."

By the way, R251, was Arviv's a club?

r53

Yes Arviv was a club. The studio 54 of Toronto in it's claim. The secret window in the door, allowing only beautiful, famous or connected people to get in.

I was a parking valet, too young to work in the club, but my brother was a bartender there. I will not say much more about Vanity, but she was a whore. Very beautiful.

Arviv's was blown up one early morning, by some version of the mob. Like 54 it was a money laundering and drug front. Lots of fun. Three floors. Private backgammon club on the top, disco on the bottom, club in the middle. I met Cher and Bette Midler, Donna Summer, Paul Anka, Israeli hit men, lots of gorgeous ambiguous guys and famous models. Mobsters. There were a lot of after hours parties. I was allowed in for them. Sometime after the sun came up, we went home.

Harold Arviv went to prison eventually, like Rubell. I am still nervous about saying more, ha. Harold was a complete gold chains and tight white pants, curly dark haired Morrocan Jew. Married to a very rich woman. We were mandated to wear Halston 240Z. I was a babe and my brother too. Prerequisite.

I was very young and did not get it all, but my brother and the waitresses filled me in between lines - we did coke all night. I met Denise many times, in and out of cars. She had the most beautiful face I had seen at that time. She had big game in mind, but would do a lot for some coke too. Sorry.

I became a musician and our paths crossed again in L.A. I told her once how I first knew her and she was very sweet. She was pretty free about it all. The late seventies/eighties were a pretty cool time. Ruined a lot of lives. Vanity was a very very bad girl.

Have I said too much?

Correction: my post was meant for r253. Let's not use numbers when speaking of Denise, lost girl.

r254

Vanity's agent at Morris was Hal Ray. Hal did give her the tix to the AMA, but Morris belived in her and helped build her career. Vanity had a great persona and Morris took advantage of that by helping her as an actress and singer. In fact, Vanity was goin to be part of a musical project with The Time and Janet Jackson that never got off the ground. I worked @ Morris during htat time and Vanity was friends with a kid in the mail room - Michael somethig. they partied all the time, tons of coke!

R254 could you actually say as much about Denise/Vanity as you know? We're fans of her in this thread but at the same, us gays love the gossip lol. I will always be fascinated by her and believe she should/could have been a bigger star.

R256 any more info on her too?

Wow at the idea of Vanity possibly joining up with The Time and Janet. Now that totally makes sense that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis borrowed from Vanity's "Nasty" image when they gave Janet a makeover. Too bad Vanity couldn't have been a part of it.

1 thing to note is after leaving Prince, Vanity stopped doing the sing-talk thing that made "Nasty Girl" such a hit. Conversely, after teaming up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet STARTED doing the talk-sing thing and hit it big. She totally jacked Vanity's style there, just a less sexy version.

I'm glad that Denise had found religion.

R254 when was Denise in Toronto? couldn't have been for long. She came from Niagara Falls and was in the pageant there, 1977 I think. She then got into modelling and spent time in Montreal before moving to NYC. After that she spent time in Japan before coming back to the US in 1981.

Vanity was also screwed by Motown. "Under The Influence" was her biggest hit and then Motown basically stopped promoting her. "Animals", which was a terrible followup single, was barely promoted except a couple of tv performances and then Motown dropped her. If they had been smarter about single selection, I think 1986 could have been Vanity's year. "Manhunt" had crossover appeal as did "Romantic Voyage".

Vanity then switched over to Geffen/A&M Records. In the early 90s, she had just completed recording her third solo album. The producers were crazy about it but unfortunately that was Vanity decided to stop being Vanity. According to Denise, she "had a conversation with God" and he told her to throw out the new album because it was sinful. The next day she went to the label and fought with them about releasing it so she left her music contract. I'm sure that album is in the vault but damn would've loved to hear what they had cooked up on there!

I highly doubt we'll see a celeb as beautiful as her ever again. The icon today is Halle Berry and Vanity's face (which unlike Berry didn't have a nose job) was definitely superior.

I really hope she is at a better place now. That's all. I am glad that Denise has gotten Vanity out of her system.

It's nice she's off drugs but I would have loved to see how different Vanity's career would have been had she been clean all the time. I really think she could have went further.

r263

Nicely said.

R261 I agree. Motown did a shitty job of promoting her and released terrible singles. "Pretty Mess" and "Mechanical Emotion" were such boring single choices from "Wild Animal" and they should have released the title track, "Flippin' Out" and "Samuelle" as singles instead.

The "Skin on Skin" album was incredible, and Motown also let that album flop due to not promoting it and releasing the boring "Animals" as a single and didn't even give it a video. The title track, "Romantic Voyage" and "Manhunt" would've been great singles.

Another thing I never understood is why they never sent her on tour - why didn't they have her as an opening act for someone so she could get a bigger audience?

Good points, R266. A tour would have been good for her back then. She was working very steadily as an actress, doing TV and movies, but a national tour would have been great. I agree that maybe ROMANTIC VOYAGE should have followed UNDER THE INFLUENCE, then MANHUNT followed by SKIN ON SKIN. Such an underrated 80s pop/RnB album.

R267 Motown was a complete mess by the mid-80's and didn't seem to know what they were doing in terms of promoting their artists and selecting good singles. I've read that Berry Gordy seemed to have lost interest in the company after Diana Ross left in 1981, which would explain why he sold and left the company by 1988.

I still think Vanity could've had a better career if she had been on a different label that had promoted her better and sent her out on tour as an opening act for someone, because she was a great performer.

beautiful sounds from beautiful people

I also think "Confidential" could have been a single. It's catchy. Motown ran out of money by the mid 80s so they half-assed everything. Few recording acts were bringing in much money on that label. Sadly, everyone on it was practically doomed.

I'm surprised "Undress" didn't catch on though in 1988. That was a fun song.

[quote]I'm surprised "Undress" didn't catch on though in 1988. That was a fun song.

That was actually one of the few Vanity songs I didn't like - just kind of plain. "Faraway Eyes" however was a beautiful, yet sexy song and was another missed opportunity for a hit.

I wonder if Vanity ever had any gay friends before she became a religious freak.

Undress is a JAM. I love that track. It was produced by Jessie Johnson, who gave the song that complete Minneapolis funk sound. Jessie was going to work on her third album as well, along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Brenda has recently been posting solo tracks on YouTube. She was the only one with a half-decent voice in the group.

Prince protege Jill Jones sang backup for Vanity 6 on that Triple Threat tour (she was behind the curtain with The Time).

Wendy, Lisa, Jill and Wendy's twin Susannah (who later turned up in The Family) all did backing vocals for the Apollonia 6 album.

Prince's proteges were some bad ass chicks. Not all of them were loaded with talent, but that all had that--spark. That je ne sais quoi.

Jill Jones definitely had that. She wasn't a GREAT beauty, but she was attractive, could sing and had amazing legs. She probably still has great legs.

She does, R276. I'm one of her Facebook friends and she still looks good. She also always has strong opinions on various topics.

Jill Jones can be a bit much. I love hearing about her opinions regarding Prince though.

This clip from an interview always cracks me up. Watch the side eye Jill gives Vanity because Vanity first goes "hmmm" and then finishes her sentence for her lol You can see here how strong Vanity's personality is.

Now, imagine what it was like at Paisley Park, with Prince fucking Susan Moonsie, Vanity, Jill and then bringing in Susannah and Sheila E later. You can see why Vanity got the fuck out of there the minute someone else gave her a good offer.

Apollonia got the fuck out too, right after the media blitz for "Purple Rain" died down. Supposedly, Prince asked her to be his female lead in "Under the Cherry Moon" but she balked.

Apollonia made it clear she was just with Prince for "Purple Rain" and 1 Apollonia 6 album. Also, they never had sexual relations. Prince's relationship with Vanity was MUCH more complex as it crossed professional and personal boundaries. Apollonia auditioned to replace Vanity simply as a career move. Vanity was pursued and persuaded by Prince to join him for both a music career and to be his gf. He was PISSED when Vanity left. That's why so many of his future women after her had Vanity-like features. 1 of the women he married, Manuela Testolini, looks like a Vanity impersonator.

Did Vanity and Apollonia like each other?

R281 yes actually. It was only the media that tried to drum up a feud. Vanity posed with Apollonia and Brenda at the 1984 MTV Music Awards, which was just a short time after Vanity left and Apollonia replaced her. Vanity and Apollonia also posed for a pic together several years later at some store.

Nice, r282.

Vanity, Apollonia and Brenda at the MTV VMAs. It was posted upthread, but I'll post it again...

Here they are at some store, either late 90s or early 80s. It's funny-when they aren't together, Apollonia certainly could pass for a latina version of Vanity. Next to each other, there is no question that Vanity was more beautiful, as attractive as Apollonia was.

Before Janet and Vanity there was the ahead of her time and much harder edged Betty Davis.

Back when Purple Rain first came out, people thought that Apollonia WAS Vanity, just with a name change. It wasn't unitl people really looked that they realized "Hey, that's a new chick."

R287 yes in Purple Rain there are even a few scenes that look like it could be outtakes from Vanity before she left the project. Apollonia really looked like her until the 2 stood next to each other.

R286 it's certainly likely that Prince was inspired by the hard edged Davis and decided to tone it down a bit to make it more mainstream.

Slightly OT but speaking of Prince's girls, wasn't Sheila E a lesbian?

R289 That's always been the rumor, but she's also very religious, so she's probably very closeted if she is.

R289 it's a rumor Sheila was either bi or lesbian but she at the very least fucked with Prince. She was on drugs at the time and was very sexually free.

Vanity admitted to "trying women" when she first became an evangelist. Now whether that meant 1 time, or 1 woman, or multiple times with different women, we'll probably never know.

She was a real beauty.

I would love details of Denise late 70's- early 80's. I know she dated a photographer and Adam Ant. Anyone got details.

Actually, Adam Ant was a British pop singer. She did date him for a time. She modeled in Canada for a while, and starred in a couple of Canadian films ('Terror Train' with Jamie Lee Curtis and 'Tanya's Island', a softcore girl-meets-ape flick) before flying to Japan to model there. She also lived in NYC for a bit before going to LA. She met Prince in the early '80s backstage at the American Music Awards, and the rest is history.

She was also linked to Rick James and James DeBarge back then (the latter who was married to Janet Jackson at the time).

She came from Niagara Falls, Canada. She entered and won the Miss Niagara Falls pageant and competed in Miss Canada (Shannon Tweed was 1 of the contestants too) but didn't place in that. At the link I'm posting, you can see Denise walk a bit on stage. She's the girl on the far right, wearing the Miss Niagara Falls sash @ :38 and then you see her again at :54.

After that pageant, she began modeling in Toronto and Montreal. She then got with a talent agency in Montreal and wrote a single that they said they were going to release (not sure what happened or if nothing came of it). Shortly after that is when she went to NYC and signed with Zoli Models. 1 of her jobs at that agency sent her to Japan for a short time. It was upon her return to NYC that and after she unsuccessfully tried out at William Morris to sign as a singer/actress that she was given tickets to the 1981 AMAs. Her tickets was also a backstage pass, and she met Rick James, Michael Jackson and Prince in a span of 5 minutes. From there, we know Prince had lust at first sight and they struck up a relationship.

She dated Adam Ant before Prince, when she was a model.

Why are you all idolizing this woman? Don't you all know she is anti-gay? Just watch this video (start at the 22:20 mark) from last year where she preaches about how times now are worse than Sodom and Gomorrah and how men shouldn't be with men and women shouldn't be with women.

R297 we appreciate her as Vanity, not as an evangelist. She was very gay-friendly back then.

Currently she doesn't believe homosexuality is right because she's a hardcore evangelist and obviously that's what the bible says. She doesn't hate gays though-she just doesn't agree with it. She is friendly with anyone (I know gays who have met her post-Vanity). I think it's unfortunate she became a hardcore christian but she's not one of those hateful types.

Hard to believe an entire thread would be devoted to a complete no-talent who was a never-was even before she became a has-been.

For those who are curious I present the much darkier,nastier VANITY 6 version of "Sex Shooter":

R298 You're so stupid. She's the typical "love the sinner, hate the sin" assholes and does not agree with people being gay. So quit wasting time idolizing her alter-ego which was over 2 decades ago. Even during her Vanity days, she came off as homophobic.

R299 Agreed!

And what exactly have YOU done for the world lately, R299? Nothing? I didn't think so. People know who Vanity is. You, not so much.

[quote]Even during her Vanity days, she came off as homophobic.

Cite one quote or post one video where that is proven to be true. Just because she said she initially thought Prince was gay upon seeing him for the first time equals homophobic? GTFO. Everyone used to think that about him! Hell, she once said that she even used to sleep with women way back when.

R302/R303 investing WAAAAY too much time in a homophobic has-been.

[quote]R302/R303 investing WAAAY too much time in a homophobic has-been.

Says the idiot who comes into said person's thread and reads every single post to come to his stupid little unproven conclusion. If ever there was a waste of time, you're it.

R301 that's a lie. You can't find anything homophobic about Vanity. Gay men loved her back then too.

Anyone who has met Denise as Vanity or post-Vanity would tell you how nice she is. Whether you agree with her views or not is another matter. I don't care about her evangelism now. I think her Vanity persona was cool. Simply the most beautiful woman ever in hollywood.

Not surprising you're the same one calling Rihanna ugly in that other thread. Typical DL racist.

R302 is a liar.

bumpers

All this over a washed up never-was?

and cue the trolls. So what if Vanity didn't have a hall of fame career? She had a #1 r&b and dance hit with her group, and a couple more solo r&b and dance hits as a solo act in addition to having a couple of hit movies and appearances on tv shows.

She was the most beautiful female celeb with original style and a fun personality. Most girls who came into the business after her have tried copying her looks/style.

When Denise was asked what she thinks of her gay fans, she was very cold and starts ranting that if you're a fan, you're a fanatic and you need to quit with the idolatry because god is not allowing that in heaven. She also makes sure to make it clear gays are sinners by saying you can be saved no matter what sin you're in. You can listen to it for yourself right at the 32:00 mark in this radio interview.

Sheena Easton was the only one who ever broke Prince's heart.

R311 again, people are not praising her evangelism in this thread. We're talking about her days as Vanity. It really shouldn't be that hard to understand.

R313 Ironic that you are so obsessed with an alter-ego that no longer exists, and this alter-ego is the same person that Denise says was wicked and you should not be a fan of.

I guess her message isn't getting through to you.

now that Janelle Monae has taken both of their places as a proxy, all is well!

R314 you can troll all you want but this thread is here whether you like it or not. No one in this thread is looking "to be saved". I don't care that Denise doesn't want us to like her Vanity persona. I do. so what.

Pay the anti-Denise/Vanity trolls no mind. Vanity inspired women, enraptured men, and was an original diva with stage presence to burn.

Denise seems to have reverted to the good small town Ontario girl which she is at heart. She went through hell and came out okay.

By the way, what the hell happened to Apollonia Kotero. Was she Greek, Arab or latina? Last I heard of her was that embarrassing bust around 1990 or so.

The 80's video vixens didn't fear well, did they? Bobbi Brown, Ola Ray, Apollonia etc.

R318, that's Babylonia.

Apollonia is doing [italic]very[/italic] well for herself these days, R318. She is of Mexican decent, but during the crazy PR days for "Purple Rain", she claimed to be Mexican/German/Jewish. She is still gorgeous, and is very personable with her fans on her Facebook page. She runs KOTERO ENTERTAINMENT LLC, which books models for various print ads/music videos/films, and is always showing up at various charities and fashion shows in LA. At one point, she and another Prince babe, Carmen Electra, lived right next door to one another in some Beverly Hills condo complex.

Denise and Prince relationship was a pr thing. After Denise quick Purple Rain because they wouldn't pay her what she deserve. Warner Bros I guess told her to pretend that she and Prince had this big relationship, to make him some kind of ladiesman.

I'm not sure if they dated but Denise was very career oriented then. It was the drugs and I guess sadness from her childhood that did her in.

I know she was very annoy back then when people would always bring up Prince. But I think Prince PR team had to give him some kind of story same with all his so call "proteges".

The photographer she dated was Daniel Poulin. She dated Adam Ant during her modeling days and he was in love with her but Denise was an go-getter and really wanted to make it.

Denise was drop dead beautiful and had an air about her. Alot of wealthy men were flocking to her but she was just so adamant about making it in Hollywerid.

R321 / R322 everything you wrote correct EXCEPT that Vanity really did date Prince. She has said in her post-Vanity interviews that "he was the only man I ever truly loved". Vanity and Prince broke up for a few reasons:

A) he was a fucking whore and even though he had the most beautiful woman ever, that wasn't enough. He continued messing around with Susan Moonsie, Jill Jones and others. She did get even with Prince by the end of their relationhip by fucking Albert Magnoli, the director of Purple Rain.

B) Vanity was, as you said, all about her career-she didn't simply want to be known as Prince's muse. She wanted fame & fortune from singing and acting. Prince offered her just $5000 to do Purple Rain and she refused, so she quit. She went to The Ivy in LA with the hope of getting noticed and that's how she met Suzanne de Passe, who got her signed to Motown.

C)Prince was (and still is) an insecure, angry short man. He truly has Napoleon Complex. Growing up, girls were never interested in him sexually so it seemed like he took it out on the women who did date/sleep with him as his career took off. He also wanted to have all the spotlight-the idea of Vanity having a career outside of her association with him was not something he ever wanted. He would get very jealous when other men would approach her when they were together. One infamous moment happened during the 1999 tour at a hotel. Vanity's former flame, Adam Ant, was in town and called her up to catch up. Prince was pissed.

VERY RARE: someone uploaded all the scenes Vanity was in during her guest appearance on the short-lived show "Mike Hammer". Vanity plays a sexy, evil, murderous bitch! Killer outfits (Rihanna wears this kind of shit now but of course she's no Vanity) and they made her hair ultra-straight:

Also R321 , I meant to add-the PR thing you're thinking of was the fake Prince/Apollonia relationship. That rumor was created so there would be buzz for Purple Rain since Apollonia was playing Prince's love interest. Obviously the role was for Vanity (she claims to have co-written that character's story in the movie without receiving credit) and she really ruined Prince's plans temporarily when she abruptly left the project lol. They had already began rehearsing and taking acting lessons in hollywood and it's probably the only time in Prince's life after becoming famous that a woman really messed with his head for a change. 1 of the many things about Vanity I loved is that she had a very strong personality (she still does today) and Prince just could not control her the way he could with other women.

Vanity loves gays, I know her.

[quote]Prince was (and still is) an insecure, angry short man. He truly has Napoleon Complex. Growing up, girls were never interested in him sexually so it seemed like he took it out on the women who did date/sleep with him as his career took off. He also wanted to have all the spotlight-the idea of Vanity having a career outside of her association with him was not something he ever wanted.

I've heard this description of Prince as well many times.

He also seemed like the quintessential Svengali, with the way he'd make these girls and girl groups to fit his fantasies. It was always kind of funny to see the girls he'd pick - they all looked somewhat alike.

R327 after Vanity, most of his future women resembled her and that was intentional. Hell, ex-wife Manuela Tetolini looked like she could be Vanity's sister.

I don't think he ever got over Vanity but was too proud to ask her to date again. In 1994, he even made a song entitled "Orgasm" that sampled the moaning she did on "Vibrator" from 1983! In the liner notes, he credited her as "she knows". Clearly she was still on his mind and it's not hard to understand why.

I knew Denise/Vanity for a time in Canada, and for a time in L.A. She was gorgeous and sweet but her eyes glittered with greed for fame, drugs, attention and love. Not so different from a lot of others in her desires. But.

She was so beautiful and so generous with herself, a slut I guess, an opportunist, but she always knew how to hang. She certainly did not have a problem with gay men, mobsters, record execs, good looking club guys, seven eleven late night employees or athletes. She also got along with most women, very unusual for such a promiscuous and ambitious chick. I really liked her. I don't care what her religious views are now, she is lucky to be alive and truly had a conversion. She needed something. She was not a great talent or a complete tragedy. Men used her and she let them, because she always wanted something more. Drugs turn most people vile, but she paid in one way or another for hers. I was very young when I first knew her, but I saw a lot. She became very famous and later when I was seeking my own way in L.A. and hating it, she was incredibly kind to me. Funny. She didn't want all her secrets told, but her way of operating never really changed. She just played the same things with bigger players. I think I know what's in her heart. I guess she is a religious nut, but funny how in her case it makes her so honest. She had a lot to purge. She was always a very sweet person even when taking another woman's man or messing around with a car valet for some free drugs. She doesn't hate anyone. Rare.

R329 Are you a gay man? Did she know you were gay? Something about her (even then) just seemed anti-gay.

When you say you were seeking your own way in L.A. and hating it and she was kind to you, do you mean she helped you out in some way?

Also, was it mostly white guys that she dated? White guys seemed to really like her.

R329 thanks for that-can you share more stories about her?

R330 no I never got the impression she was anti-gay at all. If you've listened to enough of her interviews, you would be able to tell she seems like a genuinely nice person.

A couple quotes she said when she first "came to Jesus" in the early 90s struck me. She said "I used to pray that if I had to sleep with a man to get what I wanted, at least let me like him". The quote was "I tried men, women, everything".

I'd love to find out which famous men she slept with that we don't already know about, as well as the women. I'm sure she was a casting couch legend.

R329 do you still keep in touch? If not, why not?

You can't find a girl looking hotter and more beautiful than Vanity in this scene:

I totally remember that Mike Hammer episode! It's a hoot seeing it again, and boy was she gorgeous. Here she is guest starring in an episode of MIAMI VICE around the same time as that MIKE HAMMER episode (her co-star in the MV episode is none other than Melanie Griffith! I'm sure they had a great time when the cameras were off!)...

Get a load of Stamos's obvious VPL at the 1:58-2:04 mark in R333's clip.

R334 I love that Miami Vice episode too-the only problem with that compilation clip is the poster didn't include the scene when Vanity escapes from the old guy's killers to the elevators.

R335 lol well it was Vanity. How could any straight man not? lol

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LOL R337.

Newly posted RARE performance of "Undress"! This is the promo-only version that features a rap/chant at the end of the song! Also, Vanity is flanked by 9 male dancers of various backgrounds who continuously drape her with and then take off garments-very sexy. I love the part when they all close in on her, simulating an orgy. We've seen other female performers do this in later years...hmm...

R339, I have that UNDRESS performance on a Vanity compilation VHS tape in my collection.

R340 lol did you buy it from that Angelo guy or whatever online? or are you him?

Anyway, love that Undress performance and the extra lyrics at the end. The song should have been a massive hit. I wonder why it wasn't.

Not sure if it was Angelo since I bought it years ago, but the guy I bought it from specializes in video compilations of lots of singing divas.

"Undress" really should have been bigger than what it was. It's a funky jam. Other than performing it in "Action Jackson", Vanity performed the song on many TV shows back then. She even performed it during her guest spot on "Friday the 13th: The Series".

"Undress" is the jam indeed. Sometimes the public just has no taste...letting that song not even chart? wtf

anyway, so some news about Denise! The first is, if you check her facebook/instagram/twitter, you can buy certain items from her that she's selling to pay for her new book. I'm not a woman but damn some of the stuff she has is very cool and expensive. The cheaper end of her sale includes autographed pics.

The second news item is that her brother-in-law convinced her to sign up on the Prince fan site prince.org lmao because she wants to talk to some of the Vanity fans I guess to clarify things about her life. Her account hasn't been verified yet but any day now she should be on there and posting. I think she's going to bring the crazy. I love Vanity and Denise is a sweet woman but the religious BS has made her a bit over the top. I'll be reading to see where she posts though lol

OMG are you serious?? She's signing up on Prince.org?? I rarely go there anymore, but I'll have to start again now that I know this! I hope her signature is something that lets us know it's really her.

R344 her brother-in-law is an org member. He told her about the comments in the thread about her selling her stuff (see link). Some people of course judged it and called it hypocritical etc. I think he convinced her to join so she can clarify her views on her former career and also if you interact with people, it's a better way to get them to buy right? lol

I'm sure she'll announce on her facebook what her org account is.

I was just on the ORG and saw what those asscans were saying. Some of those people on there get on my last nerve.

She was (and still is) gorgeous!

GORGEOUS

I love her Facebook posts. She'll literally call you if you leave her your number about buying one of her items. I'm thinking of doing it so I can chat with her a bit.

Action Jackson is on as I type.

Rihanna TOTALLY channeling Vanity's style of dress at iheartradio last week! Obviously not the hair or lipstick but that dress and the idea of wearing a men's coat over something sexy? Totally Vanity.

Of course the ignorant "fashion experts" didn't mention it. All they did was say Rihanna was "copying" Gwen Stefani's 90s hair.

Vanity never did get the props she deserved. She really was a trailblazer in many ways.

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more than the 80s scene. I say ever in hollywood.

ROMANTIC VOYAGE was one of her best songs. Very dreamy and ethereal.

R355 it should have been a single.

Romantic Voyage is a beautiful synth ballad - the vocoded backup vocals on the chorus are amazing.

I've had Romantic Voyage on repeat all day.

Why the fuck was "Skin on Skin" never released as a single? That song was SO sexy.

I'm telling you, Motown totally fucked up her releases.

Yeah, they royally screwed up. I can picture the video in my head.

Blast from the past. Shame to see her caught up in all this religious bullshit.

Motown could have been a bit more aggressive with its promo of Vanity. She had a couple of potential smashes among the material she recorded for them. In Motown's defense, I think they knew that she had begun her downward spiral and opted to let the mess she had become play itself out. Skin On Skin should have warranted a 3rd album. These were still the days of getting a few chances to develop as an artist with 3 and 4 albums (unlike today), but I think Vanity burned some bridges.

And where is all this memorabilia coming from? I've heard her declare several times that she purged herself of everything that was Vanity. Oh well, Born-Agains do have problems with the truth, after all.

R359 by the mid 80s Motown was financially strapped and woefully mismanaged. Vanity just had the biggest hit of her career with "Under The Influence" and stupidly they released "Animals" as the next single which not surprisingly flopped. If it were up to me, I would have put out "Romantic Voyage", "Skin on Skin", the very fun and poppish "Manhunt" or "Confidential". I'm confident that those 4 songs would have taken her career to the next level. Instead she just performed "Animals" on 3 different shows and it went nowhere. She then parted ways with the label to A&M/Geffen Records. She did 3 songs on the Action Jackson soundtrack. "Undress" and "Faraway Eyes" are hot songs but didn't go anywhere. She just completed her third studio album with according to her the label said had hit singles on it. Unfortunately that was around the time she "came to Jesus" and "He told her" to abandon the album and get out of her recording contract.

Motown screwed her career in the 80s (a bit similar to what happened to Kelis after "Milkshake" came out and they didn't release any other singles in the US off that album) but the third album Vanity just screwed herself over with that Jesus shit.

R362 Denise speaks in exaggerations. What she meant was she purged herself of the "sinful" stuff like the sexy outfits and sexy pics. She kept a lot of items for sentimental reasons and now that she's older and not well off, she's selling them. She is a nice woman though-I have spoken to her on the phone. She's a bit of a nutjob but very sweet.

R362 here. I actually heard her say she got rid of everything Vanity on one show and that she burned everything on another. Both clips are (or were) on YouTube, but I'm not searching for them. She told stories likes these several times. I'm not knocking her, but just like she sold the Vanilty image when she was Vanity, she sold her Denise image just as well. Now she wants some of that back.

[quote]Blast from the past. Shame to see her caught up in all this religious bullshit.

It saved her life you oaf. She was reckless before.

[quote]Skin On Skin should have warranted a 3rd album

It did, but it was scrapped. She worked with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Tony LeMans on it.

She's mesmerizing during her interview with Don Cornelius at the 3:34 point of this video.

R367 as I said, Vanity was the one who had her third album shelved. She said it in an interview last year.

She could have been huge if hadn't been for the drugs destroying her drive and ambition. The beautiful looks were there, the good pop songs were there, the mysterious persona was there, but the focus wasn't. Such a shame.

I feel like she basically just traded one addiction for another (from drugs to religion). She claims she so happy now with just religion and god, but how could someone possibly be happy being in their mid-50's with no husband or significant other to share their life with (she says she's been celibate for almost 20 years)? What kind of life is that? She could've had snagged any rich guy she wanted in her prime, and she just threw it all away.

unfortunately she fell under the influence of a pastor couple, the Harpers. When Denise's ex husband (the former NFL player who is now awaiting trial/in jail for murder) divorced her, Denise went to the Harpers and complained that she couldn't find a good man. Roxane Harper said to her "if God wanted you to be married, you'd be married now". From that moment, Denise decided to be celibate. Her near-death experience made her already impulsive personality become very strict and extreme with regards to religion and her lifestyle/choices.

R364 I have spoken to her on the phone as well (a few years ago), and she was nice, but VERY scatterbrained.

[quote]how could someone possibly be happy being in their mid-50's with no husband or significant other to share their life with

Not everyone wants to be married or in a relationship.

R373 But to be celibate for almost 20 years??? Come on! How depressing.

she wanted to be in one but the Harpers convinced her "it was not meant for her" and she listens to everything they say.

Not for everybody. Women are not like men. They can get along with no sex. I work with a woman who's been married to the same man for over 20 years, and for at least ten of them they've been celibate because he can no longer get it up (prostate issues).

Just posting some rare shots Denise recently posted on her facebook-some of them are rare and I've never them before.

A still of her with a horse from "Never Too Young To Die". She looks insanely gorgeous here:

Her first modeling shot ever. She was a camera assistant and the photographer had her test the lighting before the model came in. She couldn't have more than 16-17:

a nice smiling pic with her hair flowing:

this was for French Vogue

a candid of her with either a fan or friend. She's wearing the men's jacket she wore during her time in Vanity 6:

She was soooo gorgeous.

R382 and still is lol she's almost 56 and doesn't have wrinkles. She eats healthily and exercises and of course gets a lot of sleep. You'd never know looking at her that she has to do dialysis 3 times a week.

Last month "The Last Dragon" turned 30 years old! crazy. Vanity and Taimak made 1 of the hottest on-screen couples ever. It's too bad they didn't make a sequel to this with both of them in it.

Vanity's scenes when she guest starred on "Booker" starring Richard Grieco

found another RARE pic of her with Nikki Sixx! I've seen most of her pics but not this one-this had to be a candid taken by a friend:

and also this is a very interesting article from 1988 talking about her career and her rocky recently ended relationship with Nikki Sixx. It's all so odd that Action Jackson was her last big-time movie. It really seemed like her career was on the upswing with new music and movies/tv projects coming but instead she ended up being reduced to appearing on B/C-list tv shows in guest appearances and straight-to-video films after 1988.

Also in this article Vanity discusses how she did that 1988 Playboy layout because if she didn't, Hugh Hefner was threatening to release her previous layout from before she was famous. She also says she feels the most comfortable naked.

I've listened to Vanity's interviews in recent years and she has said that all her talk of "loving to be naked" was a lie and she almost didn't do Action Jackson because of the nudity but her agent convinced her to. It's hard to know what to believe.

All I know is her personality seemed so cool back in the 80s. It's a shame she turned hardcore evangelist but from what I've read online (and my own personal experience of chatting with her once on the phone) she always was and still is a nice person, just a bit crazy.

Enjoy the article:

and 1 more rare candid I found of this woman! simply FLAWLESS!

I will always wonder what her career would have been like if she had completed Purple Rain? Did Vanity get long with Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis? Or was she just thought of as the "taken" Prince GF that was 1st in line before, Appolania, Jill Jones, Cat, etc..

I never heard any feedback from Brenda or Susan - I bet those girls would have some amazing insight into what Denise is all about!

R389 it's tricky IMO. Yes, Purple Rain was huge and so the film would have given Vanity a lot of exposure plus a second Vanity 6 album. On the other hand, she received a lucrative music and movie deal from Motown exec Suzanne de Passe while eating at The Ivy in LA and she took off just as Prince was rising. Vanity was very ambitious and though she said she loved Prince, she really wanted a career of her own and not just be in his shadow. She also left Purple Rain because according to her Prince was grossly underpaying her despite all the work.

Vanity and Morris Day got along very well lol in fact they bonded over doing coke together. There's a pic of them dancing together at a club and for Vanity's first album, she had him featured on her song "Mechanical Emotion".

Vanity also got along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They along with deceased Prince associate Tony LeMans were said to have produced her unreleased third solo album. It went unreleased because she had just become born-again and didn't like the content.

Andre Cymone gave an interview a couple years ago and when asked about Vanity (they briefly dated) he said of her talent that she was "very creative". While obviously she wasn't much of a singer, she had a lot of ideas for both visuals (she is an artist who paints for a hobby) and worked on writing/arranging the songs/picking beats for her first album.

Wendy and Lisa on the other hand didn't care for Vanity or most of his female protegees because they didn't think of them as serious artists. I think they respected Sheila E, Jill and Brenda though.

Brenda has given some hardly-noticed interviews in the last couple years. When asked about Vanity Brenda said she was "very beautiful, funny, warm and savvy." Brenda became really close with Susan because Vanity and then Apollonia were the "main lead focal points to the group so they were much busier with other things". There is a rumor that Brenda and Vanity once got into a fight and Brenda pushed her against a wall but no other details emerged and it must have been short-lived.

It must have been awkward for Susan and Vanity to be around each other as Vanity was supposed to be Prince's gf but he was still messing around with ex-gf Susan and of course multiple other women. That's another reason why Vanity left.

Vanity did pose with Apollonia 6 at the MTV Music Awards though and they seemed fine with each other.

Denise and Apollonia were always friendly with each other but a couple years ago Denise unfriended Apollonia on facebook because Apollonia continues to dress very revealingly and Denise didn't want the pics to keep showing in her feed lol

I remember working in the old William Morris office and Vanity was ripped by Hal Ray. She would come into the office and was beautiful. She also became friends with a desk assistant, Michael something.. A tall skinny gay guy and they would do blow in the office and party like crazy on the weekends.

She was very nice but was always kinda out of it" Very abstract and never seemed to be in the moment.

Any place you can hear that last album? Any leaked demos?

R391 can you give any more details/memories about Vanity? Did you ever interact with her?

I'm sure she was out of it because she did so much crack lol

It's a shame as I think her career could have gone much further had she been sober.

R391 do you mean repped? or you mean 1 time Hal yelled at her in the office?

She's the epitome of "I've Never Been To Me".

I'm facebook friends with both Apollonia and Vanity (Denise Matthews), had no idea Vanity unfriended her, lol. Sure enough, checked Apple's friend list, and she's not listed as a mutual friend.

Honestly, I ended up putting Vanity on my Restricted list, and un-following her, though we're still FB connections. All she does on there is post non stop ads for items of hers that she is selling - purses, coats, earrings, etc... She's been doing this for like 5 years now, lord knows how much shit she could possibly have amassed. I'm starting to wonder if she's just buying crap at discount stores and re-selling it as some "souvenir" from her heyday.

Apollonia is really nice on FB, but she's also been shilling some group she's apparently mentoring called The Fulco's, and she's been posting about them non stop on there too, to the point where I had to unfollow her as well - driving me nuts.

I agree. It's very sad that she didn't live up to her full potential in Hollywood. If it wasn't for the drugs and the born-again shit, she could've have the career Madonna had back then. Hell, she did the lingerie on stage and sexed-up image before Madonna ever did, and neither one of them were great singers, but she didn't have the drive Madonna had and the drugs really fucked her up.

It's sad Vanity didn't at least land a wealthy husband - she could've had any man she wanted. Instead she married some no-name football player and had a marriage that barely lasted a year.

Now she's just old and alone with her cats.

R396 unfortunately for Denise she was fooled by the man she married. They met at a charity event and she thought he had a good heart. Ever the impulsive lady, she got married to him shortly after. During their marriage, he abused her and cheated on her with another woman at church. Denise said he thought he was marrying Vanity, even after she told him she had changed. He divorced her even though she wanted to try and work things out. A few years ago, he was convicted of murdering someone with a couple of friends of his.

IMO, Vanity opened the door for not only Madonna but for someone like Rihanna. Rihanna is like the 2000s version of Vanity with much greater success. Obviously Vanity was much prettier and she really should have had a much bigger career. Motown was also to blame though. "Under The Influence" was a pretty decent r&b hit but they followed it up by releasing the poor "Animals" instead of 1 of the other single-ready songs on the album. I think "Manhunt" and "Skin on Skin" could have crossed over to the pop charts big time.

Vanity's beauty was shocking and intimidating. But she wasn't much of a singer. She was so hot it was weird.

Madonna succeeded because she seemed like some pushy little bitch who was putting on a show on her backyard porch for the neighborhood kids. She was accessible in her mediocrity.

unfortunately Denise has been dealing with pancreatitis and was in the hospital for most of July. I believe she's out now though

She fucked Adam Ant? I thought he was tres gay or am I wrong?

R400 they dated when she was a model, before she ever met the other famous men she went on to date/fuck.

She once threw out a scrapbook she had of her pics but someone went through her trash and found this lol

and this

big news! Obviously this will take a while if it keeps going but Denise announced she is working with Stan Foster on making a movie about her life! As batshit crazy as she is, I would definitely watch this even with the overdone Jesus BS.

she was also recently interviewed briefly by Rolling Stone for their 30th anniversary story on the "Filthy Fifteen" songs banned in 1985 by PMRC led by Tipper Gore. Here's the Vanity part of the article about her song "Strap on Robbie Baby":

[quote]Proposed PMRC Rating: Profane or sexually explicit

[quote]Explicit Lyrics: "Come on and stroke me/Strap this thing on tight/If you want to glide down my hallway, it's open/Strap yourself in and ride"

[quote]Vanity Then: After Denise Matthews met Prince at the American Music Awards in 1980, the future "Darling Nikki" singer appointed her frontwoman of a girl group he eventually named Vanity 6 (after she refused to let him rename her "Vagina"). Prince wrote most of the songs on Vanity 6's 1982 self-titled debut, including the hit "Nasty Girl," and produced the LP. She was originally supposed to play Prince's love interest in Purple Rain, but she severed ties with the singer before filming, telling People, "I needed one person to love me, and he needed more." She put out her first solo album, Wild Animal, in 1984, which contained the suggestive "Strap On 'Robbie Baby'," a tune written by her then-boyfriend Robbie Bruce. In 1985, she posed nude for Playboy.

[quote]What She Said Then: "I put the sexual image of me in my music," she told The Associated Press in 1985. "My music is very sexual, so you could say I'm just putting all of me out there."

[quote]After the PMRC: Vanity put out another solo album, Skin on Skin, in 1986 and subsequently focused her attention on acting. In the Eighties, she was also linked romantically to Adam Ant, Billy Idol and her onetime fiancé Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx. She turned to Christianity and returned to her birth name, Denise Matthews, in the early Nineties after nearly dying from smoking cocaine. She told Joan Rivers she felt she was possessed by demons and that a friend had found her levitating three feet over a bed. Matthews has since become an evangelist and authored the memoir Blame It on Vanity. She now leads her own Pure Heart Ministries in Fremont, California. Matthews has distanced herself from her past and has not recorded any new albums, though Prince's 1994 album Come featured a 1983 recording of her moaning on his own song "Orgasm."

[quote]What She Says Now: "I was young and irresponsible, a silly woman laden with sin, not caring for anything except fame and fortune and self," she tells Rolling Stone. "But I have lived seeking truth in Jesus Christ and found it has made me free. "According to God's word, we haven't done a very good job concerning our little ones, nor our teens," she continues. "I haven't given the song any thought [in many years]. I don't listen to my old music of Vanity's unless I have to hear it playing in a mall or something place like that. I sing to Jesus for Jesus now. This gives me pure joy ... worship! I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over."

Here's Denise's full response from her facebook:

[quote] When asked about my old vanity songs by Rolling Stone magazine concerning "This year marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a political committee, spearheaded by Tipper Gore, which lobbied to have record labels start using the "Parental Advisory" stickers we've all grown to love in the decades since. Around that time, the PMRC put together a list of 15 songs it found objectionable, dubbed the "Filthy 15." Your record was one of the top!...and here is my sincere response and repentance.

[quote] I have grown leaps and bounds in Jesus being a minister these last 23 years and have repented to God of all that long ago of all that very tragic mess I made. I have even said I am sorry to the world many times over. I was young and irresponsible, a silly woman laden with sin, not caring for anything except fame and fortune and self. But I have lived seeking truth in Jesus Christ and found it has made me free.

[quote] I wish I had given my life to Jesus so much earlier, then i would have put away my childish things and taught our children right from wrong. According to Gods word we haven't done a very good job concerning our little ones, nor our teens. The children run naked and afraid on drugs with foul language hating one another, abusing each other, killing their parents, in deep fornication... without their parents to care for them. I added to this terribly in my young days and am truly sorry for it. But now I stand and I pray for all to wake up before it is too late amen.

[quote] I haven't given the song any thought. I don't listen to my old music of Vanity's unless i have to hear it playing in a mall or some place like that. I Sing to Jesus for Jesus. This gives me pure joy..worship! hope this answered your question and I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over.

Also, Rolling Stone linked a cool interview from her in 1985 which really shows off her pre-Xtian-brainwashed personality. She seemed like a fun, playgirl girl. Just zoom in to read it:

I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. She's a beautiful woman, Hollywood's full of them. She looks slightly masculine to me, to tell the truth. I think it's her bone structure.

I love THE LAST DRAGON — it's one of my "comfort movies."

Vanity was beautiful and she wasn't a bad actress. It's too bad she went to such extremes in her life.

Born-again evangelicalism is just another addiction; this time to self-delusion.

None of it's good for anyone.

I read this entire thread, lots of fangirls here who are a bit delusional about her talents and potential career. None of the songs referenced were potential hits if they were better backed/advertised/etc. The only great song was her hit "Nasty Girl". She lacked any kind of range, and yes, Madonna and Janet Jackson had much more range/interpretive style than she ever had, which is part of the reason they went on to have bigger success. She could have been a style icon at best and maybe an actress.

DEAD!

LOOK! Janet stole the Rolling Stone cover from Vanity! CUNT!

I can't believe the OP killed her.

Done with this black trolll. Block.

rare performance from greenville

Late 1987 or early 1988 magazine interview. She straight up lies by saying she's never taken drugs. She does however allude to how crazy her relationship with Nikki Sixx was. She made it clear they got physical with each other. If this interview was in 1988, then Vanity was also lying about still being with Nikki Sixx. According to his book from 2007, they broke up for the final time in September 1987.

cover outtake from her 1988 Playboy spread

Has she released a statement since Prince's death? Some people are saying she gave him AIDS!

Well,since she died in February, I'm not holding my breath for a statement on Prince...

just linking the other thread that's about to be finished

the entire 18 minute long set of Vanity 6's performance in Minneapolis during the 1999 tour. They really shocked audiences with their lyrics, outfits and dancing.

Just my two cents, but I don't think all the years of debauchery and Nikki Sixx took much toll at all on Denise's looks. She looked fantastic even up until her death.

Of course those years did destroy her health, but it is rare indeed to have your health shot, and still look beautiful. As a formerly beautiful female alkie and drug user, my looks went flying out the door after ten years.

This Becky always thought that she and the indescribably beautiful Jane Kennedy were as good as it gets, and while they both had a bit of swirl in their family trees, they were both black women who did not appear to be running towards the white side of the fence.

R421 Denise would get mistaken for the slightly less gorgeous Halle Berry in the early 2000s when she was in her 40s while Halle was in her 30s. This continued until around 2006/2007 when Denise cut her hair and gained briefly gained weight. The last few years or so her weight was back down.

I just wonder who Vanity dated from 1988 until 1995 when she married that football player turned murderer/criminal. We don't know much about her love life during that time. All we know is for a years in the early 90s she had a random male friend living with her but they didn't get involved romantically.

Just posting these newly posted videos from youtube that were posted towards the end of the RIP Vanity thread:

So Tobyn (her brother in-law, married to sister Deborah) is the one who posted that apartment video. I found out he posts on prince.org occasionally. He confirmed that the video is from 2013. Interestingly I read through his other posts and in them he made it clear that he doesn't share Denise's views on religion. I now wonder if that had something to do with her choosing her Pastor as the executor of the will and not a relative. He wrote about how when he and his sons helped Denise go through her storage, she destroyed certain items immediately upon finding them and that he tried to keep them but then she went into a lecture about idol worship lol

For those interested, you can read his posts here:

the RIP Vanity thread has been officially maxed out so any other footage/pics/tea can be posted here in the original Vanity thread

Drive me wild from Greenville,.... sad the quality bad, better than bloomington or norfolk,... anyway here it is

R428 I have to say I'm surprised that over the years there hasn't more footage from other 1999 tour performances. They toured all over the US from late 1982 until the late spring/early summer 1983.

1 song that Vanity 6 doesn't seem to have ever performed live (from what we've seen) is 3X2=6

Someone just posted the audio of Vanity 6 live in NYC in 1983. Unfortunately there's no video to go with it.

Makeup

Wet Dream

Drive Me Wild

If A Girl Answers Don't Hang Up

here's a video of another night in NYC 1983 at Radio City Music Hall

Make-Up

and same night a video of "Wet Dream"

On her Formation Tour, Beyonce has been mixing "Nasty Girl" in with her song "Blow" and giving Vanity 6 a shout out (see clip below). Back in the early 2000s, she used to mix "Nasty Girl" into her live performances of "Naughty Girl".

It's nice to know someone as famous as Beyonce is clearly a fan of Vanity.

OMFG hell yes!

I've been waiting for this footage for a while!

Finally someone posted the clip of Vanity on that Italian variety show Fantastico from 1988 performing "Nasty Girl" ! To my knowledge, it's the only time she ever performed the song on tv after she went solo

"I read her autobiography"

No sound sorry

R436 whoa that's rare! Thanks for posting. Sucks about the lack of sound though. LOL at everyone else pretty dressed up and she went there with an open jacket and just a bra.

Vanity, Brenda and susan on "the scene"

Oh Canada! Thank You for producing THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY STUNNING WOMAN I've EVER seen. (Shania Twain hon. mention) Apollonia was NO Vanity. She had the natural 'born this way' looks to back up her stage name. The way she flustered and toyed playfully with Mark Goodman on an early 80's interview was a tribute to her unique beauty. RIP.

R439 I don't know who Mark Goodman is. Can you talk about that interview since I've never seen a clip?

R438 thanks! Loving all these rare clips that people have been putting up on youtube these last few months

[quote]I don't know who Mark Goodman is.

Mark Goodman was one of MTV's original VJs, known for his stupendous mullet.

R441 haha thanks!

some pics I hadn't seen before

posing nude with that gorilla coat she was obsessed with

From 1:36 to 3:11 in the clip below, Vanity along with Will Smith and 3 other guys (not sure who they are) present MC Hammer with a Soul Train award in 1991. This is when Vanity and MC Hammer first met and became friends. Of course they ended up staying friends and going to the same churches in the bay area from 1994 on.

on the red carpet at the premiere of the 1995 film "Congo". You can see a glimpse of her evil then-husband next to her too.

vanity undress live from club MTV

The crowds always responded so well to her performances even though she lip synced. She always had good energy on stage. LOL at the fan who asked if he could kiss her and then the group of guys who surrounded her at the end to dance to "Push It".

Never Too Young To Die brief interview. Unfortunately it's very quick as John Stamos and Gene Simmons are also interviewed separately.

a small interview in 1996 (Oprah)

R450 the crazy thing is that was during the time she was married to her psycho ex serial killer husband. He physically abused and cheated on her during their brief marriage in 1996 but she kept going around saying how happy and free she was. Just sad. She looked beautiful in that clip though of course.

Article her brother-in-law posted from 1985 when she was promoting The Last Dragon in SF.

From 1986 when Vanity went to Prince's album listening party. She's actually wearing 1 of his Parade outfits

1 of her first modeling shots

modeling head shot from when she modeled in Toronto/Montreal

not sure who the guy is

In 1992 a book called "Actors as Artists" was published. It featured various celebs who were into making art. Some big names in there. Vanity was also featured and a couple of her pieces too. 1 piece was called "Spot Dick" lol this book came out a few months before she became born-again.

Anyway here's 1 pic of her and her artwork from the book

Also, in some threads on prince.org, her brother-in-law has posted some letters and poetry she had written. He revealed that Denise and Prince did remain in contact and wrote to each other from time to time

her guest appearance in Tropical Heat (aka Sweating Bullets) from 1991. This was a Canadian series that aired around the world for a few years. The season in which Vanity appeared was shot in Eilat, Israel. She played a mafia mistress

small guest appearance on Silk Stalkings

VERY rare. Here's a quick interview of Vanity on MTV promoting The Last Dragon and her her music video for "Pretty Mess". The movie came out several months after this interview.

She was wearing her infamous black dress with the leather, lace and gorilla fur + the walking stick and her jewelry.

The movie took 2 1/2 months to film and it was shot in various places around NYC

She seemed a bit agitated in this interview and was probably tired of being asked about whether she saw Purple Rain or not lol

The "Pretty Mess" video was written and conceived by her. Reality to fantasy back to reality.

article from 1980 in a Canadian newspaper...probably from Toronto.

Thanks for these great posts!

She was paid $300,000 to do The Last Dragon. Prince wanted to pay her $250 a week for Purple Rain, and she had no say-so over anything despite having co-written some scenes for the movie and putting her stamp on the group Vanity 6.

nobody cares about that shitty dead thing.

Her brother-in-law has really been sharing a lot this last week or so. He won't reveal anything scandalous (the stuff that we REALLY want to know) but anything is still interesting. He has the original copy of her "Blame It On Vanity" book that she wrote but ending up not releasing in the early 90s because it contained all kinds of tea on other celebs and her own adventures.

1 thing was Prince misled her when he convinced her to move out to Minneapolis. He courted her for a few months before she finally said yes, as she turned down movie offers to join him. The first day she arrived at his home, she saw Susan and Brenda sitting in the living room. Brenda asked who she was and then told Vanity that Susan was engaged to Prince. Prince then came into the room and started playing on the piano. He wanted to immediately start Vanity singing the "Nasty Girl" lyrics. Just crazy stuff. She started crying. She was under the impression she was his only girlfriend for months and then boom...realized he not only was engaged but had other girls too. Why did she stay? She loved him but also because of his promise that he would "make her a star". That promise was also a big part of why she left after the 1999 tour was finished in the middle of 1983. She felt he wasn't doing enough on that end in addition to their crazy relationship of course and the lack of money as already posted.

Oh who cares?!

Vanity's brother-in-law has really been sharing a lot this past week. He won't reveal anything too scandalous (at least he hasn't yet) but everything he's shared has been quite interesting. He has the original version of her "Blame It On Vanity" book from the early 90s that she wrote but ended up not releasing after a change of heart since it contained tea on other celebs and her own adventures.

1 thing he shared this week was Vanity's courtship with Prince and moving to Minneapolis. He pursued her for months after meeting her at the AMAs. He actually first called her at 3 AM that night but she told him to call at a decent hour and hung up on him. He called the next day at noon. After a few months, she agreed to move to Minneapolis with him instead of pursuing other film and modeling offers. Part of the agreement was that he would "make her a star". She found out he was misleading her for months though. All that time she thought she was his only girl...then on the day she arrived in Minneapolis, she met Brenda and Susan sitting in Prince's living room. Brenda told her that Susan and Prince were engaged. Vanity started crying but immediately Prince came into the room, started playing the piano and wanted her to start practicing "Nasty Girl".

Some of the "Nasty Girl" lyrics seem to be inspired from a phone conversation Prince and Vanity had while he was trying to get her to move to NYC. It inspired him to write and record the demo.

Why did Vanity stay even after knowing that Prince lied to her? Part of it is she really did love him. He was engaged to Susan and Vanity of course found out he had other women such as Jill Jones but she was just attracted to him. She also wanted him to fulfill the part about making her a star. Along with the lack of money and messed up relationship, the other factor that made Vanity want to leave Prince's camp in 1983 was that she didn't feel he had done enough to make her a star. She felt he was trying to keep her under him (literally and figuratively) and she wanted her own carer.

oops obviously meant to write "while he was trying to get her to move to Minneapolis"

Fun interview

R471 yes wow I wonder what show that was from? Her personality was so fun when she was Vanity.

Exquisite bone structure, flawless skin. Even 30 yrs later I have never seen a more overall stunningly beautiful woman than Vanity.

No plastic surgery or enhancements. 100% natural, radiant gorgeousness. Her very shapely ass in the Pretty Mess video could rival JLo or Kim K.

Sultry and just smoking hot, there will never be another model turned actress/singer as lovely as Denise Matthews...Vanity.

Just to add/clarify the tea in R469 as I finally got to see what Vanity wrote herself (in a now deleted thread on Prince.org because a Prince fan freaked out and reported the thread as "slander" against Prince") , upon arriving at Prince's home in Minneapolis, she saw Brenda and Susan in the living room. Brenda told her that Prince and Susan were engaged. Vanity immediately walked out of the room to where Prince had gone to confront him. She said "that woman told me you belong to Susan". Prince replied "she belongs to me but I belong to no one". Vanity was obviously furious as he had lied and misled her. She thought she was the only girl he was courting before she decided to move from NYC to Minneapolis with him. She called him out on it. Prince shrieked (lol she really wrote that he shrieked) in reply: "do you want to be a star or not?" Then he immediately had her start practicing singing "Nasty Girl" while he played the piano. That was all right after arriving at his home. Wow.

Vanity also wrote that "Nasty Girl" was a reworked and reworded version of lyrics that she had written and said out lout to Prince over the phone when he was trying to get her to move to Minneapolis. She had written the lyrics 1 night at her friend's place. Prince never gave her royalties or co-writing credit for the final version of the song though.

Prince had Vanity sign a 7-year contract that included giving him the rights to her stage name. When she left him, he initially tried to stop her from continuing to use "Vanity" and for breaking the contract but stopped because he was afraid of possible damaging stories that she might tell the court and press. He really was a controlling asshole.

After she stopped crying when she found out Prince was engaged to Susan Moonsie, Vanity decided that she would fuck with his head too. She made it her mission to flirt with any guy when Prince was around to make him jealous and show that she could play the game too. Though she didn't date Andre Cymone until 1985, she went on a date with him soon after moving to Minneapolis which of course made Prince furious. During the 1999 tour, her relationship with Prince had really fallen apart and she started seeing Adam Ant again (they first dated in 1981). 1 time Adam was staying at the same hotel as everyone from the 1999 tour. Prince saw Adam and Vanity hanging out in the lobby and freaked out on them. The first time Vanity dated Adam Ant, they also had a run-in with Rick James. Rick tried to lure Vanity away from Adam by saying he had a bigger dick but Vanity turned him down.

There was an art gallery on Rodeo Drive that showcased some of Vanity's art. She made extra money that way.

Vanity and Susan became good friends despite the weirdness of their situation with Prince. Susan accepted that Vanity and other women would have romantic/sexual relationships with Prince. After Vanity left Prince's camp, Susan would visit her from time to time and stay with her.

Vanity believed "Little Red Corvette", "The Beautiful Ones" and "Strange Relationship" were about her.

She was very anxious and excited when she found out she had been asked to present Prince with an award at the 1985 AMAs. She made sure she wore an outfit that would have everyone's heads turning, including Prince's. She also brought along the cane he had given her (he wanted her to be able to defend herself lol). It was the first time she had seen Prince and his bandmates since leaving in 1983 just before Purple Rain was going to start filming. She wanted to try to fix things with Prince and saw this as an opportunity.

Vanity also wrote that during the mid and late 80s, from time to time she and Prince would happen to be at the same club and they would go home together as he had a mansion in LA. She also attended a party for his album in 1986 and sported a similar outfit he had also worn.

R473 everything about Vanity was natural except for her breasts. She had 1 or 2 boob jobs.

She didn't get her boobs enhanced until around 1986 or '87. Apollonia has had hers redone as well, but she's always had big boobs so she likely did it to keep them from being in her lap.

before 1986

[quote] Exquisite bone structure, flawless skin. Even 30 yrs later I have never seen a more overall stunningly beautiful woman than Vanity.

I agree. A slightly younger friend told me I idealize everything 80s and suggested that my feeling that Vanity's beauty is unrivalled is just nostalgia. I think not.

she got her first boob job in 1984. There was an article about her and mentioned she talked to her ex bf about her boob job. Her ex bf was a photographer in Montreal she dated while modeling in Canada and she later used him to shoot her Wild Animal album photos.

The finale of the 1985 Motown Revue. Starting at 1:13 in the clip, Vanity comes on stage, sings a line with Smokey Robinson and then can be seen dancing for the rest of the song. This was the show at which it's rumored she and James DeBarge did coke backstage together (though it could have been El instead), pissing off Janet Jackson. Of course it's never been proven and none of them has ever discussed it publicly.

What bothered me about Vanity is that she was almost always playing some (married) white guys black piece of ass. Hated it. Only loved her in The Last Dragon. Shitty singing voice but "nasty girl" was GREAT LOL!

Wow, thanks for posting that R480!

Died last year on this date.

crazy. can't believe it's been a year.

:( ...

already One year,....

I wish the Vanity 6 album was available on iTunes. The CD issue has been out of print for years. What gives?

I'm pretty sure Warner Bros has control over the Vanity 6 album? Not sure.

I'm just hoping that Tyka or whoever is in charge of Prince's estate releases the unreleased Vanity 6 songs. Prince saved everything. I'm sure there are songs that didn't make it to the first Vanity 6 album as well as other songs (besides G-Spot, Vibrator and Sex Shooter) that were scheduled for the second Vanity 6 album.

Moral Majority and Pizza were two other unreleased tracks from the planned second V6 album.

No Apollania 6, Vanity 6, or original Time downloads on iTunes. I thought Warner Bros controlled these? Any reason why these aren't available??

There was another short-lived Prince-managed group called The Family, which had one album with "Screams of Passion" and a really good cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" on it. That's also not available.

R215 to this day Sixx, a physically-imposing and dominant man, is adamant that he only hit her in self-defense and that she was a danger to him. All 120lbs of her. He doesn't show a shred of remorse or embarrassment talking about it, it's bogus. Given his size/strength advantage and knowing her history (her dad etc.), that he even thought to hit her back is disgusting. Even as a former fan of Crue it's easy to admit Sixx sweats insincerity. Surprised his book (reputed to be largely fabricated) wasn't a tougher sell to publishers.

R93 the engagement ring she flashed there (that Sixx gave her even though she was the one to propose) was around 3 karat, which hilights another Sixx-inconsistency; his feelings for her. He's been consistently saying for years that she was just a drug buddy who nitro'd their relationship and he got tired of her antics quickly, but even for a rockstar a 3k rock is a lot to put down for someone you don't really want, that you're just hanging out with to score. He said 'yes' to her of his own will...was he afraid she'd do something insane if he didn't?

Pet theory - he wanted an It-Girl or starlet to fall all over him for an ego-boost and some bro-kudos (so he could keep up with the rest of Crue). Some believe Sixx got particularly hung-up about his desirability around the time Pam Anderson turned down his offer of a date to instead have her fun with his bandmate Vince Neil and later (famously) with Tommy Lee. In retaliation, he started dating a string of high-profile women.

Unlike with Prince, the whys/hows of Vanity falling for Nikki Sixx of all people is still a mystery. As other posters point out she had some of the wealthiest, most intelligent, best-connected, most handsome men in America falling all over her...she chose Nikki. Guess it must have been love? In R387's article she mentions his looks (his "beautiful eyes"), that they "never get bored" and that he is her "best friend"...but in the same piece she also claims to have never taken drugs or drunk a drop. Sixx has never said a word about courting her or any good times they shared (only breaking up with her)..does he even remember anymore?

OT but R445 reminded me of a Six Degrees of sorts...

Vanity and Hammer went to many of the same churches...as did Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil, so to speak.

To illustrate the point: Vince and Hammer featured together as housemates on the first season of MTV's 'The Surreal Life' (2003), and by the end of the very first episode the two clashed over their sexual ethics. As a born-again, Hammer objected to displays of lasciviousness or provocation of any kind, while Vince at the time owned a strip joint and was just as obsessed with 'Girls Girls Girls' as he'd ever been. Tension came to a head when MTV sent in a treat for the celebrity housemates - a sushi dinner served off the body of a mostly-naked exotic dancer. Hammer did not appreciate this gesture and went hungry on his first night in protest, while Vince just happily chowed down, chatting to both the girl and his female housemates around the dinnertable.

It was hilarious and flagged the huge chasm between the permissive mores of H-wood and the church. If Vanity was dating Nikki she'd have seen more extreme scenarios go down, at odds with the faith.

That dead thing with no talent...

To R494, since the clip at R445 has been deleted, here it is again. Check from 1:36 to 3:12

That Surreal Clip is quite interesting. I don't know how wild MC Hammer got when he was a huge star but Motley Crue was 1 of the most depraved bands ever.

oh never mind I see the clip works but only when viewed on youtube

R493 yes her brother-in-law mentioned that she wrote about how throughout her career (when she was breaking into acting before meeting Prince and then throughout her time as Vanity) that she had industry execs trying to woo her and have her as their kept woman but she turned them down. She wanted to make her own money and be with men she was attracted to.

I think both Vanity and Nikki Sixx were thrill seekers. Yes they were physically attracted to each other but it was mostly about drugs and the craziness that came with it. Nikki Sixx started reading occult books in the early 80s. Vanity also had an interest in that stuff. When she was with Prince, she went to "haunted houses" and believed that the ghost of her grandfather was out go get Prince lol just nutty. Then she got arrested for trespassing on a "haunted house" property and Eddie Murphy bailed her out of jail. When she was with Nikki, she delved more into the occult. They would get high and then believe they saw supernatural things happening, like objects flying across the room. Nikki wrote about 1 time the 2 of them were cooped up in his room for days. Finally 1 morning, the radio alarm clock in another room went off. They thought people were breaking in to his house so he went into the hallway and just fired random shots. 1 of them hit the radio alarm clock and it stopped. They just fed off of each other's craziness but consequently argued a lot and occasionally fought.

Vanity was also into psychics, believed in past lives and other shit.

No talent and dead.

Here's the best quality version released of Vanity's version of "Sex Shooter". It's sped up a bit from the original demo posted upthread and cleaned up of static but still not finished as Prince's voice is still doing background vocals.

Vanity's version is so much sexier than Apollonia's and better vocally. Also notice how Prince took out the counting, clapping and undressing part at the end when the lead changed from Vanity to Apollonia. I'm sure the live performance would have featured a hot striptease by Vanity. The Apollonia 6 version went to #85 on the hot 100 and #7 on the r&b chart. I bet it would have done much better with Vanity.

and Brenda Bennett actually commented on that version of "Sex Shooter" saying it brought back memories and tears. I hope all the unreleased Vanity 6 songs in Prince's vault are leaked or released

r500 and r501, stop trying to keep this thread alive. it's dead.

if we want, we will continue,....

Any reason why Prince never worked with Brenda or Susan again? Hard to believe that the entire concept died when Apollonia decided to jump ship.

Prince lost interest in the group altogether. There was talk of Prince working with Brenda on a solo album but I guess that never materialized. Not sure about Susan but I'm guessing their personal relationship probably ended. Shortly after he was engaged to her, he was engaged to Susannah Melvoin

finally a different pic of Vanity + Prince surfaces ! it's blurry but still cool

omg finally! The Playboy interview has been posted. Unfortunately like the rest of her longer interviews, it's incomplete but at least it's something.

I don't understand why none of her music is available? Actually, I don't understand why her Jimmy Jam / lewis album isn't available. Stuff is just sitting collecting dust in a vault and you'd think SOMEBODY would welcome getting paid to release old tapes / cd's. Hell, if it's digital, it wouldn't cost ANYTHING to release exclusive tracks to iTunes

I own Wild Animal on LP, Skin On Skin on cassette and both albums on bootleg CD. I also have the Last Dragon and Action Jackson soundtracks on CD and the Vanity 6 on bootleg CD.

T4P that R507. I'd seen it a couple of years ago and then it was snatched off the internet. She was really lucid and honest in that interview. Still giggly and flighty, but you can tell her head was clear.

NEVER BEFORE SEEN PIC! The photographer who shot Vanity when she posed for the cover of Cameo's Alligator Woman album posted 1 today. This is a beautiful pic and you can really see how edgy Vanity was. I could totally see Rihanna doing a shot like this.

and that photographer finally put to rest the debate over Cameo's "She's Strange" album cover. He confirmed that is not Vanity and that Vanity only did the "Alligator Woman" album cover.

someone also got a hold of the 35 mm slide negatives of Vanity and Billy Idol

turned to the side here

Why the fuck couldn't she get it together? Why the hell didn't Brenda, Susan, or her sister Patti try to intervene and help her?

he's so dull perf. soul train

Another talentless slut who Janbot is obsessed with. Vanity was a petri dish cumdump. She was not a liberated woman. She was a very fucked up slut crack head. She fucked guys in front of other guys who were watching other guys fuck her.

R516 thanks for posting. That hasn't been up on youtube for years. BTW unfortunately a few of her interview clips have been deleted recently such as the one with Maria Shriver

I remember participating in the other gargantuan Vanity thread that was started right around the time of her death, IIRC. (I mistakenly thought that this was that thread - but apparently it isn't.) When that other thread was active, I never in a million years thought that Prince would pass away only weeks after Vanity. Holy f*cking sh*t - I still can't believe it.

WOW this is a pic of her at 12 years old! she looks about 17 and of course just flawlessly stunning. There has never been a famous woman with a better natural face than hers

Such a gorgeous woman. LOVE that Playboy interview. She was totally candid, and lucid too.

[quote]Another talentless slut who Janbot is obsessed with.

Why would you think Janbot is the prominent one in this thread? Because Vanity was black? Sounds like some fucked up logic a nutjob like you would use.

Here's Vanity, Brenda, and Susan on a local (?) dance show The Scene. The audio is out of sync, btw.

Those close ups.... unbelievable.

"Talentless slut"? I'd rather watch and listen to Vanity than the truly talentless sluts of today like Rhianna, Miley, Selena, Swift, Ariana, etc.

NO Vanity on iTunes? NO "Sex Shooter" to celebrate the NEW re-mastered "Purple Rain" album? WTF?

Agreed R523. There was some talk of a Last Dragon remake several years ago, and Rihanna was in talks to play Vanity's role. I scoffed at the idea.

R524 I'm pretty sure Warner Bros has the Vanity 6 rights while Motown has Vanity's 2 solo albums. I think her Action Jackson songs were from Geffen Records. They definitely could have made some money when she died given how much coverage she got for someone who hadn't been talked about in years. It wouldn't surprise me if she personally called up people to ask them not to re-release her old music.

she's dead and forgotten. move on, tampon!!!

Jill Jones recently confirmed on her social media that "Wonderful Ass" and "Strange Relationship" were written about Vanity.

R526, she did decline when people wanted to use the Vanity image.

i do not think that she is forgotten (527)

Apollonia just recounted on her FB page the time that she stayed at Prince's house after getting sick from filming the lake Minnetonka scene in below zero weather for Purple Rain. She said that she would be awoken all hours of the night from Prince's jam sessions, and that he played Wonderful Ass for her and said that it was about Denise.

very short RARE interview from early 1988 she talks about being sexy . The audio isn't great so you have to turn up your volume

She was the personification of beauty. Puts many women to shame.

some nice vanity 6 negatives here

You again? Stop posting to this dead thread.

R534 thanks. I love candid pics

vanity from hot tracks,....

Go to the previous Vanity thread that someone linked to above & read the comments at R523 .

They are a laugh riot!

R537 wow thanks! Never seen that before! Her personality was so flirty and engaging

new one interview

R540 wow thanks! I had no idea she gave so many interviews. I bet there are even more out there. I just wish the guy who's been uploading the newer ones would stop recording them on his tv through his phone. The image quality would be much better without a glare.

BTW Denise would confirm in interviews from the last several years that money was a big factor in her deciding to leave Prince and Purple Rain. So Vanity wasn't telling the whole truth

[Quote] I just wish the guy who's been uploading the newer ones would stop recording them on his tv through his phone. The image quality would be much better without a glare.

I believe a lot if uploaders got to such a route in order to prevent the clips being taken down. I don't know if it prevents clips being recognised by programs designed for the purpose but I'd guess it does.

I think it has more to do with how users title their videos. If they would just put "Vanity interview" with the year, I don't think the trackers would find it. Her Merv Griffin interview keeps getting taken down because the uploaders stupidly put his name in the title. There are plenty of videos on youtube that stayed on there because the uploader disguised the title enough. Even before Prince's death, some of his stuff was on there if the title was clever enough

and another one! This is another interview when Action Jackson came out in 1988. Here she talks about Prince

thanks, #544 just found one today

Wasn't her mom a Holocaust survivor?

R545 do you know what show that was?

Hot tracks in new york i think.

so the Vanity 6 album is finally on itunes and other online music services. Thanks Tyka!

FINALLY! Now give me some Vanity solo albums and a bit of Appolania 6

^Yes!

[quote]Anyone remember Elisa Fiorillo of "Who Found Who?" Jellybean-produced fame?

Of course, Prince wrote and produced a number of tracks on her "I Am" album, including "On the Way Up".

Always loved the funkier version of "Ooh, This I Need" she did on Arsenio and I was obsessed with "Love's No Fun".

She was kind of the original J.Lo. but with a much better voice.

When it’s okay for people to voluntarily go by the name “Vanity”, could “Stinky Puss” be far behind?

My Mom once saw a pic like in the OP and said, “in my day, if my hair looked like that, I wouldn’t leave the house.”

Denise was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

never seen

R555 so far the Greenville and Minneapolis 1999 tour Vanity 6 performances are the only ones that have I've seen. They also have that live performance from a small awards show (I think set in Detroit or Minneapolis). There were a lot of dates on the 1999 tour though so I'm hoping some day someone uploads more.

you mean this one ?

She thought she could be another me and couldn't even pull of Sheila E

R557 yeah that was an awards show I think

I loved her on the Cosby Show,

But did her pussy stink?

35 years ago, "Nasty Girl" was the #1 dance song. It was #1 for 4 weeks in November.

Why do these black folks always try to find Jesus after they did too many drugs and slutting around. From being one type of dumb to being another type of dumb. I don't get it.

User your brain people!

*Use your brain

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R565 her face looks amazing there and it's a candid concert performance shot! Just the best face ever

She was beautiful. It’s too bad she couldn’t keep her shit together, she could have been A list well into the 1990s.

[quote]she could have been A list well into the 1990s

She didn't really have much else to offer than being a cheap sex kitten and being playgirls for Rick James and Prince. She wasn't a singer of note, wrote no songs, didn't play any instruments. I don't know how you can sustain a career for long that way.

I thought she could have broken through as an actress. Agreed that she didn’t have a strong voice.

She was too short for being a bankable actress, that's why her model career also didn't take off.

TOO Short? Um, Beautiful Cheryl Ladd was on 5'4

finally a new pic of Prince & Vanity emerges! Unfortunately it's very blurry. It was from a joint album signing/meet-and-greet Prince did with Vanity 6. You'll have to zoom in to really see but Big Chick is standing behind Susan Moonsie. Next to her is Prince in the middle with Vanity next to him wearing the black hat and green top. A mostly obscured Brenda is next to her.

In this pic you can see Susan and Prince clearly but Vanity is almost totally obscured (you can only see her black jacket) and you can't see Brenda at all.

Another interview posted! This is on the Regis & Kathie Lee Show in 1990. Vanity was promoting "Memories of Murder" a made-for-tv movie on Lifetime. I had no idea she was in Lifetime's first ever made-for-tv movie. That's a cool stat. This very well could have been her last talk show appearance before becoming born-again. She brought along an art piece she made for Prince that took her over 2 years to make.

She seems either a little high in that clip, or very nervous.

R575 probably both. lol at her saying she and Prince were together in the 17th century.

ANOTHER interview has been posted! This is a Vanity 6 interview and all 3 talk. We know Susan is lying about being 16 lol and we know Prince approached Vanity backstage at the AMAs though she did have a demo back when she was in Canada and trying to get signed on her own. Maybe that's what she was referring to.

Again, in her peak beauty days, no one could touch her. She's not wearing much makeup here either

and this one

So that's why she was Vanity 6! I was always curious as to what had happened to Vanity 1-5 as a gayling. Mystery solved 35 years later!

R578 wow I had no idea she did so many interviews. That crystal purple purse she was playing with was a gift from Prince btw. He got it when the 1999 tour stopped in Dallas. I think that was 1 of the items she ended up selling a year or so before her death to pay for her medical bills.

omfg is that a real dead animal on her shoulder? I know it was the 80s before it was taboo but whoa

and another! here's part II to what was posted at R577

lol @ Vanity saying she was against drugs

Does anyone know if Prince helped pay for her medical bills towards the end?

R503 no one knows for sure but her ex brother-in-law thinks so

Slammin’

already Two years :(

Whoa R20 that was painful. (R1) Her writing reminds me of Damon Wayans' incarcer-merated character Oswald Bates on In Living Color.

R586 yeah can't believe it. It amazes me though that interest in her has only picked up since her death. People have been posting videos and photos in the last 2 years that no one knew of beforehand.

Is that Omarosa at R565?

Did she bleach her skin?

She sure looks flat chested.

Is this a drag queen persona people are posting about?

Poor stupid R589. Probably a millennial. Vanity was the most beautiful woman in her time.

vanity gets more attention on this thread and on the prince.org forum than anywhere she has had in years and years.

^So, are you an Org lurker or an active participant? Because I know you’re on there.

this thread is almost maxed out so here's a new one...hoping 2018 brings us more previously unseen footage, photos and stories!

❤️❤️