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The Women in Prince’s World: His Muses and Collaborators From Sheila E. to Kim Basinger

By Camille Dodero
4/28/2016
  • Copied to clipboard
FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
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Item 1 of 26

Prince's Many Muses

Throughout his nearly 40-year recording career, Prince surrounded himself with the opposite sex. From The Revolution's first incarnation in 1979, which included keyboardist Gayle Chapman, to his final backing band, all-female trio 3rdeyegirl, women were his collaborators, his colleagues, his peers. They were his muses -- like Patrice Rushen, the R&B singer who reportedly inspired his first top 40 hit, 1979's "I Wanna Be Your Lover." And they were his paramours, as shown by his well-documented relationships with protegees like Vanity and Carmen Electra to his tabloid involvements with actresses (Vanessa Marcil, Sherilyn Fenn, Kim Basinger) to his two marriages. Sometimes, as with drummer Sheila E., they were all of the above. Women also gave new life to his songwriting. "Prince liked our video for 'Hero Takes a Fall,' and that led to him giving us 'Manic Monday,'" The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs told Billboard in 2010. "We became friends. He would show up randomly at our gigs and jump onstage with his guitar. Once he had us over to a house he was renting, and we jammed together for hours. He wanted to play our songs. It was incredible. Almost like a dream."

By Camille Dodero
4/28/2016
  • Copied to clipboard
Artists Mentioned

Apollonia

Lianne La Havas

Patrice Rushen

Prince

Sheena Easton

Sinéad O'Connor

Stevie Nicks

The Bangles

Vanity

Ebet Roberts/Redferns
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Sheila E.

The drummer met Prince in 1978 and became his bandmate, lover and lifelong confidant: “We were together for so long, I don’t know when we weren’t.”

ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images
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Item 3 of 26

Patrice Rushen

This jazz pianist and R&B singer reportedly inspired Prince’s first top 40 hit, 1979’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” and turned down his future hit “I Feel for You.”

Ebet Roberts/Redferns
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Item 4 of 26

Susan Moonsie

As the story goes, Prince wrote “When Doves Cry” about his relationship with this Apollonia 6 member, who appeared in 1984’s Purple Rain.

Courtesy Photo
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Vanity

Denise Matthews was a 22-year-old model from Toronto before Prince played Svengali and shaped her into the leader of Vanity 6, an all-girl trio that performed in lingerie and had a 1982 disco smash with his composition “Nasty Girl” -- which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, only to be supplanted by Prince’s “1999.”

Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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Item 6 of 26

Stevie Nicks

“Little Red Corvette” inspired Nicks to write her 1983 solo hit “Stand Back,” which features Prince playing uncredited keyboards.

Harry Langdon/Getty Images
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Apollonia

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, model-singer Patricia Kotero became one of Prince’s most famous protegees with her co-starring role in Purple Rain.

Ilpo Musto/REX/Shutterstock
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Item 8 of 26

Wendy & Lisa

Lisa Coleman (right) joined The Revolution when keyboardist Gayle Chapman left in 1980. Three years later, when guitarist Dez Dickerson exited for religious reasons, she recommended her childhood friend Wendy Melvoin for his replacement. Together, they became essential partners in Purple Rain (the film and tour) and the 1986 movie Under the Cherry Moon.

Ron Galella/WireImage
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Item 9 of 26

Susannah Melvoin

Prince planned to have Wendy’s twin sister -- and his girlfriend at the time -- co-star in the film Under the Cherry Moon, but she couldn’t act, so she was cut.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
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Item 10 of 26

Chaka Khan

Prince’s “I Feel for You” first appeared on his 1979 self-titled album, but the Queen of Funk’s 1984 reworking won its songwriter a 1985 Grammy for best R&B song.

Frank Carroll/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
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Item 11 of 26

Sheena Easton

Prince helped boost the Scottish-born singer’s profile with the controversial single “Sugar Walls,” then featured her on his 1987 hit “U Got the Look.”

Ilpo Musto/REX/Shutterstock
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Item 12 of 26

The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs

Prince met the lead singer of the then-budding female-fronted band when it was opening for Cyndi Lauper. Impressed with Hoffs, Prince gave her “Manic Monday,” a tune about 9-to-5 office life that was originally written for Rushen. The 1986 single went to become The Bangles’ biggest hit, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Warner Brothers/Photofest
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Kristin Scott Thomas

Prince helped launch this future Oscar nominee’s career when he cast her as his love interest in Under the Cherry Moon -- his directorial debut and the British actress’s first film.

Rob Verhorst/Redferns
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Item 14 of 26

Cat Glover

The Chicago native performed as a background vocalist and dancer with Prince in the late ’80s, touring with him for 1987’s Sign O’ the Times and 1988’s Lovesexy.

Mary Evans/Warner Bros/Polygram Filmed Entertainment/Ronald Grant
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Kim Basinger

Onscreen, she was Bruce Wayne foil Vicki Vale in 1989’s Batman. Offscreen, she was having a torrid affair with Prince, the pop star behind the film’s soundtrack.

Frans Schellekens/Redferns
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Item 16 of 26

Sinéad O’Connor

In 1990, the Irish singer-songwriter became an international star with her haunting cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Warner Bros/Photofest
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Ingrid Chavez

This 22-year-old poet met Prince in a Minneapolis bar and became the muse for Lovesexy. She later played his love interest in 1990’s Graffiti Bridge.

Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage
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Item 18 of 26

Carmen Electra

Tara Leigh Patrick moved to California in 1991, when she met Prince, who became her lover and de facto branding manager. “You’re not a Tara,” he advised. “You’re Carmen.”

Photoshot
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Item 19 of 26

Mavis Staples

In 1987, Prince’s manager called the gospel doyenne, who hadn’t been able to get a record contract in a decade, to arrange a meeting. The Staple Singers member was so charmed by Prince, she started writing him letters and eventually recorded two albums on his Paisley Park Records label: 1989’s Time Waits for No One and 1993’s The Voice.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
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Mayte Garcia

Prince’s first wife was his backup dancer, who married the artist in 1996 and gave birth to his only child, Boy Gregory, who died a week after he was born.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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Item 21 of 26

Martika

Prince wrote four songs for this former TV star’s 1999 album, Martika’s Kitchen, and produced the lead single, Hot 100 No. 10 hit “Love … Thy Will Be Done.”

KMazur/WireImage
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Item 22 of 26

Manuela Testolini

Prince met his second wife, a Canadian businesswoman, while she worked at one of the singer’s charities. Married in 2001, they divorced in 2006.

Michel Dufour/WireImage
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Item 23 of 26

Bria Valente

One of the singer’s last known girlfriends, the former Prince protegee and backup dancer became a Jehovah’s Witness when the couple began dating in 2007.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage for NPG Records 2011
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Item 24 of 26

Misty Copeland

The American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American principal dancer, Copeland starred in Prince’s 2009 video “Crimson and Clover” and traveled with his Welcome 2 America Tour.

Cindy Ord/Getty Images for NPG Records 2015
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Item 25 of 26

3rdeyegirl

Prince’s all-female backing band, the trio consists of drummer Hannah Welton, guitarist Donna Grantis and bassist Ida Kristine Nielsen. They made their debut on the album Plectrumelectrum in 2014 and went on to collaborate with the singer for his 2015 HITnRUN Tour.

Mike Windle/Getty Images for Warner Music Group
26 / 26
Item 26 of 26

Lianne La Havas

In 2014, this British soul singer hosted a private Prince performance in her London living room, then appeared with him in 2015 on Saturday Night Live.

By Camille Dodero
4/28/2016
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