Prince: Crew Assembled
This playlist was inspired by Prince’s memoir “The Beautiful Ones.” The best word to describe Prince memoir, “The Beautiful Ones” is in the title itself. Beautiful.
Prince was in the beginning process of writing his own memoir the year prior to the year he died in 2016. Prince had only written about his childhood and the early years of becoming famous before he passed. “The Beautiful Ones” was edited together after his death by Dan Piepenbring.
Prince’s words have been transcribed in the book along with a scrapbook of his life from pictures that were found in his vault in his home at Paisley Park. These are his private photos that the world has never seen before, and a collection of songs and poems that he had written over the years.
Along with this treasure is his written account of the original treatment he wrote for his movie “Purple Rain.” “The Beautiful Ones” is definitely a coffee table book for the hard-core Prince fan.
Have you ever seen the Dave Chappelle skit where Dave Chappelle plays Prince? He is reenacting a basketball game. Do you remember what Dave Chappelle says as Prince?
“Assemble your crew.”
The funniest thing about this skit is how accurate it was to Prince in real life.
This playlist is the influence that Prince had on music and the sound he created. Prince - Crew Assembled is a playlist that features musicians who were, once part of his band, his protégé and people associated with Prince in different capacities that became producers and musicians in their own right.
Once Prince’s protégé and drummer, Sheila E. recorded her breakout album, “The Glamorous Life.” Strawberry Shortcake a monster jam with Prince on Electric guitar and Sheila E. On drums. The whole album was produced by her and Prince.
The hit, I Wanna Be Your Lover is off of Prince’s second studio album and reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1979. This song set the templet for the Prince that came during the 80s.
The Time’s Jungle Love was led by Morris day, who knew Prince since high school and was with Prince since their first band in high school. Morris Day was prominently featured in the movie “Purple Rain.”
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were an important part of Prince’s band, The Time, but when they produced The S.O.S. Band’s, Just Be Good To Me, they broke Prince’s rule that no member of The Time do outside work. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to produce greats like Janet Jackson (Nasty) and Alexander O’Neal (Fake).
Alexander O’Neal was the original singer of The Time, but according to Prince in “The Beautiful One’s" he seemed to think O’Neal was too opinionated and was replaced by Morris Day.
Jody Watley (Real Love) was married to André Cymone who was also her producer and Prince’s bassist, pre-Revolution. Jellybean Johnson (Crucial, New Edition) and Jesse Johnson (I Want My Girl), both guitarist in Prince’s band, The Time and became producers and solo artists.
Pebbles (Mercedes boy), was related to Cherrelle, who was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and The Jets (Curiosity), were from Minnesota (along with with Prince) and were in the same orbit.
I was surprised to learn how many musicians and producers from the 80s came out of Prince’s inner circle at one point or another. Prince definitely created his own sound and helped to create the funk sound of the 80s.
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