Who is your favorite Prince protege (s)?

I don't know about you, but it is hard for me because there are so many great people. But I am going with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I love all of their work from the early 80's with Klymaxx, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal, to today with Mary J. Blige, TLC. And of corse their work with Janet Jackson.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are great! I would say that I like Sheila E. also. She was back in Prince's band recently for a few appearances. Not permanently but it's always good to see her and Prince jam together. :)

I choose Appolonia because she looked so beautiful in Purple Rain. All his proteges were good though.

Appolonia, Vanity, Sheila E, The Time are my favorite Prince proteges. Vanity & Sheila E were so hot & beautiful back in the 80's. I had a crush on both of them back in the day. When i first saw Krush Groove movie with Sheila E, i was hooked on her.

The Family, Jill Jones and The Time.

Who is the Family & Jill Jones?

The Family is a group that was put together after the Time broke up. The lineup included former Time members Jellybean Johnson, Jerume Benton, and Paul Peterson, along with Susanah Melvoin. There biggest hit was "The Scream of Pashion", but they are best know for being the first artist or group to record "Nothing Compares 2 U". They recorded one s/t album before they broke up.

Jill Jones was a backup singer for Teena Marie, she meet Prince when Teena opened for him on the first leg of the "Dirty Mind" tour. She provided backup and co lead vocals on several tracks on "1999". She had small roles in Purple Rain and Graffitti Bridge. She recorded her s/t album, only album with Prince input in 1987.

One person that is forgotten and very underrated is former Prince bassist Andre Cymone. He did a great job producing albums for Jody Watley in the late 80's. He deserves the same amount of credit for Jody's solo work, as Jimmy and Terry get for Janet's work.

Originally posted by tvje
The Family is a group that was put together after the Time broke up. The lineup included former Time members Jellybean Johnson, Jerume Benton, and Paul Peterson, along with Susanah Melvoin. There biggest hit was "The Scream of Pashion", but they are best know for being the first artist or group to record "Nothing Compares 2 U". They recorded one s/t album before they broke up.

The Family are not to be confused with Family, the British rock band led by lead singer Roger Chapman and guitarist Charlie Whitney that put out such groundbreaking albums as Music In a Doll's House, A Song For Me, and Fearless. Nor are the Family to be confused with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, a New Jersey-based blues/funk/rock band whose leader, guitarist/pedal steel player Robert Randolph, has been called the next Jimi Hendrix. ;) :) :D

Originally posted by Steve M.
The Family are not to be confused with Family, the British rock band led by lead singer Roger Chapman and guitarist Charlie Whitney. Nor are the Family to be confused with Robert Randolph and the Family Band. ;) :) :D

I doubt anyone got 'em mixed up.

I just wanted to set the record straight in case Jessica Simpson logged on to this board! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Anyone remember Jesse Johnson? Jesse Johnson used to play the lead guitar in The Time. He embarked on a solo career in 85. My brother bought his first solo album in 85. He had the hit songs on there Be Your Man, I Want My Girl, Can U Help Me. I love those songs. That was a good album. He did a song with Sly Stone in 86 called Crazay. I remember that song. His first album is the only album i remember by him. I never heard any of his other solo albums. I remember he used to wear pink all the time LOL. I used to think he was kinda fruity. Was Andre Cymone with Prince when Prince came out with 1999? Prince only had 2 other black guys in the group back in the 80's who played guitar with him.

Originally posted by isiahthomas
Anyone remember Jesse Johnson? Jesse Johnson used to play the lead guitar in The Time. He embarked on a solo career in 85. My brother bought his first solo album in 85. He had the hit songs on there Be Your Man, I Want My Girl, Can U Help Me. I love those songs. That was a good album. He did a song with Sly Stone in 86 called Crazay. I remember that song. His first album is the only album i remember by him. I never heard any of his other solo albums. I remember he used to wear pink all the time LOL. I used to think he was kinda fruity. Was Andre Cymone with Prince when Prince came out with 1999? Prince only had 2 other black guys in the group back in the 80's who played guitar with him.

Andre was with Prince up til his Dirty Mind album in 1980. I liked Jesse Johnson also and have every album he released, including his greatest hits album and his most recent cd "Bare My Naked Soul". That one has a rock flavor to it, it's cool. All his cds were pretty decent.

Another protege story. The guy who replaced Andre Cymone in Prince's band was Brown Mark, and he had a protege group called Mazarati who did an album for Prince's Paisley Park label. If you thought Jesse Johnson looked fruity, you should see these guys.

Originally posted by tvje
Who is your favorite Prince protege (s)?

William, of Wales.

...Am I on the right board?;) :D

not that I'd vote for her, but wasn't Carmen Electra also a Prince protege?

I seriously doubt Carmen Electra was a Prince protege. Was Mark Brown with Prince when Dirty Mind & 1999 were out? Who was that other black guy that was with Prince that played guitar when 1999 was out? I used to have Prince's 1999 album & i remember inside the album sleeve, there was a picture of Prince's band & he had 2 black guys standing next to him with a guitar in their hands. I think Mark Brown was standing next to Prince on the right in that picture. Didn't Mark Brown say on 1999 song, when i woke up this morning could've sworn it was judgement day? Remember albums back in the day inside the sleeves used to have pictures on the album sleeves of the artist? LOL.

Carmen Electra is a Prince protege. She did an album in '93 where Prince wrote and produced most of the tracks. He's the one who gave her the name "Electra". I always thought it was interesting that MTV never showed her much support in terms of showing her music videos, but she ended up working for MTV afterwards. The guy aside from Brown Mark was named Dez Dickerson, in Purple Rain they showed a bit of him doing this song, "I Want To Be A Modernaire." You're right, Brown Mark is the one who sang that line in 1999 (when i woke up this morning could've sworn it was judgement day?).

The following were the black musician's in Prince's band in the late 70's to early 80's.

Andre Cymone was Prince's bass player from the 70's when they were in a high school band called Grand Central (had Morris Day on drums) to 1981. Side note, Prince spent his teenage years living with Andre's family, so he was Prince's unoffical adopted brother.

He was replaced with Brown Mark, who was Prince's bass player from 1981 to the end of the Revolution in 1986.

Prince's guitarist in the early 80's was Dez Dickerson, he was Prince's guitarist from 1979 to 1983. Dez sang the co lead vocal on "1999".

Hope that clear things up.

Vashti1999 i sent u a pm message. His name was Brown Mark huh? LOL. Why is his name backwards? Shouldn't his name be Mark Brown? I think Prince fell off after his Under The Cherry Moon soundtrack. What was the name of that album? I don't think it was called Under The Cherry Moon. It came out in 86 & had the hit song Kiss on it.

I remember when i was young, my parents friend had bought me Prince's Dirty Mind album as a birthday gift or a christmas gift. My parents read the song titles on his album & gave it back to their friend hahahahahahahahahahaha. Prince had his hit song Head on there & we all know what head is LOL. I remember on the back of his self titled album that came out in 79, Prince was riding a horse buttnaked & inside the album sleeve of his 1999 album, there was a picture inside of him laying on the bed with his pants down a little bit so u could see his ass. Prince was a off the hook artist.