The Sexy, Holy Saga of Vanity

February 21, 2016 10:15 AM

The Sexy, Holy Saga of Vanity: Prince’s Muse Who Found God: Vanity, aka Denise Matthews, passed away this week. She led a fascinating life, from inspiring the legendary musician Prince to becoming born again.

Vanity's big hit came in 1982 with Prince-created group Vanity 6 -- Nasty Girl. Her vocals were also used on later Prince song Come [unavalable because $PRINCE].

posted by hippybear (12 comments total)

That's a great writeup, thanks. Sounds like she had some rough few decades.
posted by Catblack at 10:50 AM on February 21, 2016

I loved The Last Dragon.

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posted by Roger Dodger at 11:27 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Apparently, it was renal failure.

I keep forgetting that Prince and most of the people in that circle are around my age. Still, she was only 57. Great voice and personality.

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posted by Thorzdad at 11:58 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Vanity 6 was a very formative influence on me (take that as you will ...)

I wish that she had been able to get thru this horribly sexist world without Christianity but whatever works.

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Prince, aw man, Prince. I LOVED Prince. And now I sorta loathe him.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:14 PM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

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posted by BlahLaLa at 2:32 PM on February 21, 2016

Smith is now serving three life sentences for the 1999 double-murder of brothers Ricky and Kevin Nettles and the 2001 death of Dennis Henderson—but Matthews’ convictions as a Christian had only grown.

Sometimes, when you come up with a clever bit of wordplay, it's even more clever to not use it.

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posted by ZaphodB at 2:48 PM on February 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Her gofundme page is poignant.
posted by unliteral at 6:04 PM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Mod note: A few comments deleted; getting into Prince's religion is a derail we can probably skip here.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:06 PM on February 21, 2016

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rest in power, denise.
posted by sea change at 3:06 AM on February 22, 2016

. . . . . .
posted by luckynerd at 10:13 AM on February 22, 2016

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posted by evilDoug at 10:26 AM on February 22, 2016

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posted by lester at 7:39 PM on February 22, 2016