First BARRY, then LUTHER and now, my beloved MICHAEL.

[Fire1]

ALL MY PEEPS IS GONE!! MUSIC, AS I KNOW IT, IS DYING!!! I'm so hurt.:cry:

[firedupdem]

1. Music as we knew it is gone. The stuff they sing about now is

too much for me. I'm in the car with my 15yr old the other day and "Birthday Sex" was on. WTF is that? I guess I'm officially out of touch at 43. Oh! and the other day I heard some fools singing about Hallie Berry. The song just kept saying "miss barray, miss barray". What the hell? And my mother thought I was tripping with Prince?

[Number23]

2. Girl Prince is, was and always will BE music

His genius is legend. And compared to the stuff out now, he may as well be Beethoven.

I have no idea what the "Halle Berry" song is but it just SOUNDS stupid. Sounds like something that idiot Soulja Boy would make. Lord, I can't stand that boy.

[FrenchieCat]

4. Saw Prince in Concert back in da days!

Boy, now that was a concert!

[bliss_eternal]

8. Me too...

I wept, when I couldn't see the "1999" tour. But I got to see LoveSexy. Better than I could have hoped. :loveya:

[FrenchieCat]

10. The concert I went to in SF was so long ago, I'm not even sure what year it was.....

But it was not long after Purple Rain. The show was extraordinary.
Really one of the best shows I have ever seen.

Sheila E. was part of the performing entourage in the concert at the time.
She's from the Bay Area, and I met her a long time ago, and knew her a little bit,
because her first cousin was a really good friend of mine,
and so I saw her and spoke to her at some of the family events (my friend's wedding shower,
wedding, and later a baby shower)that we were both invited to.
What I remember is that she was teeny tiny and wore man's style clothes a lot at the time.
A real cool gal.

Also a friend of my cousins' was having a "thing" with Jerome, another one in the entourage.
After the concert the three of us attended, we had to "drop" her off at the 4 Seasons Hotel,
where the whole crew was staying. I don't think that relationship lasted longer than the length of
the time he was in town though.

A year or so before, I remember Prince coming to a private Club in SF (The Oz)
were my husband and I hung out sometimes; him and his entourage.
I just remember seeing him passing by making his round of the club
that night and then he was gone.
He is a small guy, but a real dynamo!
But I remember seeing those shoes he was wearing....they were something!


This must have been in the very early 80s....cause I don't think I was married yet,
and I got married in '84.

Boy...those were da days.

[bliss_eternal]

13. Not surprised...

...you feel it was the best show you ever saw. Prince (like MJ) is a very "spare no expense" kind of performer. The LoveSexy concert I attended featured a classic car on stage, that he drove around the stage perimeter (during the finale).

His shoes...
He was wearing THE most gorgeous, thigh high boots! He took such pride in showing them off, and asking if we liked them in between songs. lol.

Sheila E was featured at this show, too. She's such an amazing artist. I was so sad to hear of the accident that took her from us for a brief period (derailing her career for a time). :(

Vanity dropped in prior to the concert, to visit backstage. We saw her exiting after the concert, approaching her "white" chauffeur driven limousine.

I'm not big on "getting autographs." Not. At. All.
But the person I went w/practically forced a pen and program in my hand, and shoved me toward Vanity. Vanity graciously signed (also a teeny, tiny woman). As anti-autograph as I am, I cherish it now (will never place it on e-bay) because there's no more Vanity.

After Denise Matthews's conversion to Christianity--she renounced "all things Vanity." I heard her say in an interview she burned her old photos (as Vanity), posters, cd's, albums, etc.

[Number23]

16. I LOVED Vanity too! You guys are making me so nostalgic I am about to weep!

She converted big time to Christianity. She went all out too; said that the sex and drugs she felt were required to be a member of Prince's entourage made her do things she'll never forgive herself for.

You know who else converted? Pebbles! Remember Pebbles?? "Do you wanna ride in my Mercedes, boy?" Last I heard she was practically LIVING in a church in Atlanta. Goes by Sister Perry now. I have no idea what happened.

[bliss_eternal]

17. I knew about Pebbles, too...

...as she's good friends w/Whitney Houston, and was one offering to "pray w/Whitney" over her drug use, etc. lol.

Vanity's drug addiction (and sexual exploits) unfortunately extended beyond her days w/Prince. She's featured prominently in Nikki Sixx's book, "The Heroin Diaries" as he and Vanity were engaged at that time in his life.

http://www.amazon.com/Heroin-Diaries-Year-Life-Shattered/dp/1416511946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246138547&sr=8-1

The industry is "rough"--it's like a meat grinder in some ways.
I feel it's particularly difficult on women--who are frequently "packaged" in a way that is sexually exploitative. Vanity surviving early sexual abuse, was set up for just that (thinking it natural and appropriate to be a "sex object.") It doesn't surprise me that she ended up w/a dude like Prince. Someone that donned her, "Vanity" dressed her in lingerie and presented her to the world as a "Nasty Girl." :eyes:

Sister Perry?
Could have been anything. The industry. The long term affects of being in it--on her, her personal life and/or her marriage....etc.

[FrenchieCat]

18. Strange, but I know Pebbles even better than Sheila E.

She's from the Bay Area too! I knew her before she married L.A. Reid. She used to go out with a friend of my husband, and we double dated sometimes. She was a beautiful girl, and she had already been married once although she was very young to the President of the Bank of Oakland. She struck me as being very ambitious even then, and I think she was looking for the big dough, and she certainly found it in L.A. Reid. Guess they got divorced a few years after she hit the big times for that moment.

[Number23]

15. Sheila E!! Oh my God I LOVED her

"Love Bizarre" was just about the coolest song I'd ever heard. And I'm lol at your friend's "relationship" with Jerome! He did nothing and was absolutely useless but made doing nothing look SO damn cool. :)

If you ever see Ms. Sheila again, tell her she still has a big fan in Australia (or wherever I'll be next)! :hi:

[FrenchieCat]

19. Her dad Pete Escovedo is the real star of that family.

I'm surprised he never got beyond the local scene...

[bliss_eternal]

7. lmao!

Quote:
The song just kept saying "miss barray, miss barray"

:spray:

That sounds truly pitiful.

:rofl:

[firedupdem]

9. Girl!

This song worried me so much I had to find it for you! Here ya go...let's see how long you can stand it! :rofl:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0TfBatOrDE&feature=related

[bliss_eternal]

11. why do you hate me?

:scared:

....friends don't enable friends, to listen to crappy music.
:cry: how could you?

it was worse than i could have imagined, and no. i did not last long.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Sorry I had to bust in but

:spray:

It ain't just you. :rofl: I felt the same about the "Birthday Sex" and "Halle Berry" songs AND all the "swag" and the "gotta get my swag on" songs. I was like WTF is "swag"? (had to look it up although my intuition said short for swagger). I was truly shocked to find that the song "Blame it" was actually done by Jamie Foxx (someone from the "wrong generation" :P ).

We lost Levert (Gerald and Sean) and Rick James too. It's all just so sad.

[Fire1]

21. Gerald Lavert is not of my generation so it didn't affect me as

much as the others mentioned in this thread. Now, if his DADDY passed (heaven forbid) I would be more intensely affected. they performed at the Ky. Derby Grand Gala in 07. They were outstanding, as usual.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Eddie

did jam at the BET awards! He's still still alive and kickin' and crackin' hard on Don Cornelius.

:rofl:

[Number23]

24. Doesn't Jamie Foxx seem like he has issues??

That man is so talented it's ridiculous and yet, every song I've heard from him has been straight garbage. Jaimie, baby you left 25 behind a loooong time ago. Wake up and embrace the Old Spice!

By the way, glad to see you in AAIG, BumRush! :hi:

[BumRushDaShow]

29. I was actually

surprised when I first found out that Jamie was doing hip hop. But then it seems he did it as a lark (like Eddie Murphy's brief foray into music). I think it might just be a phase. LOL

I've lurked here for awhile to check in with the folks but that was my first post here.

Saying :hi: back at ya!

[jmm]

22. I unfortunately know those songs very well.

I swear most of the people at my job have the most craptacular taste in music. I work in an area with an open floor plan and my dept is sandwiched in between two others. Any given shift I can hear "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" on one radio and the new Black Eyed Peas CD on another at the same time. It almost makes me look forward to going home and listening to the guy downstairs trying to play the guitar and sing Britney Spears at the top of his lungs. I guess it beats the guy that use to live in that apt and play the uncensored version of "Wait" by the Ying Yang twins over and over...I wish I knew why I was a magnet for this type of thing x(

I still think good music is being made but the industry is controlled by a few companies who have the power to dictate the market and their main goal is profits, not quality.

[Number23]

23. Don't walk, RUN to a new neighborhood!

And a new job too! Girl, the music that surrounds you sounds like a mess!!

"Honky Tonk Badonkadonk"

:wtf: :wtf:

And the Black Eyed Peas just make me want to :puke:

[FrenchieCat]

3. And Isaac Hayes!

Gawd! :cry:

[Number23]

5. And don't forget

The incomparable Godfather, Brother James - http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/12/25/knJAMES_BROWN_narrowweb__300x407,0.jpg

[FrenchieCat]

6. You're gonna kill me now!

Nooooooooo!

Damn!
Just really too many greats gone! :cry:

[Fire1]

12. I know heaven is ON AND POPPIN!!! And don't forget

MARVIN GAYE AND JACKIE WILSON!!!!:cry:

[bliss_eternal]

14. Marvin left us much too soon.

:cry: Poor man.

[noiretextatique]

25. Sarah Vaughn and Nina Simone

:cry: I can't believe Sarah has been gone since 1990...it doesn't seem that long. Nina died in 2003 :cry: and Luther, Barry,Isaac...and Michael :cry: Michael

[Number23]

27. Nina Simone was a goddess

And yes, girl this was my theme song growing up. My mama made sure of that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBU80TF3oMQ :)

Do you remember another female singer. I can't remember her name. She was gorgeous, had the most fabulous voice. She committed suicide. She made a song and it said something like "I can't stand this being alone."

I cannot remember her name!!! Somebody help!

[BumRushDaShow]

30. You must be talking about Phyllis Hymen

I don't think there was one bad song on the album with "Living all alone".

Lord, I miss her beautiful contralto. :cry:

[Kind of Blue]

31. Me too. I just loved everything about her. Here's

a link to the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HXiO951tBc

[Number23]

33. That's it! That's the song!

What demons must someone that beautiful and talented have had to take her own life??

Lord, I can't even listen to the entire song. :cry: :cry:

[jmm]

32. Is this the song you're thinking of?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HXiO951tBc

I like her version of "Bethca By Golly Wow" although I think you'd have to try hard to have any music talent and do a bad version of that song.

[noiretextatique]

26. another death: Fayette Pinkey, one of the Three Degrees

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3945824

she died saturday.