 | | When Prince broke up the Revolution in 1986, guitarist Wendy Melvoin and keyboardist Lisa Coleman, friends since childhood, decided to team up for a new musical project. |
 | | Known for their trashy, pornographic image and sexually exploitive lyrics, Vanity 6 were a short-lived female vocal trio that came out of Prince's funk-rock empire in 1982. |
 | | Before she became a solo artist in 1984, drummer Sheila E. played with Azteca, the Latin jazz-fusion band led by her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo; she also played on two of his solo albums recorded for Fantasy Records. |
 | | When the Time broke up in 1984, its ex-members had no problem keeping busy. Morris Day pursued a solo career, while Jesse Johnson formed Jesse Johnson's Revue and produced albums for singer Ta Mara and her band the Seen. |
 | | Illinois-born funk/soul guitarist Jesse Johnson began playing guitar when he was 15, honing his chops in local rock bands throughout his teens and early twenties. |
 | | Born Patricia Kotero on August 2, 1959, in Santa Monica, CA, the woman rechristened Apollonia by Prince became one of a number of female artists in the '80s to benefit from her association with the Purple One. |
 | | With his dynamic dancing and smooth yet gutsy, vocals, Morris Day played an essential role in the development of the Twin City dance/club sound of the 1980s. |
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 | | Prince's girl trio, Vanity 6, became Apollonia 6 when actress Patricia "Apollonia" Kotero replaced Denise "Vanity" Matthews in 1984, joining existing members Brenda Bennett and Susie Moonsie. |
 | | From their origins as Prince's first pet project to their self-produced funk-rock oeuvre, the Time has been a fascinating and outrageous congregation. |
 | | Heavily influenced by Prince and the Time, Mazarati was among the many acts that came out of the Minneapolis funk-rock scene of the 1980s--a scene that also gave us Jesse Johnson's Revue, the Family, Ta Mara & the Seen, Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. |
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 | | Although dance-pop singer Pebbles scored several hit singles on her own during the '80s, she has become best-known as the manager (and creator) of one of the genre's biggest hit machines the following decade. |
 | | Rosie Gaines made her first appearance in the national limelight as a charter member of Prince's New Power Generation, contributing heavily to his Diamonds and Pearls album. |
 | | Grammy Award-winning vocalist/producer/songwriter Jody Watley made a name for herself with the dance-soul trio Shalamar before embarking on a solo career that would bring her numerous Top Ten hits and a reputation as "The Queen of Cool. |
 | | Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. |
 | | André Cymone, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, is more than a branch in the Prince musical family tree. |
 | | 1980s pop diva Sheena Easton was born Sheena Shirley Orr in Bellshill, Scotland on April 27, 1959. Inspired to pursue a singing career after seeing Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were, she later attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama while moonlighting with the group Something Else. |
 | | A Prince protege, Chavez made news when she claimed she'd written, but received no credit for, Madonna's"Justify My Love" (Chavez was proved in the right). |
 | | When she was 16 years old, Samantha Fox rose to stardom in Britain as a topless model in the Daily Sun newspaper. |
 | | An Ohio singer/dancer, Jermaine Stewart was on Soul Train as a teen during the years it was in Chicago. |
 | | Dance-pop diva Taylor Dayne (born Leslie Wonderman) had a remarkably quick ascent to stardom in the late '80s, sailing into the Top Ten with her first single, "Tell It to My Heart. |
 | | A member of the Motown label roster during the 1990s, R&B singer Shanice was best known for her infectious smash "I Love Your Smile. |
 | | One of the more interesting urban contemporary vocalists of the late '80s and early '90s, the Los Angeles-based Michel'le was known for having a squeaky, high-pitched speaking voice and an aggressive, full-bodied style of singing. |
 | | Crossover contemporary R&B singer Karyn White was born in Los Angeles, California, where her father played trumpet and her mother was a church choir director. |
 | | This Minneapolis, Minnesota (via Natchez, Mississippi) soul man cut his teeth in the Time but bounced before the band signed with Warner Bros. |
 | | Debbie Gibson became a pop phenomenon in the late '80s, scoring a string of hit singles when she was only 17. |
 | | Based in Brooklyn, vocalist Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Velez) and her supporting band, Cult Jam (Mike Hughes and Alex "Spanador" Moseley), were one of the most consistent dance-pop/R&B groups of the mid-'80s. |
 | | After stars reach a certain point, it's easy to forget what they became famous for and concentrate solely on their personas. |
 | | All-female band formed in 1979 by producer/drummer Bernadette Cooper, guitarist Cheryl Cooley and keyboard player Lynn Malsby. |
 | | A Michigan funk band with slight rock leanings, Ready for the World parlayed Melvin Riley's whining vocals and some trendy production into a pair of number one R&B hits in the mid-'80s for MCA. |
 | | Famous for Latin-flavored dance-pop as well as for adult contemporary ballads, the female vocal trio Exposé enjoyed a great deal of commercial success in the '80s and early '90s. |
 | | Born in Philadelphia into a musical family (her mother was a singer and her father was a pianist and music professor), dance vocalist Elisa Fiorillo enjoyed a modicum of commercial success in the wake of Madonna in the late '80s. |
 | | Club Nouveau formed in Sacramento in 1986, including Jay King, Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy, Samuelle Pratter, and Valerie Watson. |
 | | Just as Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6 wouldn't have existed without Prince, the Mary Jane Girls were created by Rick James and were very much a product of the funkster's imagination. |
 | | One of the stars of Clarence Avant's Tabu label, as well as an early beneficiary of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Cherrelle was born Cheryl Norton in 1958 in Los Angeles, California. |
 | | One of the brightest R&B stars of the late '80s and early '90s, Bobby Brown was the performer who popularized new jack swing, a blend of classic soul, synth-funk, and hip-hop rhythms that often featured rap breaks in between the conventionally melodic verses and choruses. |
 | | The longtime guitarist with Prince's legendary backing band the Revolution, Dez Dickerson later enjoyed solo success within the Christian rock community. |
 | | In the wake of Madonna's success, many dance-pop divas filled the charts, but out of them all, Paula Abdul was the only one who sustained a career. |
 | | George Michael was the biggest British pop star of the 1980s, spinning a series of infectiously catchy pop singles into global stardom that saw him sell over 100 million albums worldwide. |
 | | The husband/wife team from Portland, OR -- guitarist/composer John Smith and vocalist Valerie Day -- attracted some attention on the R&B and disco circuit in the late '80s. |
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 | | A former dance diva with slick, soulful vocals, Cathy Dennis enjoyed a handful of pop hits during the early '90s before transforming herself into one of the U. |
 | | Before hard funksters like Prince and the Time hit the national stage, before groundbreaking alternative rockers Hüsker Dü and the Replacements, Minneapolis was barely a blip on America's musical radar -- that is until Lipps Inc. |
 | | The lone Jackson family member to stay with Motown while the other brothers split for CBS/Epic (he was then married to Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel), Jermaine enjoyed a artistically diffident career during the '70s at Motown, surfacing with an occasional hit like a remake of "Daddy's Home" (1972) and "Let's Be Young Tonight" (1975). |
 | | Shalamar was the creation of Dick Griffey, the booking agent for the television R&B program Soul Train, and British R&B producer Simon Soussan. |
 | | Few celebrity siblings can emerge from the shadows of their already famous relations to become superstars in their own right and with their own distinct personalities. |
 | | Best known in the mainstream for her superb 1984 cover of Prince's "I Feel for You," R&B singer Chaka Khan enjoyed solo success as well as popularity as a member of the group Rufus. |
 | | English vocalist Lisa Stansfield was the lead singer of the group the Blue Zone and featured on Coldcut's "People Hold On" in 1989. |
 | | b. Denise Matthews, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Aspiring actress and model Denise Matthews broke into the music business when she gave a set of lyrics to the manager of Prince, who immediately offered her a role in his stable of artists. |
