proteges

I always admired how Prince’s genius rubbed off on others. Or maybe he just attracted good people. If it wasn’t for Prince, there would probably be no Janet Jackson as we know her (producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis worked with Prince in The Time), Jody Watley as we know her (produced by Andre Cymone, Prince’s bassist early on), Sinead would be hitless, possibly no Tevin Campbell, Wendy and Lisa, “Sex Shooter”, etc.

George Michael is sort of a poor man’s Prince. If it wasn’t for that urinal queen, we’d never have:

Backup singers Pepsi and Shirlie, who’s “Heartache” is so candy it’ll give you a toothache.



Deon Estus, George’s bassist, who probably shouldn’t have appeared in his own video for “Heaven Help Me”.



And I recently learned about Wham!’s first backup singer Dee C. Lee. Friend Andrew J has enriched my life by giving me a Girls Aloud mix CD, the catchiest band since the days of guilty feet having no rhythm and the sun shining brighter than Doris Day. They remade a song called “See the Day” originally recorded by Dee, who married Jam singer Paul Weller. Sadly, the the Dee version on youtube sound like crap. Too bad, because Dee roller skates in the video and it makes me happy.