Prince has always kept a tight lid on his business decisions along with his personal life. The other night during one of his concerts in Australia, he decided last minute to dedicate his performance to his late ex-girlfriend and former protégé singer, Denise “Vanity” Matthews. Reluctantly, it was reported, she passed away this past Sunday morning.
During the first few numbers of the concert, The Herald Sun quotes Prince expressing his sentiments before playing a tear-jerking rendition of “Little Red Corvette,” “Someone dear to us has passed away, I’m gonna dedicate this song to her.” During his performance of “The Ladder” he even went as far to change the name in the song from ‘Electra’ to ‘Vanity.’
Towards the end of the night, Prince decided to share one last intimate memory from Matthew’s and his fiery relationship, “Can I tell you a story about Vanity? Or should I tell you a story about Denise? Her and I used to love each other deeply. She loved me for the artist I was, I loved her for the artist she was trying to be. She and I would fight. She was very headstrong cause she knew she was the finest woman in the world. She never missed an opportunity to tell you that. I probably shouldn’t be telling this story, but she’d want us to celebrate her life and not mourn her.”
He immediately began to dish on a memory that involved him threatening to throw Matthews in the pool, she curtly responded, “You can’t throw me in the pool, you’re too little.” Just how did the Purple One respond to such a statement? The only way he knows how of course, by asking his bodyguard to throw her in the pool for him.
R.I.P. Denise “Vanity” Matthews
–Words by Claire Howard
