[The truth is, I think Prince actually did have more of a thing for FM than people know]
Billboard [The Revolution Remembers Prince] by Jem Aswad December 12, 2016, 11:53am EST
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ev...-final-moments
Z: What we call the "movie band" -- the band you’re talking to right now -- these are the people who were committed. The guys in the early days [Cymone and Dickerson] made it very clear to
Prince that they had solo careers. Prince was frustrated by that, and it wasn't until Wendy joined -- until his dream of a Fleetwood Mac-style band came true -- that it really became the band he wanted it to be. That first time Wendy jammed with us at soundcheck on “Controversy” … It’s like when you’d hear the Beatles talking about when they found Ringo. You just knew that was the future, and Purple Rain is the testament to that. I think The Revolution was the last band Prince was really in -- he was the bandleader after that.
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The Revolution evolved gradually over several years, with all of the members joining during (or shortly after) their teens. Minneapolis native Z first met Prince in 1976, a few months before the 18-year-old boy wonder signed his deal with Warner Bros. Z's friend Fink joined before the band's concert debut in January 1979. Coleman replaced keyboardist Gayle Chapman the following year; Brown took over for bassist Andre Cymone the next. Even the band's name took years to emerge, first appearing -- written backwards -- on the cover of the 1999 album. Finally, Melvoin -- Coleman's childhood friend (their fathers were L.A. session musicians) and then-girlfriend -- replaced guitarist Dez Dickerson in mid-1983. While Sly & the Family Stone seems the most obvious reference, as Z puts it, "
Prince's dream of a Fleetwood Mac-style band came true."