Another loss for Stevie (and us)

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by Frankenstein

I didn't want to post this in the Prince thread, but I was reading the post about Stevie's stories of him and the timeline didn't really add up... They met in 83, haven't spoken since the Purple Rain premiere (84) but yet he apparently picked her up after a FM show... which could have only been in 82 or 87? Oh Stevie

No, the Wild Heart sessions started since right after Bella Donna in 1981 to 1983, and the show she was picked up by Prince was a Mirage one.

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

No, the Wild Heart sessions started since right after Bella Donna in 1981 to 1983, and the show she was picked up by Prince was a Mirage one.

She wrote Stand Back in Jan '83 and had him come over to HER to help her record it

but then he takes her back to HIS place to record something (write a song together) during a FM tour ... was this Mirage?? and did that happen BEFORE she wrote Stand Back??????? or was this during Tango? If she says she thinks they stopped being friends coz of drugs. And what song was it? Since it clearly wasn't Purple Rain if he sent her that on a diff occasion

How could Prince have picked Stevie up during a MIRAGE tour if they only met in 1983 SisterNightroad??????? since she said she called HIM up...to help her. they'd clearly never met before that


ETA: i agree, the timeline is DODGY

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

She wrote Stand Back in Jan '83 and had him come over to HER to help her record it

but then he takes her back to HIS place to record something (write a song together) during a FM tour ... was this Mirage?? and did that happen BEFORE she wrote Stand Back??????? or was this during Tango? If she says she thinks they stopped being friends coz of drugs. And what song was it? Since it clearly wasn't Purple Rain if he sent her that on a diff occasion

How could Prince have picked Stevie up during a MIRAGE tour if they only met in 1983 SisterNightroad??????? since she said she called HIM up...to help her. they'd clearly never met before that

I only know she recorded overdubs on the Prince song "All over you". The song has been catalogued in 1985 but could be written before that. I don't know if Stand Back happened before All Over you or after, I just think it is more probable it was Mirage. The only thing we have is Stevie's memory and that isn't very reliable. Little Red Corvette went out in 1982 so she may very well have heard it and started working on Stand Back in 1982. All Over You can't be dated to the Tango period.

[nicolasjz]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

She wrote Stand Back in Jan '83 and had him come over to HER to help her record it

but then he takes her back to HIS place to record something (write a song together) during a FM tour ... was this Mirage?? and did that happen BEFORE she wrote Stand Back??????? or was this during Tango? If she says she thinks they stopped being friends coz of drugs. And what song was it? Since it clearly wasn't Purple Rain if he sent her that on a diff occasion

How could Prince have picked Stevie up during a MIRAGE tour if they only met in 1983 SisterNightroad??????? since she said she called HIM up...to help her. they'd clearly never met before that


ETA: i agree, the timeline is DODGY

Stevie's timeline doesn't make any sense. We should be used to it by now

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by nicolasjz

Stevie's timeline doesn't make any sense. We should be used to it by now

Exactly....

[DauphineMarie]

Ok, so this is how I think it sort of fits together.

The show they allegedly met at happened on 23 September in Minnesota...

They have a bang-up time, but leave on tense terms, as they have massive disagreements with each other's lifestyles. They work on some songs? All Over You, etc. (maybe)

Fast forward to January 1983 (four months later), Stevie works on Stand Back, and decides to call Prince up. I couldn't find any specific information that explicitly states they had never bet before, so I'm assuming they did. Prince comes in, does what he does, and that's it. As highly guarded as Prince was, I don't think he would come to the studio, and add a synth part for just anyone, so I would be led to assume there was already some established relationship.

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by DauphineMarie

Ok, so this is how I think it sort of fits together.

The show they allegedly met at happened on 23 September in Minnesota...

They have a bang-up time, but leave on tense terms, as they have massive disagreements with each other's lifestyles. They work on some songs? All Over You, etc. (maybe)

Fast forward to January 1983 (four months later), Stevie works on Stand Back, and decides to call Prince up. I couldn't find any specific information that explicitly states they had never bet before, so I'm assuming they did. Prince comes in, does what he does, and that's it. As highly guarded as Prince was, I don't think he would come to the studio, and add a synth part for just anyone, so I would be led to assume there was already some established relationship.

Yes, that is a prossible timeline.


But I thought:

1982 - Prince's record 1999, that contains Little red corvette, gets out. Stevie hears it and gets the inspiration for Stand Back. Stevie actually works on the song and calls Prince in 1982, not 1983 like she remembers, and he goes away. At the time it wasn't unusual for musicians to do uncredited apparitions in other artist's work, so he never asked to be credited. But he called her towards the end of the Mirage Tour to return the favor and she feels obliged to comply, probably also flatterd, so she jumps in his little red corvette and goes to his house. They record a bit of what will become All Over You, Stevie acts coked out (congruent with her Mirage persona) and then she goes away like he did for Stand Back and they both resume their lives.

1984 - Stevie is working on Rock a Little. Stand Back already went out on the Wild Heart and has been a hit, while All Over You wasn't ultimately used for anything, so she still owes him. Prince sends Stevie a cassette of what she deemed later to be Purple Rain but she eventually chickens out, so they are back to All Over You. Maybe the episode in which she's ill and he doesn't want her to get too much medicines because she's already too addicted happens at this time (again congruent with her RAL persona). They see each other at the premiere of the Purple Rain movie, where Stevie says to him that the scene of the slap freaked her out. He decides he's fed up with Stevie's strangeness and decides not to call her anymore.

1985 - For some reason Stevie is in possession of All Over You from the Rock a Little sessions' period. Maybe Prince is fed up with her and ditched her the song, maybe he forgot it and doesn't want to contact her even to get the song back or simply isn't interested in it anymore, so Stevie gives it to Atlantic Records where it's been left ever since.

This is the only explanation unless there's another secret song they worked together on later. Which in my opinion is highly unprobable.

[nicolasjz]

Originally Posted by DauphineMarie

Ok, so this is how I think it sort of fits together.

The show they allegedly met at happened on 23 September in Minnesota...

They have a bang-up time, but leave on tense terms, as they have massive disagreements with each other's lifestyles. They work on some songs? All Over You, etc. (maybe)

Fast forward to January 1983 (four months later), Stevie works on Stand Back, and decides to call Prince up. I couldn't find any specific information that explicitly states they had never bet before, so I'm assuming they did. Prince comes in, does what he does, and that's it. As highly guarded as Prince was, I don't think he would come to the studio, and add a synth part for just anyone, so I would be led to assume there was already some established relationship.

September 1983: interview with MTV. On recording Stand Back with Prince, Stevie says: "I never had met him or anything." Go to 7:05: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Hdvua7O0I

[nicolasjz]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

1982 - Prince's record 1999, that contains Little red corvette, gets out. Stevie hears it and gets the inspiration for Stand Back. Stevie actually works on the song and calls Prince in 1982, not 1983 like she remembers, and he goes away. At the time it wasn't unusual for musicians to do uncredited apparitions in other artist's work, so he never asked to be credited. But he called her towards the end of the Mirage Tour to return the favor and she feels obliged to comply, probably also flatterd, so she jumps in his little red corvette and goes to his house. They record a bit of what will become All Over You, Stevie acts coked out (congruent with her Mirage persona) and then she goes away like he did for Stand Back and they both resume their lives.

The timeline is very confusing. Stevie is adamant that she heard Little Red Corvette on her wedding day on January 29, 1983, which makes sense given that "1999", the album that includes the song, was released just three months before, and the single itself would be released just a week after Stevie's wedding.
BUT, according to the Prince fan community, he worked on Stand Back in the week of January 7-14, 1983 at Studio 55, while he was working on extended versions of Little Red Corvette and Drive Me Wild at neighbouring Sunset Sound studio. To add to the confusion, Stevie claimed in Storytellers that she was at Sunset Sound herself when she called Prince. I don't have the WH liner notes with me right now, but if I remember correctly Sunset Sound was not mentioned as one of the studios where Stevie recorded.

My theory is that they indeed met during the Mirage Tour, and that Stevie simply didn't remember that this encounter had happened before she called him to work on Stand Back.
This was peak coked-out Stevie, so we can't really count on her for such specifics

[BlueDenimLamp]

Originally Posted by nicolasjz

The timeline is very confusing. Stevie is adamant that she heard Little Red Corvette on her wedding day on January 29, 1983, which makes sense given that "1999", the album that includes the song, was released just three months before, and the single itself would be released just a week after Stevie's wedding.
BUT, according to the Prince fan community, he worked on Stand Back in the week of January 7-14, 1983 at Studio 55, while he was working on extended versions of Little Red Corvette and Drive Me Wild at neighbouring Sunset Sound studio. To add to the confusion, Stevie claimed in Storytellers that she was at Sunset Sound herself when she called Prince. I don't have the WH liner notes with me right now, but if I remember correctly Sunset Sound was not mentioned as one of the studios where Stevie recorded.

My theory is that they indeed met during the Mirage Tour, and that Stevie simply didn't remember that this encounter had happened before she called him to work on Stand Back.
This was peak coked-out Stevie, so we can't really count on her for such specifics

"Wild Heart" liner notes say "Stand Back" was recorded at "Studio 55"

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by nicolasjz

The timeline is very confusing. Stevie is adamant that she heard Little Red Corvette on her wedding day on January 29, 1983, which makes sense given that "1999", the album that includes the song, was released just three months before, and the single itself would be released just a week after Stevie's wedding.
BUT, according to the Prince fan community, he worked on Stand Back in the week of January 7-14, 1983 at Studio 55, while he was working on extended versions of Little Red Corvette and Drive Me Wild at neighbouring Sunset Sound studio. To add to the confusion, Stevie claimed in Storytellers that she was at Sunset Sound herself when she called Prince. I don't have the WH liner notes with me right now, but if I remember correctly Sunset Sound was not mentioned as one of the studios where Stevie recorded.

My theory is that they indeed met during the Mirage Tour, and that Stevie simply didn't remember that this encounter had happened before she called him to work on Stand Back.
This was peak coked-out Stevie, so we can't really count on her for such specifics

Thanks, that information is useful.
Yes, Stevie's memory isn't reliable at all, that's why I prefer to base myself on dates of surrounding events. Now that we have the fact-proofing from the Prince fan community we can say with a reasonable certainty that either:
1) Like you said, they met on the Mirage Tour the 23 September in Minneapolis but she didn't remember and then she called him for Stand Back in 1983.
2) They actually met the first time in January for the recording of Stand Back and then Stevie mistook the Fleetwood Mac Mirage Tour for her Wild Heart Tour. In that case they met the second time the 15th of July 1983 in Minneapolis.
From 1984 onwards I stick with my first version.

[DauphineMarie]

Originally Posted by nicolasjz

September 1983: interview with MTV. On recording Stand Back with Prince, Stevie says: "I never had met him or anything." Go to 7:05: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Hdvua7O0I

Yes, thank you for reminding me of this.

Most likely though, she wouldn't tell the truth on this matter anyway. Neither Prince nor Stevie would benefit from being linked in any way at the time, and was just keeping their liaison from becoming public knowledge.

The only reason I'm saying they met is because of the existence of Thousand Days. Stevie could not have written that song about a guy she had never met before coming into a studio for 20 minutes and not saying anything.

"'Thousand Days' was written about my non-relationship with Prince," says Nicks, who had earlier composed "Stand Back" with him - although she notes he's never called her back "to set up his payment on 50%" of the latter. "Days" recounts an abortive, all-night '80s recording session with him at his Minneapolis home during a Fleetwood Mac tour, climaxing with Nicks "smoking my pot - he didn't agree with my lifestyle - and going to sleep on Prince's floor in his kitchen. I like him, but we were just so different there was no possible meeting ground."
~Billboard Magazine, April 1998

So though the timeline is somewhat confusing, one can come to the conclusion that even if the days/months don't add up, there WAS something more to the story.

EDIT:: Yes, SisterNightroad, I just saw your reply, and that makes perfect sense. Thank you.

[DashingDan]

I may be imaging this, but in the commentary of the Crystal Visions DVD during Edge of Seventeen from BellaDonna HBO she talks of her backstage freakout and doesn't she say "Prince was there".

[DashingDan]

Yup....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdyeO2b0POw

[SisterNightroad]

I just remembered that Stevie briefly talked about Prince (just their similarity in term of clothes) in her RAL interview. Here after 0:30 circa: