Apollonia 6 Apollonia 6 album

Warner Bros. Records

album

Prince and I never dated – we’re family

Despite being credited to the vocal trio Apollonia 6, all the tracks on the LP are written by Prince, who also plays every instrument on it. The group’s 22-year-old lead, former model and actress, Patrica Apollonia Kotero was the successful applicant from a talent search of 700 hopefuls attending an open audition in New York following the departure of Denise Matthews having quit the band’s earlier incarnation Vanity 6. Kotero subsequently filled Matthews’ role as Prince’s muse and costar in the movie Purple Rain. Susan Moonsie and Brenda Bennett from Vanity’s lineup rejoin with Kotero to form the renamed Apollonia 6. Following the release of the movie, the trio accompanied Prince on select dates as support act for the ensuing Purple Rain Tour.

Prince produced many tracks for the Apollonia 6 LP, those that were deemed too good and so were withdrawn from the final configuration in favour of other projects include the hits The Glamorous Life (re-recorded and released by Sheila E for her album debut) and Manic Monday (famously given to The Bangles in 1985) and 17 Days (becoming B-side to When Doves Cry, although Bennett’s part remains in the final edit). For the movie, Take Me With U was intended for Apollonia in the lead, although this became a duet once it was apparent her voice lacked the power to carry it; the vocals of Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones are thereby overdubbed in support. The song was transferred to the main Purple Rain soundtrack and replaced on Apollonia 6 with Blue Limousine. As the project wound on, Prince disbanded Apollonia 6 following Purple Rain Tour and Kotero resumed her career in acting, retaining her Prince-appointed stage name Apollonia Kotero. Although not a strong vocalist, she released a solo album in 1988 under Warner Bros Records titled Apollonia; it got no Prince input. She and Prince remained in contact right up until his death in April 2016.

Prince performed the lead vocals throughout on the album to give the trio singing direction, which Apollonia 6 overdubbed in the final cut of the tracks. Prince’s original vocal demos survive, of which Sex Shooter was released in 2019 by Warner Records in the posthumous compilation Originals. Prince involvement in Apollonia 6 is hidden under the production company The Starr ★ Company, he is not credited by name. Sex Shooter was recorded in the summer of 1983 at Prince’s Kiowa Trail home studio intended for Vanity 6 and is the oldest track on Apollonia 6 where it ended up following Matthews’ departure. Non-singer Kotero had to make two attempts to overdub her lead vocals. The balance of the tracks were recorded in the spring of 1984 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood during the shooting of the movie, that is apart from Happy Birthday, Mr Christian which was recorded that August at Prince’s newly acquired Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse studio in the outskirts of Minneapolis as being a late replacement for Manic Monday. Prince’s vocal version of the song also features on Originals.

Performers

Vocals

Patrica Kotero

Susan Moonsie

Brenda Bennett

All instruments

Prince

Drums

Shelia E ^{A Million Miles (I Love You)}

Keyboards

Lisa Coleman ^{A Million Miles (I Love You)}

Guitar

Wendy Melvoin ^{A Million Miles (I Love You)}

Backing vocals

Susannah Melvoin ^{Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian and Blue Limousine}

Jill Jones ^{Ooo She She Wa Wa}

Brownmark ^{Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian}

Data

Producer

Prince (as The Starr ★ Company)

Label

Warner Bros. Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Larry Williams, Jeri McManus and Glenn Parsons

Released

42 years ago on 1 October 1984

Running Time

34:23

US Chart Peak

62

US R&B Peak

24

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

1. Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian [lead vocal Apollonia] (7:06)
2. Sex Shooter [lead vocal Apollonia] (3:39)
3. Blue Limousine [lead vocal Brenda Bennett] (6.19)
4. A Million Times (I Love You) [lead vocal Brenda Bennett] (5:51)
5. Ooo She Wanna Wa Wa [lead vocal Susan Moonsie] (4:10)
6. Some Kind Of Lover [lead vocal Brenda Bennett] (4:48)
7. In A Spanish Villa [Apollonia] (2:12)

Released as a single

Apollonia 6 album review

I wrongly underrated Apollonia 6 for the best part of 30 years. Yes, it has its highs and low points, and it is impossible to tell how invested Prince was in this 1984 project what was essentially intended as the second album for the band’s earlier stocking clad incarnation Vanity 6. Whereas the lead single was Sex Shooter, due to its eyebrow raising segment in the movie Purple Rain, there are still highlights aplenty – four to be exact, out of the album’s seven tracks – a far higher number than I for one originally gave credit. Whilst the stockings have aged badly the (good) tracks have not.

To think that Manic Monday and 17 Days were slated for this record, there is still plenty on offer. Its best track is Happy Birthday Mr. Christian – which showcases some of Prince’s best storytelling in his lyrics. Funny enough, Prince jumped from recording this track straight into Purple Rain itself, it enjoys remarkable provenance and tells of a student’s fantasy getting off with their teacher who rewards his pupil’s silence with uncharacteristically goods marks. Prince is also playing the instruments throughout, with occasionally the mighty Sheila E on drums.

Prince’s two titillation projects were not taken seriously in music perhaps unsurprisingly, much unlike The Time, Prince’s greatest side-project. Others worthy of honourable mention are A Million Times (I Love You) complete with its addictive hook and instrumental section; the radio friendly Some Kind Of Lover which backed the album’s second of its two singles, and forth worthy track Blue Limousine.

Apollonia 6 is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.