Rosie Gaines
Rosie Gaines (born Rosemary Gaines; June 26, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer from Pittsburg, California. Gaines is a former band member of Prince's group, The New Power Generation. She duetted with singer Prince on the hit song "Diamonds and Pearls". She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close", which made the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997. Career Ensemble Gaines' first band was a family funk/soul group called Unity, with Gaines on organ, her brother Carl on bass guitar, her cousin Lacy on guitar, sister-in-law Dianne on background vocals and her sister Mal on drums. Gaines also played in a band called The Oasis and A Touch of Class before joining The Curtis Ohlson Band (with Levi Seacer, Jr. on guitar). Seacer called Gaines one day and asked her to come to Minneapolis, Minnesota to sing a demo of a song for The Pointer Sisters. Prince While she was doing the demo, Prince came in the recording studio, was impressed by her abilities and asked her to join his band The New Power Generation. Gaines was introduced in 1990 as the new vocalist and keyboard player on Prince's Nude Tour. Her first appearance on a Prince album was on Graffiti Bridge, her vocals prominent on the second single, "New Power Generation". She was also a member of the NPG in the film Graffiti Bridge. She wrote and performed on the Diamonds and Pearls album, her lead and background vocals prominently featured on most of the album's tracks, including the hit singles "Gett Off", "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls". In 1992, after the Diamonds and Pearls tour concluded, Gaines returned to her solo career, although she continued to work with Prince from time to time. Prince produced the official remix to Gaines's 1995 solo single "I Want U", titled "I Want U (Purple Version)". She duetted with Prince on the live version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", which is available on his 1993 compilation album, The Hits/The B-Sides and also contributed vocals to the tracks "I Rock Therefore I Am" (from Prince's 1996 Chaos and Disorder album), "Jam of the Year" (from Prince's 1996 Emancipation album) and a re-recorded version of "1999" (titled "1999: The New Master"), which was released by Prince & the NPG in 1999. Gaines also appeared alongside Prince, Larry Graham, and members of the Family Stone (and others) in a special New Year concert in 1999, which was released on DVD under the title Rave Un2 the Year 2000. Solo Gaines recorded her first solo album, titled Caring, in 1985, followed by the 1987 album No Sweeter Love. Although neither album received much commercial interest at the time, both albums have subsequently been released in a digital format on iTunes. Following her 3-year tenure with Prince & the NPG, between 1990 and 1992, Gaines started recording her next solo album. Several albums worth of material were recorded, and an album was set for release