Prince and Vanity's musical and romantic partnership started in 1982 when, as told to Rolling Stone, she gave Prince a demo tape. He flew her from Toronto to his home city of Minneapolis to meet two other aspiring singers and start a band. The result was Vanity 6, so named for Matthews' then-new stage name, which she explained she chose because "a girl's best friend is her pride." Vanity 6's biggest hit was the song "Nasty Girl," which peaked at number seven on Billboard's Hot R & B chart. Per a 1984 People interview, Vanity helped Prince pen his 1984 hit movie Purple Rain and was set to play the female lead, "a role based in part on her own life story." However, the two broke up before filming started and, per I Love Old School Music, Vanity was replaced by actress Apollonia both in the movie and in the band, which became Apollonia 6. Vanity made two solo albums and starred in movies and television before becoming a born-again Christian after receiving a kidney transplant in 1997, at which point she "devote[d] her life to evangelism," said Billboard.
Prince paid tribute to Vanity one day after her death while performing in Melbourne, Australia. He dedicated the song "Little Red Corvette" to her, telling the crowd "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." Two months later, the world had lost them both.
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