After two self-contained albums, Prince started gigging with a band who would support him on 1980’s Dirty Mind . After a couple lineup changes, including the departure of his childhood friend André Cymone, the new band stablized with keyboardist Doctor Fink, drummer Bobby Z., bassist Brown Mark, and guitarist and pianist duo Wendy and Lisa. Prince would find his musical soul mates in this new group, dubbed THE REVOLUTION, who would join him on an extraordinary run of hit albums that would leave the world a better place.
AGENTS OF CHANGE by A. D. Amorosi
One of the strangest aspects regarding 2016’s loss of Prince and David Bowie—innovative artists who moved modern music forward in their own individualistic fashion—was speaking with those who aided each in making their densest, most formidable recordings. With Bowie, it was his first, last, and most consistent studio producer, Tony Visconti; his Let’s Dance collaborator Nile Rodgers; his guitarist-arranger Carlos Alomar who helped bring the singer from glam to soul then electronica; and the impressionist saxophonist that steered Bowie to a grand Blackstar finale, Donny McCaslin. To a man, they heralded Bowie’s genius, while taking little credit themselves for their master’s voice, no matter how integral each musician or technician’s contribution was to the main-man’s canon. Bowie’s work, however, changed so radically from album to album that its finest players got lost in the stars. Bowie’s Spiders from Mars dressed like their otherworldly front man, but you never got the feeling they too were sexually alternative aliens like Ziggy Stardust. Prince worked his paisley palate of funky soul-sonic psychedelia like a dog gnawing a bone, and most of his incredible players were happily faceless within that swirl. Not Prince’s the Revolution. To say they were radically different—operating wildly apart from how any other bandleader and backing band might interact—is an understatement. If he was loud, they were louder. If he was strong, they were stronger. If he was funky, they were funkier. If he was sexy, they were sexier. They had to be. No one will ever say any of that of Prince’s band from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic . Referring to the Revolution, keyboardist Matt “Doctor” Fink jokes, “I’d like to think we were sexy.” “I was always surprised when people said I had a good groove, but I guess I did,” says the classically inspired pianist/keyboardist Lisa
Coleman, also a member of the Revolution. “He called us his Mount Rushmore because we were iconic,” says Revolution drummer Bobby Z. (born Robert B. Rivkin). “I think he knew that we could not have existed without each other.” If Prince was a puffy-blouse-wearing, make-up slathering, ring- tail rounder who toyed with an image of androgyny and mysterious sexuality, Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, known as Wendy and Lisa, were the real deal—two women in love who didn’t toy with sexual identity, but lived life as a couple. That provoked Prince even more. “He played that up so well, embracing us and utilizing our sexuality to his advantage. It was the cherry—or two—on top of his sundae,” says Coleman with a mischievous chuckle. If Prince was a multi-tiered, multi-instrumentalist whose funk chops were as strong as his rock-outs, Revolution members Doctor Fink, Bobby Z., and bassist Brown Mark (born Mark Brown) were also there on the good foot, doubling down on whatever the boss meted out. “You had to be as good as him, if not better, because he wanted you to make him work,” says Brown. “Plus, he was a real disciplinarian.” Whether the one-man band of For You , Prince’s debut album released in 1978 (its notes state he played all twenty-seven instruments), or its immediate follow-up, 1979’s eponymous effort, may have led you to believe otherwise, Prince wrote, sang, and played best when playing to the strengths and quirks of that Revolution-ary team: guitarist Wendy Melvoin, bassist Brown Mark, drummer Bobby Z., keyboardist Matt “Doctor” Fink, and pianist/organist Lisa Coleman. The Revolution was (and is) integral to Prince’s 1979–1986 period, first with just Bobby Z. and Doctor Fink paired with André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, and Gayle Chapman on keyboards and vocals. By 1980, Chapman was out and Coleman was in, playing
( opposite ) The original lineup from 1980. Photo by Allen Beaulieu, courtesy of Warner Bros. As seen on the inner sleeve of 1980’s Dirty Mind .
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