Bassist Andre “Cymone” Anderson first met Prince in third grade, and they started working together in 1973 when Prince moved into Cymone’s house. The two played and recorded together over the next few years until Prince went solo in 1976.
After Prince signed with Warner Bros. in 1977, Prince and Cymone worked together off and on, with Cymone signing up on bass in the summer of 1978. Cymone played with Prince from the first January 1979 gigs through the 1981 Dirty Mind tour. He was also in the Rebels.
Whether Cymone left or was replaced is up for debate. The two had been drifting apart, with Cymone realizing that his Prince-like ambitions of leading his own band and producing other artists couldn’t happen while he was with Prince. According to Cymone, the final straw came when he didn’t get credit for largely writing the music for “Controversy,” this after not receiving credit for “Uptown.” Cymone’s final gig—and the last appearance of the first band—was at Dickerson’s birthday party on June 6, 1981.
Cymone released two albums immediately after departing and in 1983 released Girls Talk by The Girls, his response to Vanity 6. In 1985, his record company convinced him to accept “The Dance Electric” as a gift from Prince, a choice Cymone regretted after Prince indulged in his own largess. The song became Cymone’s biggest hit. Prince’s version of the song was released in 2017.
Cymone continued producing until the mid-1990s, when he left the music industry.
For all the time that Cymone worked with Prince, the only released Prince studio track he appears on is harmony on “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad.” Cymone performed with Prince in 1986 and 2012, singing “The Dance Electric.”
Bobby Z. (1977–1986)
Drummer Bobby Z. (Rivkin) met Prince in the summer of 1976 when Chris Moon invited him to Moonsound. Bobby had been around the scene for a while, as his brother, David Rivkin, had engineered Grand Central Corporation’s 1976 ASI demos. Bobby heard Prince on piano at Moonsound and decided he wanted to be part of the next big thing. In 1977, Bobby drummed on Prince’s Warner Bros. signing song “We Can Work It Out.”
Bobby Z.’s uncluttered style suited Prince’s vision for his live band. He was hired in the summer of 1978 and continued behind the kit until he was unceremoniously fired from the Revolution by phone on October 7, 1986.
Bobby Z. appeared on fourteen Prince studio recordings, “Jack U Off,” and the regular thirteen Revolution tracks (see chapter 19). He also drummed on the Loring Park and The Rebels sessions. Bobby wrote “Rivers Run Dry” on The Family, but he doesn’t appear on the LP. After producing Boy George in 1988, he released a self-titled solo album in 1990 that included “Rivers Run Dry.” Bobby joined Prince onstage in 2000 and 2013.
Dez Dickerson (1979–1983)
Desmond D’andrea “Dez” Dickerson answered an ad in the summer of 1979 in the Twin Cities Reader for a guitarist. Dickerson showed up for the audition, but Prince didn’t until about two hours later. Dez had only fifteen minutes before he had to leave for a gig with his band Romeo. He played with Prince, highlighting his easy, New Wave rhythms without ever overshadowing Prince. Prince walked him out, asking deep, probing questions. He got the job.
Dickerson was in the live band from the January 1979 beginning until the April 10, 1983, end of the 1999 tour, his final gig the next month at the Minnesota Music Awards. After Dr. Fink’s medical outfit, Dickerson’s flashy New Wave style and kamikaze head wrap was probably the most recognizable visual element of Prince’s early band.
After the Dirty Mind tour in December 1980, on December 22, at 11:30 p.m. precisely, Dickerson became a born-again Christian. This conversion conflicted with pansexual attitudes promoted by Prince’s music, and Dickerson became increasingly uncomfortable in the band. According to sources, the feeling was mutual, as Dickerson’s beliefs and the constant presence of his wife made life difficult for the rest of the group. The end came when Prince asked for a three-year Purple Rain commitment and Dickerson rejected the offer.
The provocative cover of Prince’s masterpiece Dirty Mind pointed toward a stark new visual and musical approach, one aimed at generating a following with new wave/punk fans. It worked. The era’s non-LP B-side “Gotta Stop (Messin’ About)” was number five on progressive Boston radio station WBCN’s best singles of 1981, nestled between the Stray Cats’ “Rock This Town” and Adam and the Ants’ “Stand and Deliver.” (Author’s collection)
Dickerson’s most memorable moment in Prince’s band occurred during the disastrous October 9 and 11, 1981, opening gigs for the Rolling Stones at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Dickerson warned Prince that the Rolling Stones’s traditional rock crowd might not be receptive to a funk–New Wave band led by a guy wearing lingerie. Prince ignored him. Dez kept the band together as Prince took off from the stage. He also persuaded him to return to Los Angeles for the second gig after he fled to Minneapolis, convincing him that it would be a racist victory if he let the white audience defeat him. Prince returned for the second show, but it went no better than the first.
Dickerson first recorded with Prince as The Rebels. In 1981, he contributed “After High School” and cowrote “Cool” with Prince for The Time. He also cowrote “Wild and Loose” with Prince for What Time Is It? For 1982’s Vanity 6 LP, he wrote, produced, and played drums and guitar on “He’s So Dull” and played drums on “3 × 2 = 6.”
Dickerson’s only contributions to Prince studio songs are co–lead vocals on “1999” and background vocals and lead guitar on “Little Red Corvette.” But what wonderful guitar work it is.
Although Dickerson didn’t commit to Purple Rain, he appeared on-screen with his band the Modernaires performing Prince’s “Modernaire.” Dickerson released the song, which featured Prince on everything but vocals, as “(I Want 2 B A) Modernaire” on his 2005 A Retrospective. Dickerson released a book in 2003 titled My Time with Prince: Confessions of a Former Revolutionary, last saw Prince in 2004, and talked to him two weeks before his death.
Matt Fink (1979–1990)
A friend of engineer David Rivkin, Matt Fink first met Prince in early 1977 after hearing the Sound 80 demos and being blown away. The next year, David’s brother, drummer Bobby Z., recruited Fink into Prince’s live band. Future Time member and producer Jimmy Jam (James Samuel Harris III) was considered for the position, but Prince, seeking to duplicate the race and gender diversity of Sly and the Family Stone, decided on the white Fink. Fink was the longest-lasting member of Prince’s first band, surviving multiple purges before leaving in 1990.
Fink’s bright, poppy keyboard riffs on early tunes stand out but not as much as his doctor’s outfit. Fink wore a prisoner’s outfit to start the 1980 Rick James tour. James appropriated Fink’s outfit, and Prince didn’t want him wearing it anymore. He went back to an old idea (medical scrubs) and soon became the much-loved Dr. Fink. Prince initially insisted on Fink wearing a medical mask for an air of mystery but relented when it interfered with Fink’s breathing and playing.
Dr. Fink is the first band member other than Prince to get a musician credit on a Prince LP: synthesizer on “Dirty Mind” and “Head” (which was a huge Fink live number). He cowrote the former song.