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Rosie Gaines (bornRosemary Gaines; June 26, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer fromPittsburg,California. Gaines is a former band member ofPrince's group theNew Power Generation. She duetted with singer Prince on the hit song "Diamonds and Pearls". She released a number ofdancehits, the most notable being "Closer than Close", which made the top 10 on theUK Singles Chart in 1997.

Gaines' first band was a familyfunk/soul group called Unity, with Gaines onorgan, 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 (withLevi Seacer, Jr. on guitar). Seacer called Gaines one day and asked her to come toMinneapolis,Minnesota to sing ademo of a song forThe Pointer Sisters.

While she was doing the demo,Prince came in therecording studio, was impressed by her abilities and asked her to join his bandThe New Power Generation. Gaines was introduced in 1990 as the new vocalist and keyboard player on Prince'sNude Tour.^[1] Her first appearance on a Prince album was onGraffiti Bridge, her vocals prominent on the second single, "New Power Generation". She was also a member of the NPG in the filmGraffiti Bridge. She wrote and performed on theDiamonds 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 theDiamonds 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)". Sheduetted with Prince on the live version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", which is available on his 1993compilation album,The Hits/The B-Sides and also contributed vocals to the tracks "I Rock Therefore I Am" (from Prince's 1996Chaos and Disorder album), "Jam of the Year" (from Prince's 1996Emancipation 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 titleRave Un2 the Year 2000.

Gaines recorded her first solo album, titledCaring, in 1985, followed by the 1987 albumNo 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 startedrecording her next solo album. Several albums worth of material were recorded, and an album was set for release onPaisley Park Records under the titleConcrete Jungle. However it was not released because of a legal battle between Prince andWarner Bros. Records, and remained unreleased until 2010.

Starting over, Gaines eventually released her third solo album (her first post-NPG album) onMotown Records in 1995. The album, titledCloser than Close, spawned the singles "I Want U" and "Are You Ready?", and included the song "My Tender Heart", a song composed by Gaines and Prince and featuring background vocals by Prince and long-time NPG collaborators The Steeles, which Gaines had earlier performed onThe Ryde Dyvine TV special in late 1992. In 1995 Gaines also collaborated withTevin Campbell on the song "I2I", which was featured in the Disney movieA Goofy Movie.

A club remix of Gaines' song "Closer than Close" was released as a single two years later, in 1997. The "Closer than Close" remix was commercially very successful in theUnited Kingdom, where it peaked at number four on theUK Singles Chart,.^[2] It also charted on the Australian club charts and has appeared on numerous club compilation albums. The track earned Gaines a MOBO Award for Best International Single at the ’97 Awards show (beating the likes of P Diddy, previously known as Puff Daddy, R Kelly and Tina Moore), and inspired Gaines to record a follow-up club track, "I Surrender", which was released later that year. The remix of "Closer than Close" is now considered a club classic, and has been re-remixed a number times since its initial release.

With her ownrecord label Dredlix Records, Gaines strove to bring her music directly via the Internet. In 1997, she released an Internet-only album,Arrival. Limited to 2,000 copies, it was available exclusively through her official website.

In 2003, she released her albumYou Gave Me Freedom through Dome Records in the UK. In 2005, Gaines provided her vocals for the single "Dance With Me", which was recorded byK-Klass and released on SUSU Records. Gaines released her albumWelcome to My World for SUSU Records in November 2006. She also self-released the albumSoul Survivor in 2013, which included 5 songs fromYou Gave Me Freedom alongside new and previously unreleased material.

The compilation albumsEssential Rosie, a 'hits' album of sorts, andDance with Me, a club album that includes the singles "Dance with Me" (with K-Klass) and "Release the Pressure" (with Red), were both released in 2015.

Over the years, Gaines experienced a number of health issues, including diabetes. In 2009, she was admitted into a psychiatric ward after an insulin overdose and seizure. In 2014, she was hospitalized after not taking enough insulin. That same year, a missing person's report was filed by her daughter Latoya to ascertain her whereabouts. She was located in a homeless shelter in Richmond, California, but refused help. She did not receive royalties during this time due to her bank accounts being closed.^[3][4]

In early 2015, Gaines's friend and fellow singer Brenda Vaughn organized a benefit concert in Oakland for her recovery and support. Various notable artist participated, includingLenny Williams,D’Wayne Wiggins ofTony! Toni! Tone!, Wilton Rabb ofGraham Central Station,Tuck and Patti, Tony Dwayne andLevi Seacer, Jr.^[3][4]

As of 2016, Gaines was living with her daughter.

• Rosie Gaines' Official website
• Rosie Gaines' Official Facebook Page
• Rosie Gaines' Official Twitter

• New Power Generation members
• African-American women singer-songwriters
• American women singer-songwriters
• American dance musicians
• Living people
• Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
• People from Pittsburg, California
• 1960 births
• Singer-songwriters from California

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• BLP articles lacking sources from September 2010
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• Place of birth missing (living people)