The Family | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | fDeluxe |
| Origin | Minneapolis,Minnesota, United States |
| Genres | Minneapolis sound |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | |
| Spinoff of | The Time |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | fdeluxe |
The Family was a band formed byPrince, and one of the first on Prince's record label,Paisley Park Records.[1] The band reformed asfDeluxe in 2009. This band should not be confused with a 1970s Minneapolis R&B band of the same name.[2]
The band's origins started with the disintegration ofThe Time in 1984. Lead singerMorris Day had left the band to pursue a solo career and guitaristJesse Johnson became thede facto band leader. Prince suggested restructuring the band with new memberPaul Peterson to head the group, but Johnson opposed. A few of the Time's newer members followed Johnson to join his backing band (called Jesse Johnson's Revue).[1]
As The Time had served as an outlet for Prince to release more music, he wanted to continue this avenue, presenting the remaining members of the Time,Jellybean Johnson,Jerome Benton, and Paul Peterson, with his new project. They agreed to become a new band called the Family, with Peterson renamed "St. Paul" as the frontman and bassist. Johnson and Benton reprised their familiar roles from the Time. Prince addedSusannah Melvoin, the twin sister ofRevolution guitaristWendy Melvoin,[1] as a backing singer and keyboardist. The fifth member wasEric Leeds, the brother of Prince's tour managerAlan Leeds, who providedsaxophone andflute. Also joining was bassist Allen Flowers. GuitaristMiko Weaver, fromSheila E.'s band, is credited in the album credits because he was to be a session and tour player, but was never officially a member of the band.
Much like the Time, the band's material was composed entirely by Prince, with the exception of "River Run Dry", which was written by Revolution drummerBobby Z. Prince wrote and performed all the other tracks and simplyoverdubbed Peterson's and Melvoin's vocals and added Leeds' saxophone and flute. On several tracks, Prince's vocals can be clearly heard. Some of the original demos have surfaced asbootlegs and circulate among fans with Prince's original lead vocals, as well as two outtakes: the instrumental "Feline" and the pop "Miss Understood". As on other associates' albums, Prince falsely gave writing credit to the various band members, though he kept his name on "Nothing Compares 2 U". The tracks were all recorded in a span of a few weeks at the end of 1984 after Prince had finished sessions forAround the World in a Day and just before he started recording for Sheila E.'s albumRomance 1600 and his ownParade album.
The album itself is a mix of uptempo funk songs ("High Fashion", "Mutiny"), unconventional soul ballads ("Nothing Compares 2 U", "Desire"), jazz-funk instrumental tracks ("Yes", "Susannah's Pajamas") and New Wave songs ("The Screams of Passion", "River Run Dry"). "The Screams of Passion" was released as the first single from the album.[3] MTV placed the video for the song in light rotation. "High Fashion" was the second single, but no video was made.
The album sold poorly upon its release and has been out of print in any form since the late 1980s in theUnited States. Acompact disc version was printed in Germany in the early 1990s following the success ofSinéad O'Connor's cover version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" which was released that same year and is highly valued among Prince fans and collectors.
Prince often incorporated the track "Mutiny" into the setlist of hisParade Tour in 1986, which occasionally was extended to contain the chorus of his song "Dream Factory" and the snarky chant "St. Paul – punk of the month!" (due to his annoynance of Peterson's decision to depart) as well as on subsequent tours. From 1990 onward, Prince occasionally added "Nothing Compares 2 U" to his tour setlist.
After the band performed a single concert, released theirself-titled album and only two singles, Peterson felt constricted by Prince's control and opted to pursue his own career.[4] Without a lead singer, Prince lost interest and absorbed most of the remaining members into the expanded Revolution with the exception of Johnson, who went on to join theFlyte Tyme music production team ofJimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
According to St. Paul's website,[4] he fondly remembers his time with the Family and often plays songs from the album in concert. The Family reunited on December 13, 2003, for a single performance for charity along with other acts formerly associated with Prince. On January 26, 2007, the Family announced that it was returning to the music scene with a tour and a recording of new music. Now called fDeluxe, the band reformed in 2009 and released an album titledGaslight (2011) with four of the five original members performing.[5]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [6] | US R&B [6] | US Gospel [6] | |||
| 1985 | The Family | 62 | 17 | 23 | |
| 2011 | Gaslight(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | |
| 2014 | AM Static(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop [7] | US R&B [7] | US Dance [7] | AUS [8] | ||
| 1985 | "The Screams of Passion" | 63 | 9 | 10 | 73 |
| "High Fashion" | — | 34 | — | — | |
| 2011 | "Drummers and Healers"(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | — |
| "Gaslight"(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | — | |
| 2012 | "Over the Canyon"(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | — |
| "You Got What You Wanted"(as fDeluxe) | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |