Vanity | |
|---|---|
 Vanity in 1984 | |
| Born | Denise Katherine Matthews (1959-01-04)January 4, 1959 Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | February 15, 2016(2016-02-15) (aged 57) Fremont, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Denise Matthews-Smith, D. D. Winters |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1977–1993 |
| Spouse | |
| Partner(s) | Prince (1982–1983) Nikki Sixx (1986–1988) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Labels | |
Musical artist | |
Denise Katherine Matthews (January 4, 1959 – February 15, 2016), known professionally asVanity, was a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. Known for her image as asex symbol in the 1980s, she became anevangelist and renounced her career as Vanity in the 1990s.[1]
Vanity was the lead singer of the female trioVanity 6, which was created by the musicianPrince. Known for their 1982 hit song "Nasty Girl", they disbanded in 1983, when she decided to embark on a solo career. Vanity released two solo albums on theMotown Records label,Wild Animal andSkin on Skin. She had minor hit singles with "Pretty Mess", "Mechanical Emotion", "Under the Influence", and "Undress" from the 1988 filmAction Jackson. Vanity also had a successful career as an actress, starring in the filmsThe Last Dragon (1985), and52 Pick-Up (1986), andAction Jackson.
After years of drug abuse, which caused health issues, Matthews became aborn-again Christian in 1992. She later devoted herself to her church inFremont, California. Matthews died on February 15, 2016, at age 57, due tokidney failure.[2]
Denise Katherine Matthews was born inNiagara Falls, Ontario, on January 4, 1959,[3] the daughter of Helga Senyk and Levia James Matthews.[4] Her mother was ofPolish-Jewish descent, and her father wasAfrican-American.[5] Matthews had three sisters, Patricia, Deborah, Renay and several half siblings.[6]
Her father died when she was 15 years old.[7] Matthews revealed toJet in 1993 that her father physically and verbally abused her for years. The abuse caused her to have a negative self-image. "For 15 years, he beat me badly... I wish I could see my father in heaven, but I won't. He's in hell," she said.[8]
Matthews began entering local beauty pageants before moving toToronto, where she modeled. She won the Miss Niagara Hospitality title in 1977 and went on to compete for Miss Canada in 1978.[9] At age 17, she moved to New York City to further her career. She signed withZoli Model Agency.[10] However, because she was short in stature, her modeling career was limited to commercials and photoshoots and excluded runway work. Vanity appeared in commercials for Pearl Drops toothpaste before completing a modeling stint in Japan. She also appeared on the cover for Nightlife Unlimited's 1980 albumLet'sDoItAgain.[11]
Matthews had a small role in the horror movieTerror Train (1980), which was filmed in Montreal in 1979. She then went to Toronto to film the lead role in the 1980B-movieTanya's Island.[12] She was credited as D.D. Winters for both films.
Matthews appeared on the cover of the funk bandCameo's album cover,Alligator Woman, released in March 1982.[13] She had met musicianPrince at theAmerican Music Awards earlier that year.[14] After learning that she could sing, Prince later invited her to front a girl group he had formed called The Hookers.[15] Prince initially wanted to name her "Vagina," pronounced "va-geen-na," which Matthews refused. They instead settled on Vanity, as he considered her to be the female form of himself.[16] The group was renamedVanity 6.[17]
The group recorded one album, and had some success internationally with the single "Nasty Girl". They wore lingerie and Vanity's image became that of an erotic and sexy "nasty girl".[8] She later stated in a 1993 interview that she was uncomfortable with the image she was given, saying "Prince created the whole Vanity 6 image. It bothered me at the time. I lied and said it was the image I wanted. I did it because he told me I had to do it. If I didn't do it, I wouldn't get paid. I got into it. I wanted the oldDiana Ross image."[8]
Vanity and Prince appeared on the cover of the April 28, 1983, issue ofRolling Stone magazine.[18] In August 1983, she abruptly left the group and turned down a role in the 1984 filmPurple Rain, which went to her replacement,Apollonia Kotero.[15][19] In 1984, Vanity signed withMotown Records as a solo artist and recorded the funk-pop albumWild Animal.[20] She had mild success on the US pop and R&B charts with the singles "Pretty Mess" and "Mechanical Emotion."[21]
In 1985, Vanity made her mainstream film debut inThe Last Dragon, which featured her song, "7th Heaven."[22] She wanted a role in the 1985 filmThe Color Purple, butSteven Spielberg thought she looked too young.[23] In 1986, she released her second and last album,Skin on Skin, which produced the top 10 R&B hit "Under the Influence".[21] That year, she also starred in the action filmNever Too Young to Die oppositeJohn Stamos and the Neo-noir crime film52 Pick-Up.[19]
In 1987, Vanity guest-starred in an episode ofMiami Vice's third season.[22] She went on to co-star in the 1988 filmAction Jackson, her highest profile role, in which she starred oppositeCarl Weathers,Craig T. Nelson, andSharon Stone.[24]Roger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Times gave a negative review toAction Jackson, but praised Vanity's performance as "the movie’s one redeeming merit".[25] She also appeared nude in the April 1988 issue ofPlayboy magazine.[22]
Vanity had a role on numerous TV programs. She appeared inFriday the 13th: The Series in the episode entitled "Mesmer's Bauble" in 1989. She played a villain who torturedNancy Allen's character in the 1990 TV movieMemories of Murder and appeared in an episode ofHighlander: The Series in 1992. Her last role was in the filmKiss of Death in 1993.
Matthews attended the American Music Awards where she met Prince in January 1982;[22][26] they then began dating shortly after.[14] She was also linked romantically toAdam Ant, who wrote the track "Vanity" about her on his 1983Strip album, andBilly Idol.[27]
During an appearance onThe Late Show (1986 talk show) in 1987, Matthews announced that she andMötley Crüe bassistNikki Sixx were engaged. She often joked that she would become Vanity 6 (Sixx) again.[24] In his memoir,The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, Sixx detailed their volatile relationship and drug use.[28][29] He stated that Vanity taught him how tofreebase cocaine.[30]
On her first anniversary of sobriety, Matthews married football playerAnthony Smith of theOakland Raiders in 1995.[31] While working as an evangelist inSan Jose, she read about Smith's philanthropic activities inLos Angeles. "The Lord told me that I would go down to L.A. and minister to him," she toldEbony. They met in late February 1995, and three days later, she proposed to him. After a one-month whirlwind romance, they married at Smith's home inPlaya del Rey in April. Smith later revealed that they often argued about her kind nature, which caused her to habitually invite homeless people into their home for food and showers and give out their home number to complete strangers.[32] Due to his volatility, their marriage ended in 1996. After they separated, Smith was arrested fordomestic violence involving another woman and was later convicted of three murders.[33]
In 1992, Matthews met actorSam J. Jones during the filming ofDa Vinci's War. Jones invited Matthews to read the Bible with him during a lunch break.[34] Shortly thereafter, Matthews became aborn-again Christian, and in several interviews, she stated that she would not play any more sexualized roles.[8] Simultaneously, she renounced her stage name Vanity and reverted to Denise Matthews. She traveled extensively throughout the South with her friend/agent Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips, giving her testimony of conversion to Christianity.[citation needed]
In 1994, Matthews was hospitalized for three months for near-fatal kidney failure from a drug overdose. She recalled later that after being rushed to the hospital, doctors said she had three days to live while on life support. It was Jimerson-Phillips, who then sent Western Union telegrams to Prince, notifying him of her condition. She explained thatJesus appeared to her at this time and spoke to her, saying that if she promised to abandon her Vanity persona, he would save her.[citation needed]
Upon her recovery, Matthews ended her performing career by cutting off all ties with Hollywood and shunning her former life in show business. She devoted herself to being a born-again Christian.[35] In 1995, she said, "When I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, I threw out about 1,000 tapes of mine— every interview, every tape, every video, everything."[36] Jimerson-Phillips stated: "I was there at her apartment at The Grand in Sherman Oaks, when she just started dumping things down the incinerator. I grabbed some of the items including a painting titled Tailspin, by famed artistOlivia; a cassette hand painted by Prince of unreleased music; and an assortment of other items I didn't want to see go into the trash. I even had to go down to the office and ask them to retrieve her gold album she had thrown away."[citation needed]
After akidney transplant in 1997, Matthews dedicated the rest of her life full-time to Christ. She made speaking engagements at churches worldwide and she headed Pure Hearts Ministries inFremont, California.[37][27]
In 2010, Matthews released her autobiography,Blame It On Vanity: Hollywood, Hell and Heaven.[38]
Due to kidney problems resulting from her decade-longcocaine addiction,[32] Matthews had to undergo 20 minutes ofperitoneal dialysis five times a day.[27][35][39] She underwent a kidney transplant in 1997, but her health worsened in 2015 after she was diagnosed withsclerosing encapsulatingperitonitis.[40]
Matthews died in a Fremont, California, hospital on February 15, 2016, fromkidney failure, aged 57.[41] She left much of her estate to her church. After cremation, her ashes were scattered off the coast of Hawaii.[6]
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop [42][43] | US R&B | US Dance [44] | |||
| 1984 | "Pretty Mess" | 75 | 15 | 13 | Wild Animal |
| "Mechanical Emotion" | 107 | 23 | — | ||
| 1985 | "7th Heaven" | — | — | — | The Last Dragon (soundtrack) |
| 1986 | "Under the Influence" | 56 | 9 | 6 | Skin on Skin |
| "Animals" | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "Undress" | — | — | — | Action Jackson (soundtrack) |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | |||||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Klondike Fever | Uncredited Background Dancer | Adventure, based on the writings ofJack London. Vanity plays a background dancer near the beginning of the film. |
| Terror Train | Merry | Horror (credited as D. D. Winters) | |
| Tanya's Island | Tanya | Fantasy (credited as D. D. Winters) | |
| 1985 | The Last Dragon | Laura Charles | Martial arts drama (a.k.a. Berry Gordy'sThe Last Dragon) |
| 1986 | Never Too Young to Die | Danja Deering | Action/crime thriller (co-starring with John Stamos and Gene Simmons) |
| 52 Pick-Up | Doreen | Crime thriller (co-starring with Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret) | |
| 1987 | Deadly Illusion | Rina | Action/drama (co-starring with Billy Dee Williams) |
| 1988 | Action Jackson | Sydney Ash | Action/crime thriller (co-starring with Carl Weathers) |
| 1991 | Neon City | Reno | Post-apocalyptic science fiction (a.k.a.Anno 2053 in Italy andNeonski Grad in Serbia) |
| 1993 | South Beach | Jennifer Derringer | Action/crime thriller (co-starring with Fred Williamson and Gary Busey). Directed byFred Williamson[46] |
| Da Vinci's War | Lupe | Action/thriller Directed and co-written by Raymond Martino[47] | |
| 1997 | Kiss of Death | Blair | Thriller (Filmed in April/May 1995, Vanity's last role) directed by Andrei Feher[48] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | D.C. Follies | Vanity (guest) | Episode: "Comedy Parody" (1.6) |
| The New Mike Hammer | Holly | Episode: "Green Lipstick" (3.21) | |
| Miami Vice | Ali Ferrand | Episode: "By Hooker By Crook" (3.20) | |
| 1988 | T. and T. | K.C. Morgan | Episode: "A Secret No More" (2.6) |
| 1989 | Friday the 13th: The Series | Angelica | Episode: "The Secret Agenda of Mesmer's Bauble" (2.20) |
| Booker | Tina Maxwell | Episode: "Deals and Wheels: Part 1" (1.8) (a.k.a. 21 Jump Street 4.10) | |
| 1990 | Memories of Murder | Carmen | Lifetime Television Network (a.k.a.Passing through Veils)[49][50][51] |
| 1991 | Tropical Heat (a.k.a.Sweating Bullets) | Maria | Episode: "Mafia Mistress" (2.2)[52] |
| Tales from the Crypt | Kathrine | Episode: "Dead Wait" (3.6) | |
| 1992 | Silk Stalkings | Chantel | Episode: "Powder Burn" (1.20) |
| Lady Boss | Mary Lou Morley | Miniseries, based onJackie Collins'novel of the same name with the teleplay by Jackie Collins[53][54] | |
| Highlander: The Series | Rebecca Lord | Episode: "Revenge Is Sweet" (1.10) | |
| 1993 | Counterstrike | Sandra | Episode: "Muerte" (3.21) |
When Prince introduced Susan, born Jan. 21, Brenda, Jan. 24 and Vanity, Jan. 4, there was an immediate attraction and the three are just as close today as ever.
Prince Rogers Nelson, of Minneapolis, the doe-eyed seducer of black and Italian parentage, would become known as much for his taste in women as for his musical prowess. Denise K. Matthews, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., daughter of an African American father and a Polish Jewish mother, was a big part of the reason.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
