Thursday, February 18, 2016

Denise Matthews, a/k/a Vanity. 1959-2016, R.I.P.


I was rather shocked to learn that Denise Matthews, better known as Vanity (and as D.D. Winters in her earliest films), passed away on February 15. I have to admit I was fairly unfamiliar with her music as part of Vanity 6 in the early 1980s, when she was hooked up with Prince. I instead knew her from movie roles in films such as Action Jackson, 52 Pick-Up, The Last Dragon, and Tanya's Island, and TV roles on shows like Miami Vice and Highlander.





Ms. Matthews had turned her back on Hollywood (and drug use) and become a Christian minister in the 1990s. She was quoted as saying "When I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, I threw out about 1,000 tapes of mine — interview, every tape, every video. Everything."

In my humble opinion, she was one of the loveliest women to grace the 1980s and beyond, and I was greatly saddened to learn of her death at 57 from "longstanding kidney issues." She also suffered from sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis.

Thanks for your time.

17 comments:

  1. Good Heavens, she was beautiful. I remember her with Prince. I don't know about the movie roles.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
  2. She was too young. I remember her vaguely from Prince days but I have a feeling her body never got better due to her wild ways when she was young

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's scary when the celebrities who are dying are younger than I am.

      Delete
  3. I've seen Action Jackson but I think that was it with her. Few ever turn their back on stupid Hollywood.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Her doing so seems to have bought her a few extra years, thankfully.

      Delete
  4. From Prince to being a minister, now that is quite a huge change, methinks. It seems she found her peace before death took her :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, I agree, that is quite a transformation.

    Nice to see you here.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was not a big fan of her music (that I can remember) but I can sure greatly appreciate her physical/outward beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I find her really beautiful !
    I was shocking when I heard she die and still so young !
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. Last Dragon...I remember in that. Was she in a short time relationship with Prince?

    ReplyDelete
  9. She was amazing in The Last Dragon, a real Lois Lane-type mashed up with Madonna. And then there was Action Jackson, her debut w/Prince, beig on Carson, she had it all goin on. With her haunting childhood I feel she fell prey to Hollywoods wreckless hazards and emptiness. I was shocked when she revealed becoming a Reverend because she witnessed a demon possession. Witness or hallucination she seemed very sweet and really nice, may she rest in peace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I was really sad to hear of her death.

      Thanks for visiting my blog.

      Delete
  10. Wow, this paragraph is nice, my younger sister is analyzing these things,
    so I am going to inform her.

    ReplyDelete

I strongly urge you to sign up for follow-up comments, because I (usually) reply to your comment! Comments left for me more than three weeks after a post is published will not appear until I approve them, but they will be answered eventually!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...