I want to focus on two performers that I like to see doing their favorite thing, and that was entertaining their fans. For the WWE and the Music Industry, it is a huge loss because never again will these two perform again. At the same time, they will always be remembered thanks to the years of footage in front of the camera, this I believe is called a “legacy” which is left behind when we lose someone in our lives we knew for a long-time.
So it’s only fitting to elaborate on these special entertainer’s lives that touched us for a long time, so we’ll start with these two iconic performers; Prince – A musical genius and legend / and Chyna – The most dominate female wrestler ever to grace the squared arena.
Now where could one start with this infamous performer who started a long time ago becoming a “music artist icon”, and would leave a huge legacy behind for everyone who grew up with and knew the man called the artist.
Prince falls into the category of all-time greatest musical performing artists along with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson, the list well you know just rolls on.
Most people may not realize that Prince has been around for a long time, (I could be wrong but I think his first song was “For You” back in 78′, even though claims say he started in the industry in 1976). I would always get his first song mixed up with “I Wanna Be Your Lover” only because I would hear people play it to death LOL, you have to remember in that time my sisters were teenagers, and I was only 6.
He kicked his career into high gear in the early 80’s, he attracted so much attention from the music he was producing to the point which caught the attention of another prominent superstar by the name of Michael Jackson.
Jackson was casting performers for one of his most famous songs “Bad” in 87′, he wanted Prince to play the antagonist rival gang leader in the video but Prince declined the offer. Prince didn’t feel comfortable with the beginning lines stated at the start of the song where Jackson starts off by saying…
Yea, not actually the thing you probably don’t wanna say just before a fight LOL. And that would be the reason why Prince backed out of the chance to appear and perform in the video, so the part went to Wesley Snipes.
Either way it really didn’t matter to Prince, you have to remember that he really displayed his ability to act from his performance in Purple Rain. Other stars surfaced after this movie which was branded one of his most unforgettable films, besides his captivating music videos.
Apollonia Kotero was one of the stars who emerged from Purple Rain, the group “Apollonia 6” which was changed from “Vanity 6”, due to the fact that Vanity dropped out of the female lead for Purple Rain.
(The two girls would often confuse me, due to the fact that Apollonia was casted for the part in the movie instead of Vanity. Plus the similarity of the girl group band ending with the number 6).
Vanity Prince’s protege, was another raising star in the early 80’s who helped to form the band “Vanity 6“ and she went on to star in the popular action flicks such as “The Last Dragon“, “Action Jackson“, “Tanya’s Island“, & “Pick Up 52“.
The weird thing about Vanity's death, was that it was a few months before Prince’s (her real name was Denise Katrina Matthews). You can’t help but to find that quite odd how she died shortly before him, however we’re not here to stay forever because we’re only here on borrowed time.
Prince’s Revolution Band referred to as “The Revolution Band” was the backbone of the entire group which provided unique sounds, creative tones, and a variety of sound stage equipment, amps, guitars, you name it, was the firepower needed to fuel their music bringing it to life, and ahh-stunned fans who attended their concerts.
The revolution was a different type of band, unique in their own right, and innovative to the very core, they even outmatched Prince’s cousin (rumor has it is that Day was actually Prince’s nephew), Morris Day’s rival group “The Time” in Purple Rain.
In the movie Morris Day basically tries to railroad Prince from the get go, as the two compete against each other’s band at a nightclub out in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Prince’s hometown).
In the course of Day’s scheme, he targets two of Prince’s band members Wendy a badass guitarist, and Lisa a well known electronic keyboardist player.
Day tries to drive a wedge between Prince (A.K.A “The Kid”), and his talented girl backup crew to go turn against him for ignoring their overall musical expertise.
Apollonia eventually arrives on the scene, and plays Kid’s girlfriend in the film. Day orchestrates a plan to persuade her (she plays a talented singer), to join his group to rival against Prince and his group.
While all this transpires, Kid is also facing problems at home with his parents who are argumentative, irrational, and abusive in nature toward him as well as each other. It plays out well, from Kid retaliating against Apollonia for joining Day’s group with the track he plays called “Darling Nikki”.
Apollonia realizes that he’s addressing her, and embarrasses her in front of a large crowd, she takes off in crying, and this angers both Day and one of his crew members named Billy. Billy tells Kid that his father was a failure for trying his hand at music, he also tells Kid that he could lose his guaranteed spot for his band at the “First Avenue Club“.
Things gets even darker from there for Kid as he returns home to discover his father holding a handgun in the basement, he decides to shoot himself out of regret for failing to become a credible musician.
Kid flies into a blind rage tearing up the basement, daytime comes and he searches through the debris only to find a cassette type which belongs to both Wendy & Lisa.
He plays the type and realizes that his two members have an eye for great music, he then sets out to devise a plan to integrate the track into his musical arsenal, same time give the proper recognition to his both members of his group.
This fixes everything between him and his members of the group, he then sets his sites to take down Morris’ group by introducing the “Purple Rain” track, and his wins back his girlfriend, plus his parents are still alive, so all in one swoop it’s basically like playing a chess match where you beat your opponent with “checkmate” rush tactics in just eight straight motions LOL.
The movie was a major hit, and pulled in $68.4 million in total revenue.
Some people believed that Prince directed the film, however that’s not the case. He only starred in the feature flick, but in 1990 he did direct a short sequence to it called “Graffiti Bridge“ which depicts Kid & Morris each running nightclubs of their own in competition against one another.
After his short stint in film, he went on to create other popular hits which are listed below plus the ones already mentioned:*
- 1999
- Act of God
- ANOTHERLOVE
- Baltimore
- Bambi
- Batdance
- Better with Time
- Billy Jack Bitch
- Black Sweat
- Breakdown
- Breakfast Can Wait
- Cinnamon Girl
- Clouds
- Controversy
- Cream
- Darling Nikki
- Days of Wild
- Dirty Mind
- Fallinlove2nite
- FIXURLIFEUP
- For You
- God
- I Wanna Be Your Lover
- Kiss
- La, La, La, He, He, Hee
- Let’s Go Crazy
- Little Red Corvette
- Live 4 Love
- Partyman
- Pop Life
- PretzelBodyLogic
- Purple Rain
- Raspberry Beret
- Rock & Roll Love Affair
- Screwdriver
- Sex in the Summer
- Sign O’ the Times
- Soft and Wet
- The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
- Thieves In The Temple
- This Could Be Us
- TICTACTOE
- U Got the Look
- U Know
- Uptown
- Valentina
- Wall of Berlin
- What If
- When Doves Cry
- WHITECAPS
- WOW
I didn’t even realize he made that many songs LOL, this guy was really busy creating music. That’s probably why you didn’t really see him that much on talk shows, just every once in a blue moon.
My favorite song that he performed was “Partyman”, that was the best to me.
The cause of Prince’s death will be revealed to the public soon, I feel that 57 was too soon for him to depart from us but again, we’re here on borrowed time.
So live your life the best way you know how for tomorrow is not promised to us!
Chyna was a very interesting young lady, I remember her when she first showed up on WWF (at the time before the logo was changed to “WWE”) back in the early 2000’s.
She came out in full force walking down the entrance ramp to the ring with Triple H & D-Generation X, she was the enforcer of the group who did back down from any opposing nemesis wrestling groups who tried to raise again them.
Fans went nuts over her because of boldness, integrity, and strength she displayed at times to get her point across (especially the time she brought out that badass “rocket launcher” which fired confetti into the air).
She was also quite the looker at her first WWF debut appearance, she turned a lot of heads that night no doubt about it.
She was referred to as the “9th” wonder of the world (after Andre “The Giant” who was in 8th place), before her were famous female wrestlers such as The Fabulous Moola, Mae Young, and a host of other WWF female superstars.
While she was part of D-Generation’s group, she went on to defend the intercontinental Championship twice after winning it, and the Women’s Championship once.
She was the only female wrestler to win the WWF intercontinental title Men’s title.
Chyna was the exception to the rule to wrestle and defeat male wrestlers, she grappled against some of the best WWF male superstars such as Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho, and even Triple H (former leader of D-Generation X).
She eventually moved on from the WWF in 2001, and started wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling the following year in 02′, in between intervals she would wrestle, she even landed on the roster at TNA Wrestling in 2011.
Killer Kowalski’s Professional Wrestling School is where Chyna was trained as a professional wrestler, the school is known for churning out very successful wrestlers such as Perry Saturn (one my favorites from the ECW & WCW wrestling organizations).
When she did arrive at the WWF they wanted to use her as a bodyguard (which I don’t know why), but the reason apparently was a decision made by who else but Vince McMahon himself, who felt that WWF fans would not take to the idea of a woman being able to beat up male wrestlers.
Eventually she would prove him wrong, when she started going up against male wrestlers.
Even “The Fabulous Moolah” wouldn’t care to compete for the Men’s title outright, so it goes to show that Chyna was a true hardcore competitor in the sport itself.
The only other female wrestler I could see pulling such a feat would be Nicole Bass from ECW, like Chyna she was very dominating due to her stature in size, height, and wrestling ability.
Bass was very intimidating to all the female competitors at ECW, there weren’t many takers to challenge her to say the least LOL.
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Chyna played various roles, from the antagonist, to the protagonist, which mean she was not always aligned with “D-Generation”, there was even a time when she broke from Triple H’s camp switching over to McMahon’s regime playing the villainess henchwoman against H.
So she was multi-talented when playing character roles, and not just a flip / flop female wrestler that converts to go along with whatever team because she believes needs security (or the stronger team gets the girl because she relies heavily on them to ‘back her up’ when needed).
Nope, she could handle most situations herself without the “back up”, that’s what made her such a phenomenal female wrestler.
She left the WWF due to the situation of the affair which formed between both Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, Vince probably didn’t want any major “bad blood” to become the constant scenario, so he basically fired Chyna after she received the letter from the organization of being — let go –.
Things really got bad for her during the relationship she and Sean Waltman (A.K.A “X-Pac”), had together. She made an adult film with Waltman, and after copies of the production film was sold, she claimed that she did not receive any of commissions from the film’s sold copies.
She was charged for domestic assault against Waltman back in January of 05′, and went into a nightclub out in New York where it was reported that she stripped down naked jumping into a fish tank. It was believed that she had anxiety issues from the problematic relationship between her and Waltman, which lead to the episode at the club.
Toward the end of the month, she went on the “Howard Stern Show“, which lead to the situation of her ranting about depression and her cocaine usage. She entered herself into a clinic for people dealing with depression and alcohol abuse, and even stated that if she saw just one line of cocaine (she worked very hard to stop the habit) that she would probably wind up doing it.
Chyna was still young, and still had a lot to see and do, it’s a shame she’s gone and she will be missed!
