THE FAMILY become FDELUXE

In 1985, Prince created a side project that many of his fans believe was his most successful, albeit shortlived, of his many 80s experiments. The Family was formed from members of the Time after Morris Day's exit from that band. Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Paul Peterson all joined, with Paul being the lead singer. Susannah Melvoin, Prince's fiance at the time and twin sister of his AMAZY guitarist Wendy, also joined as backup singer and keyboardist. Eric Leeds rounded out the group on sax. The band released only one album and one single and video for "The Screams of Passion" before Paul, remaned St. Paul by Prince, decided Prince had too much control over the music and left, thus ending the group. Their album is REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD THOUGH!!! It is especially noteworthy for containing the first recorded version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", later made famous by Sinead O'Connor. The songs are funky and it's all very Prince-ish. NOW, fast forward some 24 years, and the Family are putting out more music, but this time as fdeluxe. Name change for a new start. They have a rough mix of a new song identified as "@8" (you can download it for free here) and it's pretty good and you can hear the influence from their earlier work, which is a great thing. Anyway, if you like Prince (Old Prince) check it out. Here is what Susannah and St. Paul look like now.