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Prince · S3 E3
The Band
Dez Dickerson, André Cymone, Lisa Coleman, Doctor Fink, Bobby Z. Prince builds a multiracial, mixed-gender group in a segregated industry
1980, a Minneapolis rehearsal space. Prince surveys his new lineup: three Black musicians, three white, and in an industry that still sorts artists by race, this band is a statement before they play a single note.
"Sexuality" (Prince, 1981). From the Controversy album, a funk manifesto about identity and freedom performed by a band that embodies both. Dez Dickerson's guitar, Doctor Fink's synths, Bobby Z's drums, André Cymone's bass: this is the lineup that made Prince unstoppable.
Sexuality, Prince (1981)
"Sexuality" opens with a throbbing synth line and a declaration: a new generation is taking over. Listen for how every band member occupies their own frequency without stepping on anyone else. Dez Dickerson's guitar cuts through Doctor Fink's synth pads, André Cymone's bass holds the low end while Bobby Z locks the groove. The song is a political statement, and the band playing it is one too.
Sources
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Nilsen, Per. "DanceMusicSexRomance: Prince, the First Decade." Firefly Publishing, 1999.
Building the Lineup
Prince doesn't audition musicians the way other bandleaders do. He watches, he listens, and then he calls. Bobby Z joins through the Minneapolis music scene, Dez Dickerson is recruited from a local cover band, and Doctor Fink shows up to a rehearsal in surgical scrubs and never takes them off.
Sources
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Nilsen, Per. "DanceMusicSexRomance: Prince, the First Decade." Firefly Publishing, 1999.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why did Prince's original keyboardist leave the band?
The Deliberate Mix
In the early 1980s, the American music industry is deeply segregated. Black artists play R&B circuits. White artists play rock venues. Prince builds a band that ignores those lines entirely: three Black musicians and three white, performing funk, rock, pop, and new wave on the same stage in the same set.
Sources
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
The Band: The File
Jack U Off, Prince (1981)
From the Controversy album, "Jack U Off" is a raucous, punk-influenced party track that sounds nothing like the rest of Prince's catalog. It's built for the stage: handclaps, call-and-response vocals, and a tempo that dares the crowd to keep up. This is the song that proves Prince's band isn't a backing group. They're a unit.
Jack U Off, Prince (1981)
The lyrics are as blunt as the title, but there's a playfulness here that cuts through the shock value. Prince delivers every line with a grin you can hear. It reads like a dare, a joke, and a love letter to rock and roll all at once.
Before Prince recruited him, what was guitarist Dez Dickerson doing in Minneapolis?
The band is locked in and the live show is explosive, but the questions keep coming: is he Black? Is he white? Is he straight? Next episode: Prince answers all of it with a song called "Controversy" and a chorus that recites the Lord's Prayer.
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