R.I.P. Cat Glover

Dancer, choreographer, and singer Cat Glover died Tuesday at age 62. Her passing was announced on her Facebook page. Glover is known for working with Prince in the ’80s during his Sign o’ the Times and Lovesexy eras. Glover was a Chicago native, and she started dancing when she was 5 years old. It was Prince’s Dirty Mind album that made Glover a fan and gave her the dream to meet him one day. Her first major show of talent happened when she and Patrick Allen competed on the television show Star Search as Pat & Cat. They were the first act on the show to achieve a four-star perfect score. The feat happened again, and despite winning seven times on the show, they did not win in the finals and the $100,000 prize. They lost the contest, but Glover achieved her dream of meeting Prince. A Star Search searcher who was dating Prince introduced him to Glover, and she auditioned for him one night at a club. She joined Prince’s band in 1986 after turning down David Bowie. Prince fans first saw Glover on one of the inner sleeves from the Sign o’ the Times album holding a guitar. She appeared in the concert film for the album and videos for “U Got The Look” and “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man.” 

Prince and Glover had kinetic energy on the stage, and their dance routines were one of the major components of his highly praised and well-attended concerts. She did her Cat Scat dance, which became her trademarked move. Glover famously rapped on “Alphabet Street” from Lovesexy and she also rapped on “Cindy C” from The Black Album. In 1989, she left the band and released her Catwoman album. She continued to work as a choreographer, and after Prince died in 2016, she vowed to keep his memory alive. Fans can only hope that Cat and Prince are dancing together again. 

 




Media Questions Of The Week

Prince Coachella 2008

What kinds of inaccuracies have stopped the production of the Prince documentary that was being shot for Netflix?  




Throwback: Prince-Diamonds & Pearls

Diamonds and Pearls is Prince’s 13th studio album recorded with his New Power Generation band. The title track is a romantic pop and R&B duet he sang with Rosie Gaines who had just joined the band. Gaines’ plush soul was a harmonious answer to Prince’s melodic monotone. She had heft in her notes to soar above the song’s dramatic drum builds and added the right amount of ad-libs at the end. Prince brilliantly combined soul with syrupy pop styling to create his most successful single of the decade. “Diamonds and Pearls” was a Top Ten hit nationally and Top Twenty in four European countries and put Prince back in the commercial spotlight after the moderate success of the Graffiti Bridge movie and album. The video and the song played regularly on MTV and radio. The album hit the Top Ten on charts nationally and abroad. Diamonds and Pearls was remastered and reissued with deluxe and super-deluxe versions in 2023. The 40th anniversary of Prince’s Purple Rain album and movie has been acknowledged with the upcoming June 26 film release in 4K UHD. There was a movie screening in Los Angeles last week at the Regent Theater with a panel discussion of Prince’s friends and colleagues afterward. 

 

 




Throwback: Prince-Dinner With Delores

“Dinner With Delores” was the only single from Prince’s 1996 album Chaos and Disorder. Warner Brothers released the album to fulfill Prince’s contract that he was disputing at the time Chaos and Disorder had funk, rock and the return of vocalist Rosie Gaines on most of the songs. “Dinner With Delores” was a funny song about a girl who ate too much and “danced like a white girl.”  It was catchy and featured Prince’s underrated guitar work. He did nothing to promote the album out of protest to the label but “Dinner With Delores” still charted in the UK and the Netherlands. The single was not released in the United States but the video was played on music channels. There were low expectations for Chaos and Disorder in general because of the low-key way it was released but Prince’s 19th album was one of his best from the ’90s. The album was digitally released to Tidal in 2016 and iTunes in 2018. A vinyl and CD reissue came out in 2019.