Rosie Gaines

Rosie Gaines (born Rosemary Gaines; June 26, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer from Pittsburg, California. Gaines is a former band member of Prince's group the New Power Generation. She duetted with singer Prince on the hit song "Diamonds and Pearls". She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close", which made the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997.

Rosie Gaines
Birth name	Rosemary Gaines
Born	(1960-06-26) June 26, 1960 (age 64)
Origin	Oakland, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop, funk, soul, R&B, dance, house, hip hop
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Dredlix, Motown, NPG, Epic, Dome, SUsu

Career

Ensemble

Gaines' first band was a family funk/soul group called Unity, with Gaines on organ, her brother Carl on bass guitar, her cousin Lacy on guitar, sister-in-law Dianne on background vocals and her sister Mal on drums.

Gaines also played in a band called The Oasis and A Touch of Class before joining The Curtis Ohlson Band (with Levi Seacer, Jr. on guitar). Seacer called Gaines one day and asked her to come to Minneapolis, Minnesota to sing a demo of a song for The Pointer Sisters.

Prince

While she was doing the demo, Prince came in the recording studio, was impressed by her abilities and asked her to join his band The New Power Generation. Gaines was introduced in 1990 as the new vocalist and keyboard player on Prince's Nude Tour.^[1] Her first appearance on a Prince album was on Graffiti Bridge, her vocals prominent on the second single, "New Power Generation". She was also a member of the NPG in the film Graffiti Bridge. She wrote and performed on the Diamonds and Pearls album, her lead and background vocals prominently featured on most of the album's tracks, including the hit singles "Gett Off", "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls". In 1992, after the Diamonds and Pearls tour concluded, Gaines returned to her solo career, although she continued to work with Prince from time to time. Prince produced the official remix to Gaines's 1995 solo single "I Want U", titled "I Want U (Purple Version)". She duetted with Prince on the live version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", which is available on his 1993 compilation album, The Hits/The B-Sides and also contributed vocals to the tracks "I Rock Therefore I Am" (from Prince's 1996 Chaos and Disorder album), "Jam of the Year" (from Prince's 1996 Emancipation album) and a re-recorded version of "1999" (titled "1999: The New Master"), which was released by Prince & the NPG in 1999. Gaines also appeared alongside Prince, Larry Graham, and members of the Family Stone (and others) in a special New Year concert in 1999, which was released on DVD under the title Rave Un2 the Year 2000.

Solo

Gaines recorded her first solo album, titled Caring, in 1985, followed by the 1987 album No Sweeter Love. Although neither album received much commercial interest at the time, both albums have subsequently been released in a digital format on iTunes.

Following her 3-year tenure with Prince & the NPG, between 1990 and 1992, Gaines started recording her next solo album. Several albums worth of material were recorded, and an album was set for release on Paisley Park Records under the title Concrete Jungle. However it was not released because of a legal battle between Prince and Warner Bros. Records, and remained unreleased until 2010.

Starting over, Gaines eventually released her third solo album (her first post-NPG album) on Motown Records in 1995. The album, titled Closer Than Close, spawned the singles "I Want U" and "Are You Ready?", and included the song "My Tender Heart", a song composed by Gaines and Prince and featuring background vocals by Prince and long-time NPG collaborators The Steeles, which Gaines had earlier performed on The Ryde Dyvine TV special in late 1992. In 1995 Gaines also collaborated with Tevin Campbell on the song "I2I", which was featured in the Disney movie A Goofy Movie.

A club remix of Gaines' song "Closer Than Close" was released as a single two years later, in 1997. The "Closer Than Close" remix was commercially very successful in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart,.^[2] It also charted on the Australian club charts and has appeared on numerous club compilation albums. The track earned Gaines a MOBO Award for Best International Single at the ’97 Awards show (beating the likes of P Diddy, previously known as Puff Daddy, R Kelly and Tina Moore), and inspired Gaines to record a follow-up club track, "I Surrender", which was released later that year. The remix of "Closer Than Close" is now considered a club classic, and has been re-remixed a number times since its initial release.

With her own record label Dredlix Records, Gaines strove to bring her music directly via the Internet. In 1997, she released an Internet-only album, Arrival. Limited to 2,000 copies, it was available exclusively through her official website.

In 2003, she released her album You Gave Me Freedom through Dome Records in the UK. In 2005, Gaines provided her vocals for the single "Dance With Me", which was recorded by K-Klass and released on SUSU Records. Gaines released her album Welcome to My World for SUSU Records in November 2006. She also self-released the album Soul Survivor in 2013, which included 5 songs from You Gave Me Freedom alongside new and previously unreleased material.

The compilation albums Essential Rosie, a 'hits' album of sorts, and Dance with Me, a club album that includes the singles "Dance with Me" (with K-Klass) and "Release the Pressure" (with Red), were both released in 2015.

Later life

Over the years, Gaines experienced a number of health issues, including diabetes. In 2009, she was admitted into a psychiatric ward after an insulin overdose and seizure. In 2014, she was hospitalized after not taking enough insulin. That same year, a missing person's report was filed by her daughter Latoya to ascertain her whereabouts. She was located in a homeless shelter in Richmond, California, but refused help. She did not receive royalties during this time due to her bank accounts being closed.^[3][4]

In early 2015, Gaines's friend and fellow singer Brenda Vaughn organized a benefit concert in Oakland for her recovery and support. Various notable artist participated, including Lenny Williams, D’Wayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Tone!, Wilton Rabb of Graham Central Station, Tuck and Patti, Tony Dwayne and Levi Seacer, Jr.^[3][4]

As of 2016, Gaines was living with her daughter.

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US R&B /HH [5]
Caring	Release date: 1985[6] Label: Epic[7] Format: LP,[7] digital download, online streaming[8]	—
Closer than Close	Release date: 1995[9] Label: Motown (#5305782)[9] Format: CD, cassette,[9] digital download, online streaming[10]	99
Arrival	Release date: 1997[11] Label: Dredlix, CDBaby (#5637455966)[12] Format: CD[12] digital download, online streaming[13]	—
No Sweeter Love	Release date: November 20, 2000[14] Due: 1987 (shelved by Epic)[6] Label: Expansion (#ROSIE 1CD)[14] Format: CD,[14] digital download, online streaming[15]	—
You Gave Me Freedom	Release date: 2004[16] Label: Dome (#DOMECD-48)[16] Format: CD[16] digital download, online streaming[17]	—
Try Me	Release date: 2005 Due: 1994 (shelved) Reworked version of Concrete Jungle Label: Rosie Gaines[18] Format: Digital download, online streaming[18]	—
Welcome to My World	Release date: 2006[19] Label: Susu (#SUALBCD 19)[19] Format: CD,[19] digital download, online streaming[20]	—
Concrete Jungle	Release date: 2010[21] Due: 1993–1994[22][23] (shelved by Paisley Park)[24] Recorded: 1990–1994[24] Label: Dredlix[25] Format: Digital download, online streaming[25]	—
Soul Survivor	Release date: February 16, 2013[20] Label: Rosie Gaines[20] Format: Digital download, online streaming[20]	—

Compilation albums

List of albums, with selected details

Title	Album details
Essential Rosie	Release date: 2015[26] Label: Dredlix (#5638416821)[27] Format: CD, digital download, online streaming[26]
Dance with Me	Release date: 2015[28] Label: Dredlix[28] (#5638419029)[29] Format: CD[28] digital download, online streaming[30]

Extended plays

List of extended plays, with selected details

Title	EP details
Be Strong / I Only Wanna Be in Your Arms / Heart Like Stone	Release date: 1991[6] Label: About Time[31] Format: 12"[6]

Singles

As lead artist

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Peak chart positions									Certifications	Sales	Album
		US R&B /HH [32]	US Dance [33]	IRE [34]	NZ [35]	SCO [36]	SWE [37]	UK [38]	UK Dance [39]	UK R&B [40]
"Skool-ology (Ain't No Strain)"	1985	72	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—			Caring
"Wake Up"[6]		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Good Times"[6]		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Crazy"[6]	1987	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—			No Sweeter Love
"I Want U"	1995	90	28	—	—	—	—	70	10	14			Closer than Close
"Closer than Close"	1997	—	6	11	36	12	53	4	1	—	BPI: Silver[41]	World: 8,000,000[42]
"I Surrender"	1998	—	16	—	—	47	—	39	4	—			Non-album single

As featured artist

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Peak chart positions										Certifications	Album
		US [43]	US R&B /HH [44]	AUS [45]	CAN [46]	FRA [47]	GER [48]	NZ [49]	SWE [50]	SWI [51]	UK [52]
"Gett Off" (Prince and the New Power Generation featuring Tony M. and Rosie Gaines)[53]	1991	21	6	8	25	97	13	13	13	3	4	RIAA: Gold[54]	Diamonds and Pearls
"Diamonds and Pearls" (Prince and the New Power Generation featuring Rosie Gaines)[55][56]		3	1	13	5	20	28	8	12	7	25
"Hang On in There Baby" (Gary Barlow featuring Rosie Gaines)	1998	—	—	—	—	—	69	—	—		—		Open Road
"Dance with Me" (K-Klass featuring Rosie Gaines)	2005	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	236		Non-album single

Promotional singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Peak chart positions				Album
		US Bub. [57]	US Digital [58]	US R&B /HH [44]	US R&B /HH Digital [59]
"Nothing Compares 2 U" (Live) (Prince and the New Power Generation featuring Rosie Gaines)[60][61]	1993	7	43	66	31	The Hits/The B-Sides

Guest appearances

List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Other artist(s)	Album
"1 Touch"[62]	2002	Mousse T	Gourmet de Funk
"Don't Let 'Em"[63]		Bootsy Collins, Snoop Dogg, Till Brönner	Play with Bootsy

Soundtrack appearances

List of non-single soundtrack appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and soundtrack name

Title	Year	Other artist(s)	Album
"I 2 I"[64]	1995	Tevin Campbell	A Goofy Movie

Songwriting discography

List of releases by other artists where Rosie Gaines is a credited songwriter

Title	Year	Artist(s)	Writer(s)	Album
"Money Don't Matter 2 Night"[65]	1991	Prince and the New Power Generation	Prince, Rosie Gaines	Diamonds and Pearls
"Push"[56]
"The Voice"[66]	1993	Mavis Staples	Mavis Staples, Prince, Rosie Gaines, Francis Jules	The Voice

References

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11. "Time To Get Into Cyberspace Groove; Passel Of Divas Will Be 'Simply Singing'". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 14. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. April 5, 1997. p. 25. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via Google Books.
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External links

• Rosie Gaines' Official website
• Rosie Gaines' Official Facebook Page
• Rosie Gaines' Official Twitter