André Cymone

Multi-instrumentalist André Cymone operates well beyond his documented connections to the Prince musical circle as a songwriter and producer. Born Andre Simon Anderson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was raised in an environment that welcomed young musicians for regular rehearsals and creative sessions. Prince was among those peers and even lived with the family temporarily; their fathers also performed together. The pair participated in early groups Grand Central and Champagne before Prince secured his Warner Bros. contract. Once Prince issued his first album, 1978's For You, he recruited Cymone to handle bass duties in the live band. Cymone stayed through 1981, then secured his own Columbia deal and issued three solo sets—Livin' in the New Wave (1982), Survivin' in the '80s (1983), and A.C. (1985)—that blended funk, new wave, hard rock, and pop. Six singles from those projects appeared on Billboard's R&B chart, with the largest, 1985's "The Dance Electric," credited to Prince and peaking at number ten.

Cymone supplied four songs for Evelyn "Champagne" King's 1983 album Face to Face, among them the Top 30 R&B track "Teenager," and served as the main creative force on the Girls' 1984 Columbia release Girl Talk. Broader outside projects gained focus only after A.C. He contributed briefly to tracks by Pebbles ("Love/Hate"), James Ingram ("Better Way"), Jermaine Stewart (Say It Again), Phil Thornalley ("Love Me Like a Rock"), Pretty Poison (the Top Ten Hot 100 single "Catch Me I’m Falling"), Adam Ant (Manners & Physique), and Tom Jones (The Lead and How to Swing It). His longest-running achievements occurred alongside Jody Watley, his spouse for several years. Their partnership ran from her 1987 solo debut through 1993's Intimacy and produced the number one R&B singles "Looking for a New Love" and "Real Love" plus the Top Five entries "Still a Thrill," "Some Kind of Lover," "Friends," and "I Want You."

From the mid-'90s forward Cymone maintained a lower profile, assisting independent acts that included fellow Prince associate St. Paul Peterson (Blue Cadillac, 1996), Angel Sessions (Introducing, 1998), and Jody Russell (Just in Time, 1999). After several years devoted to family life he resurfaced in 2012 with the uplifting rocker "America," directing all proceeds to Barack Obama's re-election effort. The next year he issued "Trayvon" in reaction to the fatal shooting of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin and directed its proceeds to the Trayvon Martin Foundation. His fourth album, the rock-oriented The Stone, appeared in 2014.