Biography
fDeluxe brings together Jellybean Johnson, Eric Leeds, Susannah Melvoin, and Paul "St. Paul" Peterson, a lineup once recognized as four-fifths of the Family. Prince formed the group and placed it on his Paisley Park imprint via Warner, where the roster that also included Jerome Benton issued a self-titled album in 1985 containing the Top Ten R&B hit "The Screams of Passion" along with the first recorded take of "Nothing Compares 2 U." The band performed only once that August at Minneapolis' First Avenue club before disbanding. Leeds, Melvoin, and Benton subsequently joined Prince and the Revolution, Johnson began collaborating with his former Time colleagues Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Peterson launched a solo career.
After each participant had extended a discography through those ventures and additional notable work, the Family—Benton absent—reassembled in the early 2000s for occasional shows encouraged by Sheila E. and superfan Questlove. Years afterward the musicians revived the project fully under the name fDeluxe, cutting the 2011 Ropeadope release Gaslight, a polished collection spanning soul, funk, and rock. They returned to the stage as a performing unit and kept recording, results that surfaced on the self-released covers album A.M. Static (2014) and on Live & Tight as a Funk Fiends' Fix (also 2014). Seven hours and 13 days after Prince's passing, fDeluxe debuted a fresh version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" on May 4, 2016, honoring their mentor.
After each participant had extended a discography through those ventures and additional notable work, the Family—Benton absent—reassembled in the early 2000s for occasional shows encouraged by Sheila E. and superfan Questlove. Years afterward the musicians revived the project fully under the name fDeluxe, cutting the 2011 Ropeadope release Gaslight, a polished collection spanning soul, funk, and rock. They returned to the stage as a performing unit and kept recording, results that surfaced on the self-released covers album A.M. Static (2014) and on Live & Tight as a Funk Fiends' Fix (also 2014). Seven hours and 13 days after Prince's passing, fDeluxe debuted a fresh version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" on May 4, 2016, honoring their mentor.
Albums
