Singer, actress Denise Matthews, known as Vanity, dies

She remained a born-again Christian until her death. Matthews died from kidney failure caused as a result of years of crack cocaine abuse.

With her titular trio, Vanity – who was born Denise Katrina Matthews on January 4th, 1959, in Niagara Falls, Ontario – gave pop and R&B a sexually charged makeover in the early Eighties.

Prince then recalled the time he threatened to throw her in a pool. She rocketed to stardom through her association with Prince and fronting the ’80s girl group Vanity 6, which had the hit “Nasty Girl“.

It’s clear Prince had a lot of love for Matthew, so much so, that he altered his show to show her some love.

She thrived on raciness, often performing in lingerie.

“With the devil breathing down my neck, trying desperately to snatch and strangle me for hell, I repented”, she wrote. She was on the cover of Playboy in 1988.

Born in Canada with sultry good looks, Vanity had a brief acting career as well, appearing in movies like “52 Pick-Up” and “Action Jackson” before being selected by Prince to head up a girl group he wanted to launch.

Her close encounter with death transformed her and led to her rebirth.

“There was a lot of cocaine”, she said. She suffered a drug overdose and nearly died of renal failure in 1994.

She stated Denise Matthews was glad in recent times.

She renounced her Hollywood lifestyle and became a Christian minister.

“When I was Vanity, it was all about me”, she said in 1999.

In the mid-1990s, Ms. Matthews was briefly married to the professional football player Anthony Wayne Smith, who was sentenced to life in prison for murder last month.

Many musicians and artists expressed their condolences and remembrances on Monday night.

Rapper MC Hammer tweeted that he had simply attended church with Matthews on Saturday. Vanity left Vanity 6 after just one album.

Upon hearing the news before taking the stage in Melbourne, Prince switched his set to include a tribute to Vanity.