canadian singer songwriter dancer model and actress denise katrina
matthews professionally known as vanity was born in niagara falls ontario on january 4
1959. her mother of german and polish jewish descent and her african-american father would
also have two other daughters together she also has several half-siblings on her father's side
it was at the tender age of five that denise proclaimed she would be an actress
build a church for jesus and live in a castle when she grew up she revealed in an interview
with jet magazine in 1993 that her father physically and verbally abused her for years
unfortunately her mother couldn't come to her rescue since she too was being abused and she
also suffered some brain trauma after going through the windshield in a horrible car accident
sinking into depression and alcoholism denise also experienced sexual molestation as a child as she
got older she began entering local beauty pageants she won the miss niagara hospitality title in 1977
and went on to compete for miss canada the following year she eventually moved to toronto
to begin her modeling career at the age of 17 she moved to new york city to take advantage of more
modeling opportunities she signed with an agency however because of her height or lack thereof the
job she was able to get was limited to commercials and photo shoots instead of runway work denise met
funk rock icon prince while attending the american music awards in 1980 with rick james no less it
definitely wasn't love at first sight on her end anyway however they did begin dating shortly after
and he would be the one to rename her vanity vanity was actually the second choice after
she rejected his first suggestion of the name for a female body part beginning with the same letter
she was always interested in pursuing a career in singing and acting
however she was constantly discouraged to do so by those around her
that is until prince came along he asked her to be the lead singer of a girl group he was putting
together named vanity six the six apparently a reference to the number of breasts in the group
prince created the whole vanity six image it bothered me at the time i lied and said it was
the image i wanted i did it because he told me i had to do it if i didn't do it i wouldn't get paid
i got into it i wanted the old diana ross image the funky erotically charged ensemble
recorded one album and had international success with their 1982 pop hit nasty girl
prince also decided to put her in the lead female role in his 1984 semi-autobiographical film
purple rain however vanity had a falling out with her svengali before filming began allegedly due to
his unfaithfulness she would also leave vanity six the film would be a big box office hit and feature
actress singer model apollonia in the role vanity passed up vanity would later admit in interviews
that she didn't see the movie because she knew it would bring back old memories and make her cry
after leaving the group she signed with motown records and made two solo albums wild animal and
skin on skin she wrote much of the material on both she played up her sexy and racy image which
often included performing in lingerie she also lived a wild and fast lifestyle that eventually
would take its toll she starred in the movies the last dragon 52 pickup never too young to die
and action jackson the movie that featured her in her highest profile role opposite carl weathers
craig t nelson and sharon stone from the mid 80s to the early 90s vanity guest starred on numerous
tv shows such as miami vice and highlander she also appeared nude in playboy in april 1988.
in addition to prince vanity was also linked romantically to a couple of english blokes
singer musicians adam ant who wrote the track vanity about her on his strip album as well as
billy idol vanity announced in 1987 that she and motley cru bass player nikki sixx were engaged
however they never ended up getting married in his memoir the heroin diaries a year in the
life of a shattered rock star nikki sixx shared shocking details of their volatile relationship
that also included drug use in 1994 vanity overdosed on crack cocaine and suffered from
near fatal renal failure she was rushed to the hospital and doctors said she had just three days
to live while on life support she recalled that jesus appeared to her at this time and spoke to
her saying if she promised to give up her vanity persona he would save her upon her recovery she
completely renounced her stage name and career and became a born-again christian years later
in interviews denise would also go into detail about being possessed by demons for many years
they attacked her her home and the people in her home to cope she became involved in psychic work
and actually believed she was honoring god during that time she was incredibly unhappy
and constantly prayed to god to either help her or just let her die she would eventually walk down
the aisle on the arm of anthony smith a former football player for the oakland raiders in 1995
on her first anniversary of sobriety at the time vanity was working as an evangelist in san jose
she read about anthony's philanthropic activities and decided to reach out to him
three days after they met she proposed to him and one month later they were married
however from the start they argued quite often due to their extremely different personalities denise
with her giving and compassionate nature had a habit of inviting homeless people into their home
to offer them food and a shower she would even give out her personal phone number
anthony on the other hand had a very volatile nature
he would also be unfaithful not surprisingly their union would end the following year
it seems that denise escaped what could have been a tragic situation for herself in the future
anthony would be arrested for domestic violence involving another woman and in 2016 he would be
convicted of three murders and sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison
after a kidney transplant in 1997 denise dedicated the rest of her life full time to christ she would
tell her truth and nothing but the truth in her autobiography blame it on vanity hollywood hell
and heaven she's been asked over the years if she feels prince did a disservice to her by
bringing her into the crazy hollywood world of sex drugs and rock and roll she emphatically denies
that anyone made her do anything and that's why she titled her book blame it on vanity
she takes full responsibility for everything that's transpired in her life
in september 2014 denise started a gofundme to raise money for the republishing of her book
she then planned to use the crowdfunding to pay for her medical bills years ago she chose not
to receive any further revenue from her work as vanity after she cut off all ties with hollywood
and her former life in show business due to kidney problems from her 10-year crack cocaine addiction
she had already had 23 surgeries and was currently on dialysis three times a week her health worsened
in 2015 after she was diagnosed with sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis a rare benign cause of
small bowel obstruction denise died on february 15 2016 in fremont california due to kidney failure
she was 57 years old among those who paid tribute to her after her passing were drummer sheila e
the roots front man quest love and executive producer for the last dragon barry gordy
former lover prince who would also pass away just two months later dedicated several songs to her
during a show in australia rapper m.c hammer tweeted that he had just attended church with her
two days prior on saturday he had hoped she would return the next day as well
and even looked for her then the announcement came that she had fallen ill during the night
she was childlike in her exuberance for god she loved and trusted him wholeheartedly
heaven is hers thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to subscribe
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