Thread by @EdgarKruize

So in this ‘encore’ we will travel back in time to 1987 to see what was actually going on in both the Paisley world and in the music industry around the release of the Jill Jones album.

If you want to read more about the album, check out all the wonderful threads by our group of Purple Avengers that have gone before by following the #PrinceTwitterThread hashtag.

If you want to know the historical specifics before time travelling to 1987, please check the intro threads by my co-host @deejayUMB.
Part one:

https://twitter.com/deejayumb/status/1409518453329903624?s=20

And here is part 2:

https://twitter.com/deejayumb/status/1409850667766845449?s=20

Okay, stepping back in time now and before arriving in 1987 we need to step back a little further in time to 1985, the start of Paisley Park Records, the record label founded by Prince after the success of the ‘Purple Rain’ album and movie.

The label was set up as a logical extension of his musical world, which had included a musical family for years at that point (with all the ups and downs that come with family). The label was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records.

Paisley Park Records became the home of that extended musical family, with the 1985 releases of ‘The Family’ and Sheila E’s ‘Romance 1600’ and the 1986 ‘Mazarati’ album. But it was mostly Prince’s own album and single output that kept the label afloat.

In 1987 the label shifted gears though, with no less than six album releases in one year. In January the first Madhouse album was released, followed by Sheila E.’s eponymous album in February and Prince’s own ‘Sign O’ The Times’ in March.

On March 17, 1987 ‘Mia Bocca’ was released in Europe, the first single off Jill Jones’s debut album. A US release followed on April 6, 1987. More on that song in @RhondaNicole_’s thread, which can be found here:

https://twitter.com/RhondaNicole_/status/1410654892411269127?s=20

The b-side for ‘Mia Bocca’ was ‘77 Bleeker St.’, which you can read all about in @RichardCole_NOW’s thread earlier in this series:

https://twitter.com/RichardCole_NOW/status/1412819538752806919?s=20

The single should (and could) have been a hit, but we have to take in account that Jill recorded her vocals for ‘Mia Bocca’ over three years before it was released. Prince’s original tracking took place in 1982. In pop music, a few years can feel like ages.

In a landscape where for instance ‘Looking for a New Love’ by Jody Watley, ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ by Starship, ‘Lean On Me’ by Club Nouveau and ‘With Or Without You’ by U2 were world wide chart toppers, the song did not quite fit the times.

Also, this being the fourth artist with a Paisley Park release that year did not help with the focus Paisley Park/Warner gave the project. Quite understandably they put most of their marketing effort on Prince’s ‘Sign O’ The Times’ album and single.

And Prince had moved on completely. Instead of having Jill promote her debut single, he flew her to Minneapolis for the filming of the ‘Hard Life’ short film on March 27, 1987, in which she starred as Gillian Stoneheart. Check it here:

One cannot say there was a total lack of effort though, as a gorgeous video was made for ‘Mia Bocca’, filmed in San Felipe (Mexico) and directed by the iconic French photographer and video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Feast your eyes:

The sepia coloured video (like the song) has a distinct European cinematic vibe, which truly sets it apart from other much more ‘in your face’ music videos from that era. We see Jill Jones in a little black dress and a group of young kids bedazzled by her feline moves.

Apparently the combination of Jills’ overt sexuality and the peeping kids did not sit too well with MTV in America. The video never went on high rotation. The lack of airtime in combination with the ‘off’ sounding music didn't help the single at all. It failed to chart in the US.

In Europe though, things were different. And it was in fact the European Warner office that gave the single a proper chance as it was Rob Dickens, CEO of Warner Brothers UK, that put money into the project to do promotion in Europe.

And the European audiences were indeed much more receptive. French film critic Serge Daney, writer for periodicals such as Cahiers du Cinéma and Libération, wrote in 1987 that he felt the ‘Mia Bocca’ music video was ‘the prettiest film of the year’.

‘Mia Bocca’ went on to become a minor hit in some European countries (Germany, The Netherlands) and a bigger hit in France and especially Italy (with a peak at number 6 in the charts).

On May 8, 1987 Prince’s ‘Sign O’ The Times World Tour’ started in Stockholm, Sweden. More on that tour in a separate thread:

https://twitter.com/EdgarKruize/status/1321856881812480009?s=

The tour was a strictly European affair and promoted not only Prince but other Paisley Park artists/releases as well. Strangely enough almost none of the European marketing budget for the Jill Jones album was spent around that tour. All focus was on Madhouse and Sheila E.

For instance these ads from Dutch and German magazines, all only mention Sheila and Madhouse as ‘music from Paisley Park’. Understandably, as they were part of the tour. Also, one can argue that the Jill Jones album was not released yet. But that’s not entirely true.

On May 18, 1987 the Jill Jones album was released worldwide. So yeah, when the Prince tour started, the album was not out yet. But six shows in it was. And all of these ads were published after the release of Jill’s debut album, which could be heard inside some concert venues.

I’m not sure about the rest of the tour, but during the ‘Sign O’ The Times’ concerts in Utrecht the Jill Jones album was played over the PA. So at that point it was promoted, loudly I might add. Without any reference to back it up, that promotion seemed pointless though.

In my previous thread I elaborated some more about that album being played in the stadium:

https://twitter.com/EdgarKruize/status/1415391422618943491?s=20

I have yet to find a non-European album review from 1987, but in late May, early June quite a lot of European magazines wrote about the album and the reviews were generally positive (if not, raving).

Jill tagged along on quite a few dates of the ‘Sign O’ The Times’ tour circus, doing interviews with European press in some of the cities Prince visited. It boggles the mind why Prince would not have Jill perform as a support act if she was there anyway.

In an interview from that time she said that she did not have time to prepare for a European support act. She stated she would be the opening act during the US leg of the ‘Sign O’ The Times’ tour and would be back in Europe for concerts in December.

That US leg of the tour eventually either fell through though or some might argue never materialized. And looking back it seems Prince never really wanted her to perform as a support act anyway. Or in fact, at all. Essentially sabotaging her solo career.

“Prince was resistant to let me go out on tour. We were so tight, and then he came and totally shut me down and told me I didn’t need to be singing,” she said talking to @MMLunlimited. “I needed to quit and stop this madness and all this stuff. Ripped my band apart.”

“And only because then he took Sheila on tour […] I was really pissed. It was like I had nobody looking out for me. Nobody. Even him at one point, because it was all about manipulations, to get me to do other stuff.” Read the complete interview here: bit.ly/3iaKSiO

The album was already underperforming in the US at that point. “It was a really ace album, but the timing was way off. I don't think everyone was ready for it. Radio wasn't looking for it,” said Jill. Other Paisley Park albums from that time also did not perform too well though.

On August 7, 1987, in the midst of all the turmoil, ‘G-Spot’ was released as the second single from the album, b/w ‘Baby Cries (Ay Yah)’, which was written by Jill with Angie Stone and had no input from Prince.

Read @IAmMissTLC’s thread about ‘G-Spot’ here:

https://twitter.com/IAmMissTLC/status/1413506746878857226?s=20

As its predecessor, the single failed to chart in the US, but once again it was a minor hit in some European countries. With the emphasis on ‘minor’ though. In the Netherlands it reached number 90 in the local Top 100 for instance.

Big hits from that era were Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’, Madonna’s ‘Causing A Commotion’, Terence Trend D’Arby’s ‘Wishing Well’ and ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley. Once again a Jill Jones single sounded ‘out of time’. The irony is that it proves to be timeless 34 years on.

At that point Jill did start to perform though, opening for Level 42 in the US. Level 42 had been opening for Madonna’s Who’s That Girl World Tour up until August 9, 1987 and after that did some showcase performances with Jill Jones opening.

On August 11 1987 they played the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY. On August 12 they played The Ritz in New York City and on August 13 at Chestnut Cabaret in
Philadelphia, PA. Here’s Jill on stage at The Ritz.

Jill did perform a few other shows, but the show dates have been lost in the mist of time. We do know of a show in Los Angeles, with Jody Watley, which did not go too well. “Seriously, the crowd just stood there the whole time with their arms crossed. I was angry dancing.”

“I was singing ‘G-Spot’ and I was like ‘I'm not going to shake my ass.’ I know [on past performances] I would go out in my bra and panties, but, then I put on my trench coat and I'd leave. I just threw the mic down and walked off the stage.”

“Prince came to me and said ‘is that it, are you done?’ Maybe he created the diva in me.”
Check out the entire interview on The Beautiful Nights blog: beautifulnightschitown.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-qu…

On August 14, 1987 a pre recorded performance on ‘In Person From The Palace’ was broadcast. Jill performed ‘G-Spot’ and ‘For Love’ and did an amazing job. See for yourself (from the 13:05 mark):

By the way, did you notice the backing track in previous performance? It features the orchestral part by Clare Fischer in ‘G-Spot’, which is not on the album (or single) version and only appears on the 12 inch. And in this performance!

In late August, 1987 Jill travels back to Europe for more promotion. This leads to quite a lot of publications in mainly Dutch, Swedish, German and British press. Where she mainly spoke to newspapers in June, this time it’s mostly magazines.

In the slipstream of those interviews, her album performed somewhat better than in the US. What also helped were the tv performances from that time. First stop: London, where she performed ‘G-Spot’ on Sky TV.

On September 5, 1987 she performed at the historical site of the Arena di Verona in Italy, as part of the Festivalbar 1987 broadcast. She lip synced her way through ‘Mia Bocca’ in what is probably the most well known Jill Jones performance video:

One day later, on September 6, 1987 she performed the actual Festivalbar 1987 show, once again ‘Mia Bocca’, this time with proper lighting.

On September 8, 1987 a performance at Countdown Studios in Bussum, the Netherlands was recorded. Footage of this has survived, but is currently not to be found online.

Shortly after the Countdown performance Jill travelled to Paris where she performed ‘Mia Bocca’ on the ‘Bains de Minuit’ tv show. This performance is broadcast on October 2, 1987:

As a European I have no idea why all these tv shows have her perform in awkward situations, like that empty arena in Verona or this café in Paris. I apologize on behalf of all Europeans.

Anyway, there’s also on interview from that last show:

On September 17, 1987 Jill performed ‘Mia Bocca’ at Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy as part of the Vota La Voce.

Jill performed on Italian tv show a lot, as she was also a guest in the Hit Parade 1987 show in September 1987. Filmed at Teatro Verdi di Montecatini, Jill performed ‘G-Spot’.

Italy was a stronghold in Europe, obviously. But also France saw plenty of tv performances. Such as another awkward looking performance at the September 26, 1987 TV6 show Childéric.

One thing to note is that at this point in time multiple (former) Prince associates were touring Europe for promotion. And sometimes all artists appeared in the same tv-show, such as this RAI UNO interview from October 1987:

The latter was most likely filmed at the Fantastico tv show at Teatro delle Vittorie Rai Uno in Rome, Italy broadcast on October 17, 1987. Jill also performed ‘Baby, You’re A Trip’ and ‘Violet Blue’ there.

No matter how much tv performances and press interviews she did though, by the end of 1987 the album had also run its course in Europe, while it already had lost momentum in the US, if it ever had any.

“The album was dead in the water,” as Jill put it herself.

So what went wrong? It is most likely a combination of various things. Musically it was not the right album at the right time. Paisley Park and Warner never seemed to have bothered with promoting it properly.

Also, Prince might not have wanted his secret weapon to step out into the spotlight… Remember what happened with The Time when they were the support but eventually outclassed the main act on some evenings during the 1999 tour?

At the time, they were the only act that was able to rival him on stage. Jill potentially had the talent to do just that. Had she been a support act on a tour, she might eventually have given Prince a run for his money.

And we all know what happened with The Time when they became too popular, it all came falling apart shortly after that tour. Keeping Jill from performing actually had more or less the same effect, it all fell apart from there.

And in the outside world, there was the race issue, that didn't help. @AishaStaggers explained perfectly her thread yesterday (link to follow in another tweet) how that made it difficult to market her.

“There's a rap convention in Atlanta that I went to [the Jack The Rapper Family Affair] and people came up to me saying ‘you're Black? I didn't know you were Black! I would've played your record’,” Jill remembered in previously mentioned Beautiful Nights interview.

“I just came back to Prince, like, ‘should I just get a tan?’ White people somehow knew I was Black and they said ‘I'm not playing that house Negro on the radio’.”

This mainly was an issue in the US, as in Europe there were no specific ‘black’ or ‘white’ radio stations.

Hence the slightly bigger success in Europe, possibly.

Yet at the tail end of the album’s life span, in February 1988, somehow it was decided to leave Europe for what it was and ‘For Love’ (b/w ‘Baby. You’re A Trip’) was released as the final single.

But in the US only!? Once again it boggles the mind… why was it decided to beat a dead horse on one continent, while there is still a chance of actual success on another continent?

Anyway, for more on ‘For Love’ check out @arrthurr’s #PrinceTwitterThread about the song:

https://twitter.com/arrthurr/status/1418008675436810242?s=20

And for ‘Baby, You’re A Trip’ see yesterday’s thread by @AishaStaggers:

https://twitter.com/AishaStaggers/status/1420059412660736007?s=20

So there are these strange marketing choices that did not help the album either. Oddly enough around the time of the ‘For Love’ single, the Paisley Park label suddenly started to promote its entire roster as ‘a family’. But it was too little, too late.

Yet here we are, 34 years later, still talking about it.

And that’s the power of music right there. A great album will last a lifetime (and beyond) and will eventually find its way to the listener.

Despite the lack of chart success around the time it was released, the 1987 Jill Jones album stands tall as one of the greatest Paisley Park releases ever. And although these are all Prince compositions, it is Jill’s vocals that lift the songs to another level.

I dare to say this album would not have been as good, had this been a Prince album with him singing all the songs. Exhibit A, his own version of ‘Baby, You’re A Trip’ (from the ‘Originals’ release).

Exhibit B, the original recording of ‘With You’ from his second album:

Need I go on? I won’t… this thread is long enough as it is already. So I’m gonna wrap it up and make room for @JillDJones, who will be doing a special VIP-thread tomorrow as a series finale.

Thank you all for reading, thanks once again to all contributors: @RhondaNicole_, @RichardCole_NOW, @Art0fficialAge, @MMLunlimited, @IAmMissTLC, @AishaStaggers, @TrickyKid2, @arrthurr and my co-host extraordinaire @deejayumb.

An extra thanks to that @Princevault guy @jooZt_M for putting up with all of my fact checking nonsense.

If you are so inclined, please give us a follow at @Princethread.

Thank U!