The Lovesexy Band

The Lovesexy Band is an unofficial name for Prince's ensemble that performed during a critically-acclaimed Lovesexy Tour between July 1988 and February 1989 with over 70 shows in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Originally formed in early 1987 as the Sign "☮" the Times Tour live band, it comprised of "core" musicians who recorded with Prince on with extra vocalists, instrumentalists, and choreographers. Unlike The Revolution in 1983–86 and The New Power Generation in later years, this "87-89 Band" never had an official name as all studio albums during that era were credited to solo Prince. After the tour, the Lovesexy Band was dissolved. Three members, Levi Seacer Jr., Mico Weaver, and Matt Fink, continued performing and recording with Prince as part of his next ensemble, an also unnamed pre-NPG formation. In May–June 1987, the band performed over 30 shows on the Sign "☮" the Times Tour in Europe. In December of the same year, musicians joined Prince for Lovesexy recording sessions at his new Paisley Park Studios — except for two backing singers and dancers, Greg Brooks and Wally Safford, who soon quit the ensemble. Completed in just seven weeks, Lovesexy was meant as a "substitute" for The Black Album, notoriously canceled by Prince at the very last moment to cause significant financial losses to Warner Bros. Records. Released in May 1988 on Paisley Park, Lovesexy had relatively poor sales and chart positions in the US, compared to previous Prince albums. The corresponding worldwide Lovesexy Tour, however, even with substantial production costs, became a major commercial and critical success. The first European "leg" began in July 1988, with over 30 shows in France, Italy, Belgium, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, and West Germany. After a brief five-day break, the US section began with 38 concerts between September and November 1988. The third and final part, in February 1989, took Prince and The Lovesexy Band to Japan for eight performances in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and other cities. The concert on 9th September 1988 at Westfalenhalle in Dortmund was filmed and broadcast semi-live across Europe and several other countries. Initially, Prince wanted to televise one of the Dutch shows, where the audience was most enthusiastic and responsive, but none of the available indoor venues could accommodate a massive suspended overhead rig for multiple cameras, so the production was set in West Germany. (Tickets were still primarily sold and promoted in the Netherlands.) In 1989, the show was released in Europe and the UK by PolyGram Music Video/Palace on two VHS tapes, and , and on Laserdisc (in CDV, a short-lived "hybrid" format). The video was heavily edited, often using alternate camera shots compared to TV broadcasts. Lovesexy Live became the third official video concert from Prince, following [m452078] (1985) and (88) on VHS/Laserdisc. Lineup Prince — lead and backing vocals, guitars, piano Sheila E. — drums, percussion, vocals Levi Seacer Jr. — bass, vocals Mico Weaver — guitar, vocals Dr. Fink — keyboards Boni Boyer — keyboards, vocals Eric Leeds — saxophone, flute Atlanta Bliss — trumpet Cat — choreography, backing vocals