Vanity

Vanity
Vanity
Vanity; Vanity
basic information
Birth name	Denise Katrina Matthews
Date of Birth
Place of Birth	;
Date of death
A place of death	;
A country	Canada
Professions	singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer
Years of activity	1977 - 1997
Genres	soul , R&B , pop , funk , disco
Aliases	Dee Dee Winters
Collectives	Vanity 6
Labels	Motown , A&M , Geffen , Warner Bros.

Denise Katrina Matthews (better known as Vanity ) ( January 4, 1959 , Niagara Falls , Ontario , Canada - February 15, 2016 , Fremont , California , USA ) - Canadian singer, actress and model ^[3] .

Vanity’s career lasted from the early 80s to the mid 90s . She was a member of the female trio Vanity 6 , then she sang solo, starred in films and for magazines. In the mid-90s, she became a believer and left show business.

Content

1 Biography
- 1.1 Origin
- 1.2 Career
  - 1.2.1 1977-1980
  - 1.2.2 1980-1992
- 1.3 Conversion to Christianity
- 1.4 Disease and death
2 Personal life
3 Discography
4 Filmography
- 4.1 Cinema
- 4.2 Television
5 notes
6 References

Biography

Origin

Denise Katrina Matthews was born on January 4, 1959 in Niagara Falls , Canada ^[4] . Her parents were Levia James Matthews and Helga Senik ^[5] . His mother was of Polish-German-Jewish descent and was born in Germany, and his father was an African American from Wilmington , North Carolina ^[6] .

Career

1977-1980

Denise Matthews began her career at local beauty pageants. In 1977, she won the Miss Niagara Contest ^[7] , and in 1978 she participated in the Miss Canada Competition. At 17, she moved to New York to pursue a modeling career. There she signed a contract with the modeling agency Zoli. However, since she was not tall, her modeling career was limited to photo shoots and shootings in commercials (for example, advertising of Pearl Drops toothpaste), without going to the podium.

1980-1992

In 1980, she appeared in a small role in the horror film Train of Fear , which was filmed in Montreal a year earlier. In the same year she appeared in the title role in the fantasy erotic film " The Island of Thani ". At this time, she starred under the name Dee Dee Winters ( born DD Winters ). Then she met Prince at the American Music Awards . Prince renamed it “Vanity” (which means “Vanity”), as he saw in her a female incarnation of himself. Upon learning that she also sings, Prince invited her to become the soloist of the girl group Vanity 6 . The group lasted from 1981 to 1983 . After Vanity took up a solo career, and also continued filming in the movie ^[8] .

At this time, the film “ Dragon Strike ” is released with her, where her hit “7th Heaven” also sounds. In 1986, she starred in the movie " It 's Never Too Early to Die " along with John Stamos and Gene Simmons . Her most famous roles were Picked Up Big and Action Jackson , in the latter she worked with Karl Weathers , Craig Nelson and Sharon Stone . From the mid -80s to the beginning of the 90s, Vanity often appeared as a guest star in various television series, such as “ Memoirs of a Murder ,” “ Miami Police ,” “ Highlander, ” or “ Friday the 13th .”

Conversion to Christianity

In 1994, Vanity had an overdose due to cocaine and serious kidney failure . Doctors in the hospital predicted that she would still live for three days. At this time, according to her, she had a vision where Jesus appeared and promised to save, but she would need to abandon the personality of Vanity. Having discharged from the hospital, she abandoned her stage name, completed her career and became a convinced Christian . In 1995, she said that she threw away all her films, and also refused royalties for her previous work when she was Vanity and broke off her relationship with Hollywood ^[9] . After a kidney transplant in 1997, Denise Matthews began performing in churches in the United States and around the world. In 2010, she released her autobiography Accused of Vanity: Hollywood, Hell and Paradise ( Blame It On Vanity: Hollywood, Hell and Heaven ) ^[10] .

Sickness and death

Due to kidney problems caused by years of drug use when she was a star, she had to undergo peritoneal dialysis five times a day (each session lasting about 20 minutes) ^[9] ^[11] ^[12] . She began to suffer from sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis , a rare complication of peritoneal dialysis. She died in Fremont Hospital, California on February 15, 2016 from kidney failure at the age of 57. It was cremated, the dust was scattered off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands ^[13] .

Personal life

She was in a romantic relationship with Prince , Adam Ant , Billy Idol ^[11] . In 1987, Vanity announced her engagement to Nikki Sixx , bassist from Mötley Crüe . She then joked that now it would again become Vanity 6 (i.e. Sixx for her husband). Nikki Sixx, describing Heroin Diaries in 1987 in her 2007 autobiography, recalls that she was addicted to cocaine at that time and used it with Vanity. However, they never got married. In 1995, Denise Matthews married football player Anthony Smith of Auckland Raiders , but divorced the following year ^[14] .

Discography

Studio albums

With Vanity 6 :

1982 - Vanity 6

Solo:

1984 - Wild Animal
1986 - Skin on Skin

Singles

With Vanity 6:

1982 - He's So Dull
1982 - "Nasty Girl"
1982 - Drive Me Wild
1982 - Make Up