Rosie Gaines



Rosie Gaines is an American vocalist, musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer from Pittsburg, California. She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close".

Ensemble career
Gaines' first band was a family funk/soul group called Unity, with Gaines on organ, her brother Carl on bass guitar, her cousin Lacy on guitar, sister-in-law Dianne on background vocals and her sister Mal on drums.

Gaines also played in a band called The Oasis and A Touch of Class before joining The Curtis Ohlson Band (with Levi Seacer, Jr. on guitar). Seacer called Gaines one day and asked her to come to Minneapolis, Minnesota to sing a demo of a song for The Pointer Sisters.

With Prince
While she was doing the demo, Prince came in the recording studio, was impressed by her abilities and asked her to join his band The New Power Generation. Gaines was introduced in 1990 as the new vocalist and keyboard player on Prince's Nude Tour. Her first appearance on a Prince album was on Graffiti Bridge. She was also a member of The NPG in the film Graffiti Bridge. She performed and wrote on the Diamonds and Pearls album. In 1992, after the Diamonds and Pearls tour, Gaines returned to her solo career, although she continued to work with Prince.

She duetted with Prince on the live version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", available on his 1993 compilation album, The Hits/The B-Sides.

Solo career
Gaines started recording her debut solo album. Several albums worth of material were recorded, and the album was set for release on Paisley Park Records. It was never released because of a legal battle between Prince and Warner Bros. Records.

Gaines eventually released her third album on Motown Records. It opened with "I Want U" and also includes "My Tender Heart" (composed by Gaines and Prince), which she performed on The Ryde Dyvine TV special in late 1992.

In 1995, Gaines released the album Closer than Close. A remix single of the title song was released two years later. The song "Closer Than Close" was highly successful in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, became a club favorite and earned Gaines a MOBO Award for Best International Single at the ’97 Awards show beating off the likes of P Diddy, previously known as Puff Daddy, R Kelly and Tina Moore, Also in 1995 Gaines collaborated with Tevin Campbell on the song "I2I" featured in the hit Disney movie A Goofy Movie.

With her own record label, Dredlix Records, Gaines strove to bring her music directly via the Internet. In 1997 she released an internet-only album, Arrival. Limited to 2,000 copies, it was available exclusively through her official website.

In 2003, she released her album You Gave Me Freedom through Dome Records in the UK. In 2005 Gaines provided her vocals for "Dance With Me" recorded by K-Klass and released on SUSU Records label in July 2005.

Gaines released her album, Welcome To My World, for SUSU Records in November 2006.