Naked In The Summertime

Having disbanded backing band The Revolution, and sacked singers Wendy & Lisa following the Parade tour in 1986, Prince consolidated material from two shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. Warner Brothers however forced him to trim it to a double, and Sign O' The Times was released on 31st March 1987. Peaking at No. 6 on Billboard, the first single - the record's title track - charted at No. 3. The follow-up, 'If I Was Your Girlfriend', only reached 67, but third single, the raunchy duet with former girl-next-door- type Sheena Easton, 'U Got The Look', with its unforgettable let's get to ramming hook, charted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and No. 11 on the R&B chart. The next album was the controversial Black Album. More instrumental and funk/ R&B themed than recent releases, The Black Album also saw Prince experiment with hip hop. All set to release the album with a monochromatic black cover with only the catalogue number showing, after 500,000 copies had been pressed Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled. It was later released by Warner Brothers as a limited edition in 1994, but not before it had been heavily bootlegged. Prince then went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy. Released in 1988, the album served as a spiritual opposite to The Black Album, every song being a solo effort by Prince. In 1989 he was asked by Batman director Tim Burton to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warners released on 20th June 1989. Batman peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.3 million copies. In 1990, Prince went back on the road with a revamped band for his back-to-basics Nude Tour. Prince brought in keyboardist Rosie Gaines, drummer Michael Bland, and dancing trio The Game Boyz.