Matthews’ sister Renay said the death was from complications over longstanding kidney issues.
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Denise Katrina Matthews was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on January 4, 1959.
Vanity reportedly met Prince backstage at the American Music Awards in 1980, and the two began dating.
“When I was Vanity, it was all about me”, she said in 1999.
It’s a sad ending for an artist who showed so much promise with Vanity 6’s 1982 hit, “Nasty Girl”, produced by Prince. She also started acting, appearing in Action Jackson, Friday The 13th: The Series, Miami Vice, and the cult classic martial-arts musical The Last Dragon.
In 1994, Matthews’ crack cocaine addiction caused an almost-fatal renal failure, and she later said Jesus Christ appeared to her, offering a second chance at life if she left behind her persona as Vanity. An actress and a model, Matthews fronted the band Vanity 6 before going on to a solo career, but she gave it all up to become a born-again Christian in the early ’90s.
She claimed Matthews checked into a hospital on Saturday night.
“Can I tell you a story about Vanity?”.
“With the devil breathing down my neck, trying desperately to snatch and strangle me for hell, I repented”, she wrote. It’s a little heavy for me tonight. She left the name Vanity behind and became a Christian evangelist.
Matthews had been married to LA Raiders player Anthony Smith in 1995 for a year, after which she was briefly engaged to Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. Her and I used to love each other deeply. A recent update there, signed by Denise, indicated she might have had encapsulating peritonitis sclerosis, a complication that obstructs the intestines and can stem from certain kidney-failure treatments. She was later ordained as a minister and preached in churches around the country.
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Prince is finally opening up regarding his protégé Vanity’s death. She loved & trusted him wholeheartedly.
