Vanity, the lead singer of the ‘80s group Vanity 6 who was discovered by Prince, has died. She was 57 years old.
Her death was first reported by TMZ. Vanity, whose real name was Denise Matthews, died after a long battle with kidney failure and an abdominal illness. She died on Feb. 15 at a hospital in Fremont, California.
Matthews’ sister, Renay Matthews, also confirmed her death to The New York Times. She said that Matthews had been in a hospital since Saturday night.
Matthews grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She was a model and met Prince at the American Music Awards. Prince and Matthews then created the trio Vanity 6 and he produced their 1982 hit “Nasty Girl.” In 1983, she famously appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with Prince.
She appeared in films like The Last Dragon, Never Too Young To Die and Action Jackson. However, her career was derailed by her drug use and she nearly died in 1990s. She lost both of her kidneys and said in 1993 that she had renal failure.
After the health scare, she became a Christian evangelist, leaving her fame behind. She did write an autobiography in 1999 called Blame It On Vanity.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, she was diagnosed with a painful kidney condition last year and had to set up a GoFundMe page. Unfortunately, she only raised $6,600 of the $50,000 she needed.