Prince’s “When Doves Cry” Was Reportedly About ’80s R&B Singer Many Never Knew He Dated

Posted On : April 26, 2024
Prince

It’s never been a secret that the beloved Prince, had a way with the ladies. There was one woman in particular though, whom inside sources of Prince’s inner circle say meant so much to him, that he wrote one of his most iconic hits about her. His 1984 classic,”When Doves Cry,” was said to have been about his high school sweetheart, who was supposedly the love of his life at that time. She’s an R&B singer we all know…but what many of us didn’t know, was that the two were together for years. Get your scroll on to see who she is…

The High School Sweetheart Prince Wrote When Doves Cry About

She’s one-third of Vanity 6/ Appollonia 6Susan Moonsie! Susan was the ‘shy persona’ of the trio, and Prince actually created Vanity 6 around her when he put the group together. He allegedly wrote the song about their up-and-down relationship and it’s also alleged that Prince wrote the song, “Private Joy,” about Susan Moonsie as well.

https://www.tumblr.com/vintagewoc/157366002130/susan-moonsie-1980s

Prince’s intentions were to have Susan be the lead singer of Vanity 6, but she didn’t want to be the lead. That’s Vanity and then Appollonia were the lead singers instead.

Those who were close to Prince and Susan say their relationship was rocky– they’d break up, then make up…and then break up again, but they allegedly loved each other deeply. Like we said, Prince and Susan were high school sweethearts first – before the fame and money – so maybe that’s why their love was so unbreakable.

Unsurprisingly, their relationship often had issues because of Prince’s alleged relationships with a few other singers who came onto to the scene after Susan. Allegedly, she thought Prince was cheating on her when he started becoming attracted to singer, Denise “Vanity” Matthews, around 1983. Insiders say that’s when Susan ended the relationship, and she even became close friends with Vanity.

Prince Allegedly Had A Relationship With This Singer, Too

Susannah Melvoin (R); her twin sister and Prince’s guitarist, Wendy Melvoin (L) (screen-grab)

Additionally, there’s this other singer who close friends of both Prince and Susan Moonsie have allegedly said ended their relationship again, and that’s when in 1984 Prince started messing around with singer, Susannah Melvoin, (twin sister of Prince’s The Revolution guitarist, Wendy Melvoin). There is no confirmation on which relationship actually deadened Prince’s and Susan Moonsie’s relationship for good though.

In case you still aren’t familiar with Susannah Melvoin, she was the one who co-sang the popular song, “Screams of Passion,” back in the day. It was also said that in 1985, Prince wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U” (the song eventually covered by Sinead O’Connor) about Susannah Melvoin. Prince was a busy brotha, wasn’t he?

An ’80s R&B Group Also Wrote A Song About Susan Moonsie

Now, here’s one more Old School fun fact that most of us never knew. There was another popular ’80s hit that had a line in it about Prince’s ex-girlfriend, Susan Moonsie. We all know this song, it was Timex Social Club’s hit song, “Rumours.” The line about Susan Moonsie was: “Did you hear that one about Susan, some say she’s just a tease. In a camisole she’s six feet tall. She’ll knock you to your knees.” This fact was confirmed by Timex Social Club founding member/ songwriter, Marcus A. Thompson. Wow…Susan was highly sought after back in the day.

About I Love Old School Music

We salute the incredible people and beautiful memories of that "old school". We’re not saying that every artist and every facet of the soul era was perfect, but the artists’ contributions to soul music and the old school memories of that particular time are PRICELESS.