Vanity

At 57 years old, Vanity physical status not available right now. We will update Vanity's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Denise Katrina Matthews (January 4, 1959 to February 15, 2016), better known as Vanity, was a Canadian singer, guitarist, dancer, model, and actress who turned away from her music and acting to evangelism.

Her career spanned the 1980s to the early/mid-1990s.

She was the lead singer of the Vanity 6 male trio from 1981 to 1983, but then it disbanded in 1983.

They are best known for their 1982 R&B/funk hit "Nasty Girl."

Vanity's music career included two solo albums on the Motown Records label, Wild Animal and Skin on Skin, as well as the minor hit singles "Pretty Mess," "Mechanical Emotion," "Under Influence" (from the movie Action Jackson).

In addition, she had a fruitful film career, appearing in the films The Last Dragon, 52 Pick-Up, and Action Jackson.

Vanity appeared in numerous publications around the world during the 1980s and early 1990s.

She died on February 15, 2016, at the age of 57, as a result of renal disease.

Early life

Denise Matthews was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on January 4, 1959, the granddaughter of Helga Senyk and Levia James Matthews. Her mother, who was born in Germany, was of German-Jewish and Polish-Jewish descent, while her father, who was African-American descent and was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, was of German-Jewish descent and was born in Germany. Matthews had two sisters, Patricia and Renay, as well as several half-sisters.

When she was 15 years old, her father died. Matthews revealed to Jet in 1993 that her father physically and verbally assaulted her for years. She had a bad self-image as a result of her abuse. "He beat me for 15 years...." I wish I could see my father in heaven, but I won't. "He's in hell," she said.

Personal life

Matthews appeared at the American Music Awards with Rick James in January 1982, where she first met Prince Michael in January 1982. Matthews and Prince were first seen dating shortly after. She was compared romantically to Adam Ant, who wrote the song "Vanity" about her on his 1983 Strip album, and Billy Idol.

Matthews revealed that she and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx were engaged during an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1987. She has often joked that she will be back to Vanity 6 (Sixx). The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star Sixx, a book by David Houghton, chronicles their turbulent relationship and drug use. He said that Vanity taught him how to freebase cocaine.

Matthews married football player Anthony Smith of the Oakland Raiders in 1995, on her first anniversary of sobriety. When Matthews learned of Smith's philanthropic efforts in Los Angeles, she was working as an evangelist. "The Lord told me that I would go down to Los Angeles and minister him," she told Ebony. She proposed to him three days after they met three days before. They married after a one-month whirlwind romance. The wedding took place at Smith's home in Playa del Rey. Smith confessed to arguing often because of her kind nature. Matthews had a habit of bringing homeless people into their homes for dinner and giving them showers, so she would also give out her number. Smith's marriage was brief, and his marriage was ended in 1996. Smith was arrested for domestic assault accusing another woman, and he was later found guilty of three murders.

During the filming of Da Vinci's War in 1992, Vanity interviewed actor Sam J. Jones. At a lunch break, Jones invited Vanity to read the Bible with him. Vanity became a born-again Christian just a few months ago, and she has stated in numerous interviews that she would not be allowed to perform any more sexualized roles. Simultaneously, she renounced her stage name Vanity and reverted to Denise Matthews. She and her companion/agent Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips travelled extensively through the South, testifying of her conversion to Christianity.

Matthews was hospitalized in 1994 for near-fatal kidney disease as a result of a drug overdose. Doctors later said she had three days to live despite being rushed to the hospital. She explained that Jesus appeared to her at this moment and told her that if she promised to remove her Vanity persona, he would save her.

Matthews ended her stage career by breaking off all links with Hollywood and avoiding her old life in show business during her recovery. She committed herself to being a born-again Christian. "I threw out about 1,000 tapes of mine when I first heard the Lord Jesus Christ," she said in 1995. "I was there at The Grand in Sherman Oaks when she first started dumping stuff down the fire incinerator," Jimerson-Phillips said. I bought a painting by well-known artist Olivia; a cassette hand painted by the Prince of unreleased music; and a collection of other things I didn't want to see go into the garbage; and a collection of other things I didn't want to see go into the garbage. I even had to come back to the office to ask them to retrieve her gold album that had been left behind."

Matthews dedicated the remainder of her life to Christ following a kidney transplant in 1997. She has worked at churches around the world and she was in charge of Pure Hearts Ministries in Fremont, California.

Blame It On Vanity: Hollywood, Hell, and Heaven was Matthews' autobiography, published in 2010.

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Career

Matthews debuted in local beauty pageants before heading to Toronto, where she modeled. In 1977, she captured the Miss Niagara Hospitality title and then went on to compete for Miss Canada in 1978. She migrated to New York City at the age of 17. She has worked with the Zoli Model Agency. However, because she was short of stature, her modeling career was limited to commercials and photoshoots, with no runway experience included. Vanity appeared in advertisements for Pearl Drops toothpaste before completing a modeling stint in Japan.

Matthews appeared in the horror film Terror Train (1980), which was shot in Montreal in 1979. She then travelled to Toronto to film her lead role in B-movie Tanya's Island (1980). For both films, she was credited as D. D. Winters.

Matthews appeared on the front page of the funk band Cameo's album cover, Alligator Woman, which was released in March 1982. She had met Prince Charles at the American Music Awards earlier this year. The Hookers later invited her to perform with a boy group he had created after learning she could sing. Prince Charles wanted to name her "Vagina" at first, but she declined, so they settled on Vanity, because he considered her to be the feminine version of himself. The company was renamed Vanity 6 in honor of the founders. The band released one album and had some success overseas with the single "Nasty Girl." They wore lingerie, and Vanity's image became that of an sexual and sexy "nasty child." "Prince created the entire Vanity Six image." At the time, it bothered me. I lied and said it was the picture I wanted. I did it because he told me I had to do it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't do it, I wouldn't get paid. I've fallen into it. "I wanted the old Diana Ross image," she said.

Vanity and Prince appeared on the front page of Rolling Stone magazine's April 28, 1983, issue. She abruptly left the company and turned down a role in the 1984 film Purple Rain, which went to her replacement, Apollonia Kotero. Vanity, a 1985-born artist, signed to Motown Records as a solo performer and released the funk-pop compilation Wild Animal. With the singles "Pretty Mess" and "Mechanical Emotion," she had modest success on the US pop and R&B charts.

In 1985, Vanity made her mainstream film debut in The Last Dragon, which featured her song, "7th Heaven." She wanted to be in The Color Purple, 1985, but Steven Spielberg felt she was too young. Skin on Skin, her second and last album, debuted the top ten R&B hit "Under the Influence" in 1986. She appeared in Never Too Young to Die opposite John Stamos and appeared in 52 Pick-Up this year.

Vanity guest appeared in an episode of Miami Vice's third season in 1987. She went on to co-star in Action Jackson, her highest-profile role in which she appeared opposite Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, and Sharon Stone. In the April 1988 issue of Playboy magazine, she was also nude.

Vanity appeared on a number of television shows. In 1989, she appeared in "Mesmer's Bauble," a film series. In the 1990 TV film Memories of Murder, she was tortured, tortured Nancy Allen's character. She appeared in an episode of Highlander: The Series in 1992. In 1993, she appeared in the film Kiss of Death.

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