Vanity

Born: 4th January, 1959
Died: 15th February 2016

Denise Matthews was born in Niagara Falls, Canada. After years of modelling, beauty pageants and acting (as D.D. Winters) she met Prince who encouraged her to become a singer for his new girl group Vanity 6, subsequently being replaced in 1984 with Apollonia (the group being re-named Apollonia 6). As a solo artist, Vanity signed to Motown and was a minor success and also starred in a number of movies. In early 1992, she became a born-again Christian renounced her stage name Vanity and reverted to Denise. In 1994, Matthews was hospitalized for near-fatal kidney failure from a drug overdose. The marriage with football player Anthony Smith lasted just one year. After a kidney transplant in 1997, she dedicated the rest of her life full-time to Christ. She made speaking engagements at churches across the United States and worldwide. In 2010, she released her autobiography, Blame It On Vanity: Hollywood, Hell and Heaven. Denise Matthews died in Fremont, California on February 15, 2016, at the age of 57, due to kidney failure.