The band was assembled by Prince from the summer of 1981 to January 1982.
The original concept was to be called The Hookers, and would feature Prince's personal assistant at the time, Jamie Shoop, Susan Moonsie (whom Prince was dating at the time. Susan Moonsie's sister Loreen was considered to be the third member, and they took a few Polaroid photo's with this line-up, with all three girls wearing lingerie.
Prince shelved the project to fully commit to his forthcoming Controversy Tour in November 1981.
After meeting Denise Matthews, a young Canadian model and aspiring actress, in January 1982, he proposed her to be part of the project, which she accepted. After Denise Matthews refused Prince's idea to rename her as Vagina, the name of Vanity came up, and the band name changed accordingly.
Shortly afterwards, during the Controversy Tour, Prince found in Brenda Bennett, his set and lighting designer's wife (Roy Benett), a third band member for the project. She had been part of the Tombstone Blues band in 1973. Apart from her, none had any experience in singing before they started recording vocals for their first album.
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