Ensemble Gaines' first band was a family
funk/
soul group called Unity, with Gaines on
organ, her brother Carl on bass guitar, her cousin Lacy on guitar, sister-in-law Dianne on background vocals and her sister Mal on drums. Gaines also played in a band called The Oasis and A Touch of Class before joining The Curtis Ohlson Band (with
Levi Seacer, Jr. on guitar). Seacer called Gaines one day and asked her to come to
Minneapolis,
Minnesota to sing a
demo of a song for
The Pointer Sisters.
Prince While she was doing the demo,
Prince came in the
recording studio, was impressed by her abilities and asked her to join his band
The New Power Generation. Gaines was introduced in 1990 as the new vocalist and keyboard player on Prince's
Nude Tour. Her first appearance on a Prince album was on
Graffiti Bridge, her vocals prominent on the second single, "
New Power Generation". She was also a member of the NPG in the film
Graffiti Bridge. She wrote and performed on the
Diamonds and Pearls album, her lead and background vocals prominently featured on most of the album's tracks, including the hit singles "
Gett Off", "
Cream" and "
Diamonds and Pearls". In 1992, after the
Diamonds and Pearls tour concluded, Gaines returned to her solo career, although she continued to work with Prince from time to time. Prince produced the official remix to Gaines's 1995 solo single "I Want U", titled "I Want U (Purple Version)". She
duetted with Prince on the live version of "
Nothing Compares 2 U", which is available on his 1993
compilation album,
The Hits/The B-Sides and also contributed vocals to the tracks "I Rock Therefore I Am" (from Prince's 1996
Chaos and Disorder album), "Jam of the Year" (from Prince's 1996
Emancipation album) and a re-recorded version of "1999" (titled "
1999: The New Master"), which was released by Prince & the NPG in 1999. For Prince's
Rave Un2 the Year 2000, Gaines was one of many guest appearance, providing vocals for the medley and "Nothing Compares 2 U". Other guests included
Larry Graham,
Morris Day and
The Time, and
Lenny Kravitz.
Solo Gaines recorded her first solo album, titled
Caring, in 1985, followed by the 1987 album
No Sweeter Love. Although neither album received much commercial interest at the time, both albums have subsequently been released in a digital format on iTunes. Following her 3-year tenure with Prince & the NPG, between 1990 and 1992, Gaines started
recording her next solo album. Several albums worth of material were recorded, and an album was set for release on
Paisley Park Records under the title
Concrete Jungle. However it was not released because of a legal battle between Prince and
Warner Bros. Records, and remained unreleased until 2010. Starting over, Gaines eventually released her third solo album (her first post-NPG album) on
Motown Records in 1995. The album, titled
Closer than Close, spawned the singles "I Want U" and "Are You Ready?", and included the song "My Tender Heart", a song composed by Gaines and Prince and featuring background vocals by Prince and long-time NPG collaborators The Steeles, which Gaines had earlier performed on
The Ryde Dyvine TV special in late 1992. In 1995 Gaines also collaborated with
Tevin Campbell on the song "I2I", which was featured in the Disney movie
A Goofy Movie. In 1997, a club remix of "
Closer than Close" was released as a single. The remix was commercially very successful in the
United Kingdom, where it peaked at number four on the
UK Singles Chart. It also charted on the Australian club charts and has appeared on numerous club compilation albums. The track earned Gaines a MOBO Award for Best International Single at the ’97 Awards show (beating the likes of P Diddy, previously known as Puff Daddy, R Kelly and Tina Moore), and inspired Gaines to record a follow-up club track, "I Surrender", which was released later that year. The remix is now considered a club classic, and has been re-remixed a number times since its initial release. With her own
record label Dredlix Records, Gaines strove to bring her music directly via the Internet. In 1997, she released an Internet-only album,
Arrival. Limited to 2,000 copies, it was available exclusively through her official website. In 2003, she released her album
You Gave Me Freedom through Dome Records in the UK. In 2005, Gaines provided her vocals for the single "Dance With Me", which was recorded by
K-Klass and released on SUSU Records. In November 2006, Gaines released her album
Welcome to My World for SUSU Records. She also self-released the album
Soul Survivor in 2013, which included 5 songs from
You Gave Me Freedom alongside new and previously unreleased material. The compilation albums
Essential Rosie, a
greatest hits album, and
Dance with Me, a club album that includes the singles "Dance with Me" (with K-Klass) and "Release the Pressure" (with Red), were both released in 2015. == Later life ==