Singer Vanity, leader of Vanity 6, dies at 57

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Pop and R&B singer and frequent Prince collaborator Vanity died Monday in Fremont, California. She was 57.

TMZ reports that she suffered from kidney failure and an abdominal illness, and started a GoFundMe page four months ago to pay for her medical bills. Born Denise Katrina Matthews in Niagara Falls, Canada, Vanity was a model before becoming the front woman of Vanity 6 — the groups' song, "Nasty Girl," reached No. 1 on Billboard's dance chart in 1982. She met Prince in 1980, and sang backup on his song "Free." She also had solo hits with "Pretty Mess," "Mechanical Emotion," and "Under the Influence," and was set to co-star in Purple Rain, but backed out of the role when she stopped dating Prince, Rolling Stone reports.

In the mid-1990s, after overdosing on crack, Matthews became a born-again Christian, and started the Pure Heart Ministries. She also wrote about her life in the book Blame It on Vanity.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.