Prince’s Shelved 1986 ‘Camille’ Album Is Finally Getting A Proper Release
Co-owned by Jack White, Detroit independent label Third Man Records plans to issue the unreleased 1986 Camille album.
Under his feminine alter-ego “Camille,” Prince‘s unreleased 1986 album Camille will finally be released on Third Man Records. Co-founded by Jack White, the Detroit independent record label recently got a look when co-founder Ben Blackwell spoke to Mojo about Camille. According to fansite UltimatePrince.com, Blackwell shared details about the album’s impending release, saying: “We’re finally going to put it out. Prince’s people agreed – almost too easy.”
With just eight tracks in total, Camille‘s songs have been sporadically featured on different Prince projects. “Housequake,” “Strange Relationship,” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend” were on the 1987 double album Sign O’ the Times. “Feel U Up” and “Shockadelica” were released as the B-sides to “Partyman” (from the 1989 Batman album) and “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” respectively. “Good Love” appeared on the 1988 soundtrack for Bright Lights, Big City; “Rockhard in a Funky Place” is on The Black Album and lastly, “Rebirth of the Flesh” was added to the 2020 expanded reissue of Sign O’ the Times.
In 2016, White first bid for a vinyl copy of Camille during an auction, but Questlove nabbed one of the few albums. Despite losing the auction, White paid $49,375 for a different vinyl copy of Camille.
A release date for Camille hasn’t been confirmed yet. In related news, the Prince Estate recently responded to Morris Day’s claim that it was no longer allowing him to use the name Morris Day & The Time. Day previously wrote in an Instagram post that, “the people who control [Prince’s] multi million dollar estate, want to rewrite history by taking my name away from me, thus impacting how I feed my family. So as of now, per the Prince Estate, I can no longer use Morris Day & The Time in any capacity.”
However, the Estate responded to the post, saying: “Given Prince’s longstanding history with Morris Day and what the Estate thought were amicable discussions, The Prince Estate was surprised and disappointed to see his recent post. The Estate is open to working proactively with Morris to resolve this matter. However, the information that he shared is not entirely accurate.”