Vanity dies.
Denise "Vanity" Matthews, has died of kidney failure at the age of 57. Prince's former protégé died at a hospital in Fremont, California. Matthews's sister Renay Matthews, 47, confirmed her death.
Matthews had been diagnosed with sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis or SEP, an inflammation of the small intestines, according to her GoFundMe page.
"So pray for me now for I am believing in complete healing of this body longing to be healed made whole my heart," Denise Matthews wrote on GoFundMe four months ago.
"I have my vision, I keep it close. I repent daily my sins, my faults and my shortcomings. He has brought me out of so many fires, oh so many, 23 years alive after the doctors pronounced i would be dead way back then 1992..."
Vanity battled crack addiction in the 90s, and after a 1994 OD her kidneys were shot. She had to undergo nearly daily dialysis treatments.
Her sister said Vanity checked into a hospital on Saturday night after struggling for years with health issues related to her kidneys.
"SADDEN my FRIEND IN CHRIST gone 2day. Vanity, Denise Matthews. MISS YOU DEARLY. U ARE IN HIS ARMS NOW, NO Pain," Sheila E wrote on Twitter.
"I am really sad to hear of Vanity/ Denise Matthews' passing. I will always treasure our time together. RIP," wrote Billy Joel.
Matthews grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Before she moved to the United States, she worked as a model.
Vanity met Prince at the American Music Awards
Vanity 6 had a hit in 1982 with "Nasty Girl." When the group disbanded in 1983, Vanity launched a solo career and appeared in in a number of TV shows and in films like "The Last Dragon," "Never Too Young to Die" and "Action Jackson."
Matthews developed an addiction to crack cocaine during her solo career. She suffered a drug overdose and almost died of renal failure in 1994.
Vanity claimed that Jesus Christ appeared to her and offered her a second chance at life. She renounced her sexy persona and became a born again Christian.
Matthews spent the last decades of her life as a Christian evangelist.
