Sizzling former front woman of the sex-charged pop group Vanity 6, Prince protege and actress, black Canadian star Vanity became something of an international sex symbol in the '80s. Born as Denise Matthews at Niagara Falls, Ontario, on 4 January 1959, to a German mother and an African-American father, Vanity's beauty runs deep in her genes. Her sister is the Canadian model Patricia Matthews.

Vanity modelled herself before launching a pop career. As a singer she performed under the aliases D.D. Winters in Canada, Denise Matthews in Los Angeles and Denise Sonic in Tokyo. Her big break came in the early 1980s when she met rising pop superstar Prince, after his manager gave him some lyrics Vanity had written. A torrid love affair soon followed. Prince decided to put together an all-girl singing group, with his new girlfriend as the star. He toyed with naming the group Vagina Sex and its lead singer Vagina, but in the end they settled on Vanity. Her new band Vanity 6 was all about raw sex appeal. They released only one album, before Vanity went solo.

Already having had a few minor acting roles, Vanity was originally scheduled to star opposite Prince in his movie Purple Rain. But their relationship was on the rocks and the role eventually went to Appolonia, who became Prince's next girlfriend. Vanity released two solo albums thereafter, but increasingly turned her attention to acting, specializing in playing sultry female characters often in trouble with the law. Her fans hit gold in movies like 52 Pick Up and Action Jackson where Vanity coolly, and very sexily, accepted doing nude scenes. In the late '80s she had a rocky relationship with Motley Crew bass player Nikki Sixx. In 1995, she briefly married pro football player Anthony Smith. Vanity sadly died of a rare complication of a peritoneal dialysis on February 15, 2016.