The song surfaced in 1992 after Minogue met Prince backstage after his Diamonds and Pearls show at Earls Court in June that year. She asked Prince what he was working on and he later invited her to his famed Paisley Park studio in Minneapolis. The funk-infused version, which has surfaced online, contains lyrics that Minogue confirmed were in the song in 2018: 'Let me be your baby doll, sugar and spice and all things nice/ Let me be your paradise'.
Earlier, while the two were partying in a London hotel room surrounded by studio equipment, Prince asked, "Where are your lyrics?"
Minogue has spoken about the song's existence in interviews for years and mentioned that her record company wasn't interested in the idea of him producing it all himself, so she never had the opportunity to record it. She has also mentioned that the Prince Estate may have a copy as well.
The song will also reportedly appear as one of the tracks recorded between 1990 and 1992 on the Diamonds and Love compilation, which The Prince Estate plans to release in the summer of 2022. The scope of the project has since been changed to include only songs from the Diamonds And Pearls era, so songs recorded after October 1991, including "Baby Doll", have been cut.
Minogue didn't write lyrics at this point, but jotted some down so Prince could structure the song around them. The demo was then sent as a cassette to Minogue's address, but it has since disappeared.
The news comes just a month after the death of Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson. Her death was confirmed by her son, President Nelson, to local media outlet the Minnesota Star Tribune. The cause of her death was not reported.
In June of this year, Nelson shared details of her last conversations with her brother and his similarities to their family members.
She added that she was unaware of his illness, but when she hugged him, she felt he had lost weight.
"A couple of times I asked, "How are you really?" He shared almost nothing with me. It bothered me, and he knew it did, but that was all he wanted to tell me," she said.
Nelson further revealed that the last communication between her and Prince happened four days before his death.
"He kept dodging the questions. I kept getting angry. I felt like, 'Talk to me for two seconds.' He'd change the subject, drop a joke and then we'd both laugh," she says.
"The moment someone was talking to me, he turned to me. He asked me if I could find more information about our family. Prince wanted me to find Sharon's number. I didn't ask him why. He just told me, "Send this picture to this person," Nelson adds. | BGNES
