André Cymone, is a bassist, singer and songwriter known for his association with mega superstar Prince.

Born on June 27, 1958, 20 days after Prince, André was raised on the “other side of the tracks”, in the projects, and Cymone’s family moved around before settling in North Minneapolis and meeting Prince Rogers Nelson in 7th grade. Cymone, born Andre Simon Anderson, said he introduced himself to Prince by chance because he ‘kind of reminds me a little bit of myself’, not knowing that Prince’s father John L. and André’s father Fred Anderson had been in a band together themselves. They built a strong friendship that would last for years. Prince’s parents were separated, and eventually he became so at odds with his parents that he moved in with the Andersons.

“I was a very wild kid…I was a hustler…I was always talking about we gotta do this, do that, we gotta make some money,” Andre explained. “[Prince] was more laid back. When we put the band together, I was still hustling. I’d be stealing cars, bikes … I was into a lot of crazy stuff. We had moved into a really nice sort of upper middle-class neighborhood and parents didn’t want their kids hanging around me because I was a little rough around the edges…[His mother] made him do all kinds of other stuff, anything other than to play with me. I think what happened is eventually he ran away.

“He came to our house and asked, "Can I stay here?”…So his mom said, “He can stay there if he wants to.” So a day turned into a week, week turned into a month, month turned into a year and a year turned into about five or six years, something like that."

Prince encouraged his new friend to join him in a band that became known as Grand Central, with Prince’s cousin Chazz Smith, Hollywood Doughty, and Andre’s sister Linda in 1972. Throughout the band’s span they would change names numerous times, and eventually Chazz, Prince and Cymone were the heart of the group. Grand Central would also compete in ‘battle of the bands’ against many Minneapolis funk acts, including Flyte Tyme, which was led by Terry Lewis of future Jam & Lewis fame. One of those competitions introduced Prince and the band to his future producer Chris Moon. In late 1973 band Chazz departed and was replaced at the drums with Morris Day. Day and Prince were the creative force behind the band’s first demos in 1975, when Grand Central changed their name to Shampayne. Day’s mother helped the band catch the interest of Isaac Hayes, but his backruptcy prevented him from signing the group. Afterwards, Prince began working with Moon and eventually produced the demos that would lead to his record deal with Warner Bros.

Upon the release of Prince’s debut For You in 1978, Cymone played bass for Prince’s first backing band alongside Bobby Z., Gayle Chapman, Matt Fink and Dez Dickerson. This band, under the name The Rebels, organized a 12-day recording session in Colorado with major input by Cymone and recorded 9 songs that never saw a release.

Cymone would continue to work with Prince throughout his sophomore self-titled album, the 1980 Rick James Tour, and Prince’s 3rd album Dirty Mind and tour of the same name. He also worked with Morris Day’s The Time and attempted to form his own group (The Girls), but his desire to become a solo artist in his own right drove him to exit the group in June 1981. Despite initial discord, Cymone and Prince reconciled and remained associates after Cymone’s departure.

André signed with Columbia Records and released Livin' In the New Wave in 1982, completely written, produced, and composed by him, which was focusing on the synth-driven new wave sound that many rockers were opposed to. His sophomore release, Survivin' In the 80s, included assistance from his own backing band, consisting of sister Linda, Bobby Dean, Bam Bam Morgan, André Cumne, and Craig Thomas, and also focused on new wave and synthpop. Neither album gained attention and went out of print with time. In 1985, Cymone’s mother asked Prince, now of Purple Rain fame, to give a song to Cymone and he chose “The Dance Electric”, a song he recorded in August 1984. Cymone overdubbed it and included it on his third LP A.C., released on August 16, 1985, becoming arguably his most successful song and album. A.C. peaked at 121 on the Billboard 200.

Cymone moved behind the mic after 1985, producing and writing for the likes of Adam Ant, Pebbles, Jermaine Stewart, Tom Jones, and Phil Thornalley. His solo releases went out of print for a significant time, and he worked mostly with independent outfits throughout the 1990s. He also collaborated extensively with Jody Watley, and the two would eventually elope.

Cymone remained absent from the public eye until 2012, when he released his first song in 27 years, “America”, which was for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, followed by “Trayvon” in dedication to the slain teenager and “My Best Friend” for his mother, Bernadette. Cymone and The Girls' previous records were remastered and re-released, and on September 26, 2012, Cymone made the song “American Dream” available via Bandcamp. It would turn out to be the single for The Stone, his first LP in nearly 30 years, released on February 18, 2014. His latest release, Black Man In America, is an extended play that exhibits solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and explores socioeconomical issues that Cymone dealt with in his own upbringing that remain relevant today.

Andre added his accented e (André, the french spelling) for his stage name. Cymone is not his birth surname either; he adopted it to liken it to his middle name, Simon. Cymone has one son – Arie – with his now ex-wife Jody, and resides in Los Angeles, California.