There are a number of things that make you say hmmmmm, until reading this story I was aware that Prince wasn’t the intended target for the song. Maybe had the group sang it would they have been as successful as Prince? Who’s to say & now we’ll never know. I certainly wish the group would have stayed together & pressed on.

Interresting lil story…

I would have been a bit weary signing a contract with an artist-owned label because no matter what, the artist is going to promote himself first, while the rest of the acts would only get the crumbs.

All I can say is…Wow.
The truth behind songs like this one is always an amazing story.

I had herd this story years ago when it came out…I really dug Mazarati but I don’t think they would of blown up if Prince had let them keep ‘Kiss’….that was a song only PRINCE himself could pull off….well…him and ‘Tom Jones’

I am not surprised. MPLS has one of the only selfcontained bands in R and B. (Mint Condition) Yet,Prince,Jimmy Jam,Terry Lewis,beside the first album havent done anything they can to push then forward . At some point they have to understand,if it works for the artist ,it will make them look good. DONT THEY UNDERSTAND ,THIS IS THE TIME TO GET A REAL PROTEGE’. They are all getting old. The way music is going these days,they themselves are 5 to 10 years away from being only a trivia question themselves.

Hucky,

I’m in Buenos Aires, and just checked my email–saw your Mazarati subject line right away.

I went to see them in this small funky club in Cleveland (where I lived at the time) when I was 18. Wow.

I’ll read your ‘true story’ in a minute, but wanted to write you ’cause you brought back some memories.

(years later, I remember Craig Rice telling me back-in-the-day Mazarati stories too)

-Michael VH

Man I wish I we’re there with you, I love Buenos Aires. I hope to see you soon
Take care
Hucky

yo hucky, it’s jpd, st paul’s nephew. nice story. i remember the days as well. funk nite thursday’s at first ave etc. the mpls scene was exciting back then! i watched the time and prince and the family back then. then i ended up working for prince playing in the carmen elecktra band. it was a dream come true for me to work for prince after growing up watching and listening to the scene. i’m playing in michael boltons band now. peace and love! jpd

Hey Huck,

Those were some interesting day’s….I remember when Mark assigned me
as one of the body
guards and Craig Rice was the manager….this crazy bar/campus in South
Dakota. That day, I
did not want to do my job, due to Terry Casey taking a 6′8” 300 lbs
tackle on the foot
ball team, who was drunk, angry and throwing beer bottles at the
band, calling them
fagot’s and some more profanity. I remember standing face to face
with him just for a
split second because I knew what I was going to do…just what coach
Young spoke of in
my football day’s in Lincoln, NE. I used some fearful lateral
movement and chopped the
??? out of his neck…and all of us said lets get the heck out of
here…cause I can’t
handle the whole team! Of which reminds me of another story on the
University of MN.
campus…COFFMAN UNION PARTY with the gopher football team…HARLAN
V. AUSTIN !!!!!
Thanks Again Huck’…” I am sure you remember, and you’re LOL at this
moment”.

YaBoy,

Rob

Hey Huck

An interesting tail, although I think everyone knows the story of Kiss, but even if Maz had of kept I dont think they would have blown up all over the place like u imply, they where good, very good infact but I honestly dont think they would have made it any bigger, as the single would of had the exact amount of promotion and marketing as everything else they did.

Huck,

Do you remember that these guys were called Ultimate Seduction (or the US Band) before they were Mazeratti? I believe most of the guys came from the Milwaukee area. BrownMark brought me in to play drums with these guys. We rehursed in a rented house in Apple Valley. Long story short, my drums went missing. They turned up at a local music store and, finally, they were returned to me. Huck, you were a good friend, and you came over to the house to make sure they were returned without incident. Oh, the good ol’ days!!! I really do miss them!! Stay in touch!

I just used them in a triva question for my sister I’ve been a “head” since like 1980! we need more real music in this era

Thanks very much for the story Hucky!

I’m a big Maz fan. Always will be. I still blast 100MPH and Stroke in my ride and people freak.

Thats what I loved about this band and many from the MPLS music scene. The freakiness. The Funk-ness, the fierceness!

I remember seeing an ad in a local LA Weekly in around the time of the release of the album for a show I think at The Roxy or Club Lingerie or somewhere…small add with a promo photo. I wanted to go but was too young.

I remember posting a reply on Housequake a while back to a Mazarati thread and someone replied saying they’re boyfriend was the guitarist and was in Los Angeles. But not too sure, could of just been tugging my leg.

Also, Todd, Todd Bergum, YOU were the drummer in Mazarati? The blond guy? Dude, you’re super funky!

Hope more stories are shared about little known facts of this great band. Like where are they nows, what the concept of the cover of the album was, how that all came about. The outfits! Who painted the boots! Where the vids were filmed.

Would love to read more Maz-FAQs!

Thanks again all!

Moderniare’s the name…sorry, not Moderraire. Modernaire, like Dez Dickerson and The Modernaires! Love that name!

Mazaratti had potential 2 be the next big thing since “The Time”. I wonder what happen 2 all of them????????????? “100 MPH has one of the best guitar intros EVER!!!!!!!
I wish VH1 can do a bands united on them

Can U Do A story on the whole Sign “o” The Times ERA and impact???????

I wish you tell more about this group. They were my favorite off Paisley Park. where are they now?

I did hear Mazarati’s version of “Kiss” but it didn’t do much for me. I liked them doing 100 MPH better, to be honest. Their “Kiss” may have been successful in the 80s, but I don’t think it would have had the lasting value that Prince’s did.

The way Brown Mark told the story, Prince hurt Mazerati by manipulating their image into the style he had at the time and basically ruined them. Don’t know if it’s true or not. My theory is that since The Time, Prince never again wanted the underlings to challenge him and made sure they didn’t. Kiss is a fantastic song which is twice as great in the long version.

Nothing much to say Huck but keep it coming. With all these historical names as your readers i just couldn’t resist the purple bandwagon. lol

i really get off on these war stories from the real deal…i’m a life long PRN/ MInniapolis music sound fan…i was playing this music when nobody else had the balls or forsight to hear what was really going on…i just wish i could find the family and Mazarati on CD…i wouild kill for them on CD….JC

Oh the stories. I like reading this stuff just to remember the good old days. I know mark and terry casey from high school Ive none terry longer cause we both practice karate. We had a love for that art witch I still study To this day.Just Think if mark hadn’t met me you all wouldnt be talking about this stuff. when mark and I met he was trying to play bass but he wasn’t any good. So he thought. He was going to stop trying so one day after school I asked him to come over so we can talk about it and I would show him something on my drums. I played drums since I was 5 so I had that funky drummer thing going on already. So we talked and I played my drums. showed him what he can do with hard work so he was inspired. And thats how he became the bass player he is today Mark and I were friend for a long time. close friends till he became infected by prince. infected by the way prince runs his business mark tried to run his business that way, well what I’m trying to say is never become business partners with someone who you think is your friend. it wont work. Now about the song Kiss That true the song was for Mazarati but the song was marks song he wrote it. It had a bass part no lead guitar part like you hear. Prince heard them in his studio recording it and went in and took the song saying he wanted to add something to it. the next time mark heard the song it was on the radio with out that funky bass sound in it. Prince said he would give him $50,000 for the song but didnt give him anything. Thats how prince gets some of his songs the other way is that he has all the studios miked at Paisley Park. so if your recording something that sounds good. It might be a hit song for him and your left out of the big money. Many of prince hit songs were not from his mind but from others. Ohwell. If mark reads this stuff he will know who I am. so I say Hi mark good to see your still doing something with music I have Itunes and the stuff with cryptic is nice. You still have some nice grooves on the bass. To bad our friendship wasn’t more inportent.

Remember—–Nothing personal–just business.

Wow, i really enjoy these stories. Huck, thanks so much. And like Questlove said, with the folks ya got coming through these are more than just atories, they are as close to teh truth as thos eof us who weren’t there can get.

Well …. Mazarati was a good act …. Prince will always have the last say on a song if he’s the one puttin’ it together but ” 100 MPH ” & ” I Guess It’s All Over ” are my favorites ……. and TO HELL WITH MOTOWN for not letting the US have that MAZARATI 2 album before they yanked it ……… Anyone know where I can score that one on the low-low ?????……

I have the original version of Kiss performed by Mazarati. It has pretty much the same music but lead singer T.Casey’s vocals lack the energy and drive that makes Prince’s version distinctive and so perpetually cool. I don’t think it would have been a hit if Mazarati had released it. Despite that I still liked Mazarati as a group and wish they (and even BrownMark himself) had gotten the attention that was truly deserved. Sadly, in the entertainment business the real talents are the ones far too often ignored and unrecognized. I came across a video on Youtube of Mazarati performing STROKE in concert. That was my first time seeing them perform and as a live band they kicked ass! They knew how to get the crowd pumped!

I have also managed to come across a few songs that were slated to be on Mazarati’s 2nd album, “The Saga of a Man”, by perusing the web: they include the title track (Saga of a Man) and “One Girl”, “Something’s Going On”, “Words”, and “The Woman Thang” (produced by former KlyMaxx drummer Bernadette Cooper). They sound ok. Strawberry Lover, STROKE, and 100MPH are my favorite Mazarati songs, btw.

I love mazaratti and still think they are the best. I really think they did not get a far chance to show what talented musicians they were. I loved the song I guess it’s all over. I really loved that song. I hope they come back and show us their talents.

I am Brown Marks step son and he told me this story before. I feel bad for him because prince was a jerk. Even though I agree that KISS wouldn’t be as good as it is with prince singing it, but the song could of been Mazaratti featuring prince.

Prince, is this true? Have I been deceived about your character? Is the music business the 52 fake out that I hear about? Do you reap what you sow? Ahh, the ways of the world. The things we do to survive.

Hi my late husband told me that he was with the Mazarati band back in the 80s his name was Jeffrey Bates was called Jobe from Milwaukee Wisconsin lived in st,paul Minnesota came there to meet prince and made music with him was kicked out to band in the later.I want to find out what happened to his share he has left 2 sons here
it will be a blessing if me and sons get justified before we leave this earth

Trudy Bates