Prince's band 'The Family' reuniting as fDeluxe

​It's been about four years since rumors started circulating that the Family, the band formed by Prince in the mid-'80s, was planning on reuniting and recording an album. And now, with a show on the books and their record in the can, the Family is re-emerging as the band fDeluxe. The Family was first formed in 1984 by Prince, who was looking for another outlet for his songwriting outside of his main project after Morris Day left the Time. Prince rounded up a few of the remaining members of the Time, including St. Paul Peterson, Jellybean Johnson, and Jerome Benson, and started a new project with his then-fiancee Susannah Melvoin (sister of Revolution guitar player Wendy Melvoin of Wendy & Lisa fame) and saxophonist and flautist Eric Leeds, the brother of Prince's tour manager.

Together with Prince, the Family released one album of mostly Prince-penned songs, including a hit that was made famous when it was covered by Sinead O'Connor, "Nothing Compares 2 U," and played a single sold-out show at First Avenue in 1985. Their album sold poorly and Peterson left the band shortly after to do production work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis at Flyte Time, effectively ending the Family's short run.

Flash forward 26 years, and St. Paul Peterson, Jellybean Johnson, Susannah Melvoin, and Eric Leeds are back as fDeluxe, and their new record of "dance, romance, and plenty of funk" titled Gaslight on September 16 with a release show at the Loring Theater near downtown Minneapolis. The Loring show will be their first live performance as a band, and the teaser at the end of the press release sounds pretty tantalizing: "Anyone who thought the Minneapolis sound died in the early 1990's may be in for a shock. fDeluxe is the resurrection of a band but may also prove to be the revival of an entire genre."