Ingrid Chavez



Ingrid Chavez is Mexican-American and has been married to David Sylvian of the band Japan since 1992.

Chavez is one of those fringe figures in Prince's entourage. That's probably because she ain't an actual singer, but a poet instead. Prince was impressed by her poetry and quickly recruited her into his ever-expanding harem-cum-musical empire, first letting her contribute vocals to Lovesexy. Around this time, she cultivated a mysterious appearance and was nicknamed "The Spirit Child". OK, sure, whatever, at least Prince didn't try to rename her to "Clitoris" or something like that.

Chavez next played Prince's romantic interest in Graffiti Bridge. It was during the filming that she, Lenny Kravitz and Andre Betts co-wrote and recorded Madonna's famous hit "Justify My Love" - reportedly, Chavez came up with most of the lyrics and Kravitz thought sampling Public Enemy would be a nifty idea. A solo album followed, May 19, 1992 (released, oddly enough, in 1991), which combined Chavez's spoken-word poetry with atmospheric backing music composed by Prince and was favourably reviewed, one critic comparing it to "an entire album of 'Justify My Love's".

Chavez drifted out of Prince's harem musical empire soon after. Since then, she's frequently recorded with her husband David Sylvian and with Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra.


 * Happily Married
 * Spoken Word in Music