2 Songs Prince Secretly Wrote for Country Stars Kenny Rogers and Deborah Allen Under the Alias “Joey Coco”

Between 1981 and 1990, Prince wrote and produced four albums as Jamie Starr for the Morris Day-fronted funk-soul band, the Time. Ghost songwriting wasn’t uncommon for Prince when producing and writing for other artists during the early 1980s through ’90s, and he regularly used several aliases: Christopher, Alexander Nevermind, Jamie Starr (or The Starr Company), and Joey Coco.

As “Christopher,” a nod to the fictional character (Christopher Tracy) Prince played in the film Under the Cherry Moon, he gave the Bangles one of their biggest hits for their 1986 album Different Light. Originally written for Appollonia 6, the successor of Prince’s previous band Vanity 6, “Manic Monday” was recorded by the trio in 1984 for their self-titled debut, but was pulled from the project and given to the Bangles.

Released on January 27, 1986, “Manic Monday” went to No. 2, and no one would have guessed its writer was Prince. A year later, Prince also released an entire album under the moniker Camille.

Years earlier, “The Starr Company” produced Prince’s bandmate Sheila E.’s debut album, The Glamorous Life. The Starr Company also wrote the title track, which was a top 10 hit (at No. 7) for E., and is also credited as the producer and writer behind the majority of tracks on Vanity 6’s 1982 self-titled debut, including the No. dance hit “Nasty Girl,” which also went to No. 7 on the R&B chart.

For Sheena Easton’s 1984 album, A Private Heaven, “Alexander Nevermind” wrote “Sugar Walls,” Prince’s sexual innuendo for a part of the female body, which reached No. 1 on the Dance chart and peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart. He was later credited as Prince on the opening “Eternity” from Easton’s 1987 album No Sound But a Heart, then moved on as “Joey Coco,” penning “Cool Love,” and dance hit “101” on her 1988 album The Lover in Me. Prince also produced and played—synth, guitar, and more—on all of these Easton tracks.

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Prince Goes Country with El DeBarge

During the mid-1980s, Prince returned to his Joey Coco moniker when he made a rare crossover into country with “You’re My Love” for Kenny Rogers. Released June 1987 as the B-side of Rogers and Ronnie Milsap’s No. 1 country hit, “Make No Mistake, She’s Mine,” “You’re My Love” was originally recorded in 1982 by Prince at his Kiowa Trail Home Studio and considered for his group, the Family, in 1984.

Released on Rogers’ 1986 album They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To, the country-pop ballad is a tribute to an everlasting love through all its seasons.

You wanna know what I see in you
I can really say it for sure
All I know is I need you
More than I’ve ever needed anyone else before

‘Cause baby, you’re my love, and I love everything you do to me
You’re my love, and I love when you’re around
You’re my love, and I’ve never let you down

Seasons changing faster than they do
And we’ll be gone
It’s funny, but we didn’t seem to care
The only thing we cared about
Was keeping our love strong
As long as you’re there
I’ll always care

“Back in the Eighties, I had contacted [Prince] through a mutual friend to ask if he would write me a song—and he did,” Rogers wrote on Facebook, following Prince’s death in 2016. “When he sent the song to me, if I remember right, it was him playing all of the instruments on it, and he had his background vocals on it. Unfortunately, on the finished record, somehow my producer didn’t end up using the music or vocals (the song was re-cut). It was such an incredible thing that Prince took the time to do that for me.”

Rogers added, “He was a brilliant guy and a gifted musician with a lot of feelings, and you could tell his feelings went far deeper than what was written on his face.”

On Rogers’ track, Prince also pulled in El DeBarge on backing vocals. In 2021, DeBarge shared his involvement in the Rogers song on Instagram without revealing the true identity of the “You’re My Love” songwriter.

“The backstory on my work with him is that Kenny Rogers was a fan of a certain very talented artist and asked this artist for a song,” wrote DeBarge. “So this particular artist sent him a song titled ‘You’re My Love’ and suggested to him that El DeBarge should sing ad-libs on it. Well, I was on tour and got the call from producer Jay Graydon that Kenny Rogers sang the song, but would not release it unless I sang on it with him.”

DeBarge added, “I was very honored to be part of this project with these two legends. So I flew in right away without ever hearing the song in advance, and the rest is history. I wonder if anyone can guess or perhaps might know the name of this certain very talented artist that wrote the song for Kenny Rogers and myself to sing?”

Prince’s original 1982 demo version of “You’re My Love” later appeared on his 2019 posthumous album Originals.

Deborah Allen’s “Telepathy”

In 1987, Joey Coco reappeared on country singer and songwriter Deborah Allen’s more pop-leaning album Telepathy. At the time, Allen was signed to RCA in Nashville and had a few minor hits, including “Baby I Lied” in 1983, which went to No. 4 on the Country chart and crossed over onto the pop chart.

Several years later, Allen was moved to the pop division of the label and found herself recording at the same spot as Prince in Los Angeles, Sunset Sound Studios. Though she was a fan, she tried to stay out of Prince’s recording space, out of respect, then bumped into him during a bathroom run.

“He had a bathroom in his part, but our studio, you walked across the courtyard and went into the main area,” remembered Allen. “I came out of the bathroom and saw this basketball going by. I thought it was my friend that was with me. I picked it up and turned around, and I’m laughing, going, ‘Here, oh, hey.’ It was Prince.”

Allen’s second interaction was on a coffee run and seeing Prince playing basketball, dressed in blue silk bell-bottoms and a matching silk shirt with platform shoes on, when the two exchanged a quick pleasantry. “I’m standing there beside him, watching him shoot baskets, and I say, ‘Well, that was a good one,’” said Allen. “Then, I go, ‘I like your outfit.’ He says, ‘Likewise.’ That’s all we said to each other. We acknowledged each other, then we went on.”

When Allen returned to Nashville, she felt pressure to record a few more tracks the label could “run with,” and remembered asking God for an answer. Then she wrote Prince a letter:

“So, I wrote him this letter: ‘Dear Prince, You may not remember me, but I’m Deborah Allen, and we met by the basketball court. The new RCA executives like my album, but they want me to do a couple more cuts. I was wondering if you’d be interested in writing, co-writing, and/or producing something on me. That would be merely wonderful.’”

Prince obliged and shared the newly written “Telepathy” with Allen, the story of a clairvoyant woman who sees through potential lovers.

So you like the way I walk
So you like my disposition, oh
The same old story, a different situation, yeah

I know your kind like the back of my hand
You’re just a hungry wolf in a valley of lambs, oh
You don’t have to talk for I understand
The heat in this room speaks loud enough

Telepathy, hey, baby
You don’t have to tell me what’s on your mind
Telepathy, hey, baby
Everything you want is in your eyes

“I’m very honored to have been in his life,” shared Allen after Prince’s death, “and to get to feel his big, beautiful heart and his sharing spirit.”

Photo: Solomon NJie/Getty Images