Vanity, lead singer of the '80s girl group Vanity 6, has died after years of battling kidney failure and, more recently, an abdominal illness.

Vanity, whose real name was Denise Katrina Matthews, passed away in a Fremont, CA hospital on Monday ... according to sources close to her family. A few months ago she set up a GoFundMe page, and said she'd been diagnosed with sclerosis encapsulating peritonitis -- an inflammation of the small intestines.

She also battled crack addiction in the 90s, and after a 1994 OD her kidneys were shot. She had to undergo nearly daily dialysis treatments.

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Vanity biggest hit came in 1982 with "Nasty Girl" ... a song produced by Prince. The group toured with Prince on his 1999 tour, but she quit right after that. She went on to sign a solo record deal with Motown, and starred in movies like "The Last Dragon" and "Action Jackson."

She eventually ditched Hollywood, quit drugs and became a born-again Christian in the mid 90s. She remained active in her local church up until her death. We're told she was in church on Saturday evening and told the congregation she was "ready to go home."

Vanity was 57.

I spent a fair amount of time "admiring" her when I was a teen.

Vanity

A beauty. She got me through many of my "formative" years as a teen of the 80s.

That aside, it's a shame she couldn't cast off her demons before they did irreparable damage to her organs.

RIP.

I'm so sad. Had a big crush on her in The Last Dragon. She was so incredibly beautiful in Action Jackson.

RIP

She was a hottie.

Nasty Girl - great use in Beverly Hills Cop.

I remember her from the movie Action Jackson and for her pictorial in Hefner's magazine.

Sad. She was a hottie back in the day. Too bad the drugs fucked up her body so bad.

I remember her sporadic acting career.

Sad news.

I still have her poster on my door.

I used her Playboy spreads to fire a few rounds off back in the day.

Rest in peace, babe.

Freaky did not know she lived in Fremont all this time and Washington Hospital is maybe a 10 minute drive from my house.

Maybe I could have met her if I made the effort.

Damn, this hurts.

I saw her once at Newpark Mall. I didn't acknowledge her; I just had that feeling she didn't want to be disturbed. Most wouldn't know who she was 'cause she looks really different.

M.C. Hammer used to live around the corner from Ohlone College. You couldn't miss his house because it had 'Hammer' right across the front gate.

She got you through those years? So without this one minimally talented pop singer/pinup queen you wouldn't have made it?

I assume he was talking about masturbating.

And that's two posts from me today in regards to masturbating. Guess I need to go rub one out.

52 Pick-Up is a relatively mediocre movie, and yet I have owned it on VHS, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. That's not really for Roy Scheider.

I didn't really know Vanity 6 at the time (I'm familiar with them now) so my first exposure to her was in the Last Dragon/Rhythm of the Night TV spots. Vanity made quite an impression on 12 year old me.

This has reminded me that I still need to upgrade my copy of Action Jackson.

Also, I stumbled on this video a few years ago. Thought it was both weird and awesome.

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We didn't have Facebook back then to tell us how awesome we were and couldn't update the world on how many times we did Rub the Bub.

And minimally talented back in the 80's is probably considered a genius by today's standards. I'll take an 80's icon any day.

Vanity always came across as somebody original to me. Somewhat naive and especially when I see the Arsenio Hall segment.



???

Gonna have to agree with you.

It's not without it's entertainment value, and certainly Vanity added significantly to that, but I stand by my opinion.

Even though Vanity was smokin' hot, Apollonia was always my favorite of the two. She was just so dang gorgeous, You couldn't take your eyes off her. It's a shame Vanity ruined her looks and her life with drugs. RIP

Curious how different her career would have turned out (for better or worse) if she had stuck around with Vanity 6 and Prince and had done Purple Rain instead of Apollonia. Especially considering Sheila E's "The Glamorous Life" was originally intended for Apollonia 6, so by trickle down effect maybe in an alternate world that would have been a breakout hit for Vanity.

Life, yes. But she held on to those looks for a good long while. On Vh1's "Where Are They Now?", The born-again version of her still looked damn good.

And did, uh, anyone else ever see this one?

(AKA D.D. Winters)

It's available on DVD, and it's not very expensive. It's not the best quality though.