Wally Safford

Biography

Wallace "Wally" Safford (10 November 1959, Detroit — 9 September 2022, Southfield, Michigan) was an American bodyguard, dancer, and background vocalist primarily known for extensively collaborating with Prince between 1984 and 1987. He published a memoir, "Wally, Where'd You Get Those Glasses? My Life Through the Lens from Parliament, Pendergrass & Prince," co-authored with Margena A. Christian, in 2019. Safford grew up in Detroit, and his parents were close friends with the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali. Wally trained with the NOI in his early years and subsequently founded a career in personal security. During the Motown boom, he was a bodyguard for prominent musicians and bands, including Teddy Pendergrass, Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Commodores. In the early 1980s, Wally Safford began working for Morris Day and Vanity, soon joining the so-called "Purple Gang," Chick Huntsberry's team protecting Prince directly, starting with the 1999 Tour (November 1982 – April 83). In mid-November 1984, soon after the Purple Rain Tour launched, Safford began appearing as a backing dancer alongside Jerome Benton and another security guard, Greg Brooks, during the "Baby I'm A Star" in the show's first encore. Wally Safford danced with Prince And The Revolution at the 27th Grammy Awards on 26 February 1985 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles (that night Prince won three awards, the "Best Album of Original Motion Picture Score" and "Best Rock Performance" for Purple Rain, plus "Best R&B Song" for Chaka Khan's I Feel For You), and appeared on the Live VHS/Laserdisc home video. He also participated in The Family's sole live performance on 13 August 1985 at First Avenue. Wally appeared in three 86 music videos with The Revolution, including Mountains, Girls & Boys, and Anotherloverholenyohead. In August–September 1986, Safford, Benton, and Brooks were dancers and backing vocalists on the Parade Tour. After The Revolution dissolved, Wally Safford and Greg Brooks continued performing with the unnamed "87–89 Band" — recording backing vocals on "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night," one of the tracks from the Sign "O" The Times album, and appearing in two promo videos, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man and U Got The Look. They traveled across Europe on Sign "☮" the Times Tour (May–June 1987), for which Wally invented the memorable 'Detroit Crawl' dance, as seen in the eponymous concert film. Safford also performed on percussion and drums, besides his usual choreography and background vocals, on 11 September 1987 at the MTV Video Music Awards. One of Wally's last contributions was among "party segue" spoken voices on "Eye No," the opening track on Lovesexy album. In February 1988, Wally Safford and Brooks left, effectively replaced by Cat Glover in Prince's latest outfit, The Lovesexy Band. In September 2020, The Prince Estate presented Sign "O" The Times Super Deluxe Editions with previously unreleased tracks from the era, including "Soul Psychodelicide" and "The Ball," both featuring Safford's background vocals, and "Wally" (dedicated to him personally).