The Bangles bombshells! 80s girl band reveal wild tales in tell-all including claim they were stalked by Prince

The first authorized biography of the all-female pop rock band, the Bangles, is set to be released on Tuesday, February 18.

Writer Jennifer Otter Bickerdike had been given ‘unprecedented access’ to founding members Debbi Peterson, Susanna Hoffs, and Vicki Peterson while penning the 300-plus page book.

Titled after one their biggest hits, Eternal Flame, the book contains a number of wild tales, including them claiming to have been stalked by the late music icon Prince. 

There’s also stories of sick fan mail, a less than flattering nickname the ladies gave The Police frontman Sting over his personal hygiene, and admissions of jealousies within the band, most of which over the growing attention given to Hoffs during the height of their celebrity in the 1980s.

During their careers as a band they’ve sold more than 40 million record worldwide, establishing them as one of the top female-fronted acts in the rock genre.

But along the way internal tensions would lead to the group disbanding in 1989 after a nine year run; only to see them return to form in 1998, leading to the present day.

The early Bangles lineup featured Susanna Hoffs (vocals/guitars), Vicki Peterson (guitars/vocals), Debbi Peterson (vocals/drums) and Annette Zilinskas (vocals/bass).

But after releasing their debut EP Bangles (1982), Zilinskas left the group and was then replaced by Michael Steele (vocals/bass).

As a new foursome, the band went on to release their debut studio album All Over the Place (1984). And while it wasn’t a major commercial success – peaking at number 80 on the Billboard 200 – it sold respectably, mostly through steady airplay on college stations.

Their big breakthrough came with the release of the follow-up album, Different Light (1986), which went on to become their most successful album, reaching number two on the Billboard 200.

It went on to be certified 3x platinum in the US and platinum in the UK, eventually selling more than 3.6 million copies worldwide, with the help of five singles that charted, including top-10 hits Manic Monday, written by Prince, and Walk Like An Egyptian.

Different Light also featured other charters If She Knew What She Wants, Walking Down Your Street and Following.

But as the band’s celebrity and stardom continued at an almost soaring rate, in-fighting reared its ugly head as Hoffs started getting a lot of fan and media attention, in part due to her being the lead singer or co-singer of four of the five hit songs of Different Light.

‘It became Susanna versus the rest of us,’ some of the band members admitted in the biography. 

The flames were also sparked by seemingly endless references to Hoff’s beauty, along with her ability to know how to work the camera in interviews and music videos.

According to the book, the straw that broke the camel’s back came after she did her flirty and famous eye move in the Walk Like An Egyptian video, where she switched between looking at an audience member on her left and then one on her right.

Ongoing band turmoil would eventually lead to Debbi, now 63, mulling thoughts about ‘taking her own life.’

‘It was that bad,’ she admits. ‘I was thinking of ways of actually doing it. I knew I couldn’t. I wouldn’t because I’m a chicken; but I really felt like I just don’t need to be here anymore. But I was psychologically damaged…’

Hoffs, 66, is also credited with making the Prince connection, when she persuaded their A&R record man Peter Philbin to invite him to one of their shows in August 1984. 

‘So I call Prince’s management company and I leave a message with the receptionist: “The Bangles would like to their show.” I could not believe it : Prince actually showed,’ Philbin says while laughing. 

Hoffs would then take the reins from there and use her ‘chutzpah’ to ‘take it from there’ and schmooze with the late musician and songwriter, leading to the Bangles getting his permission to record his song Manic Monday. 

That ongoing relationship with the When Doves Cry star started to take a darker turn, according to the book published by Hachette Book Group, when his growing affection for Hoffs resulted in him seemingly starting to stalk the band. 

‘They started to get messages on the tour bus from Prince’, all the while ‘floating around’ the Bangles, leading to ‘a “threat” of an unannounced stage appearance or the desire for an audience with the girls and omnipresent possibility,’ it reads.

‘I think he was following us,’ they confessed before Bickerdike wrote about how ‘his purple limo always mysteriously appearing wherever they were – but he never got out – he just watched them, creepily.’

As for some of the disturbing fan mail the Bangles received over the years, Vicki, 67, actually got a ‘chicken bone necklace.’ In another instance they got ‘an apothecary bottle for Susanna full of cloudy, white viscous liquid,’ which led to the policy of mail having to be opened with gloves.

On a much less ominous note, the Bangles explained their cruel nickname of ‘Stink’ for Sting after the ladies slept a couple floors above the already superstar singer and musician while staying with producer Miles Copeland in London.

‘It was blowing my mind,’ Vicki said of being in such close proximity of the Message In A Bottle star. ‘He was very polite, very nice and encouraging, yet ‘possibly hygienically challenged in that British sort of way,’ earning him the Stink moniker within the group.

In all, the Bangles released five studio albums between 1984 and 2011, but Steele, 69, left due to disputes over touring and recording.

After a touring bassist took over for several years original member, Zilinskas, played selected live shows in 2014 and eventually rejoined the band in 2018. 

Their third album, Everything (1988), featured two of their other big hits: In Your Room and Internal Flame, which became a chart-topper in almost every major country around the world. 

Again, the new authorized biography – The Bangles: Eternal Flame – is set to drop on Tuesday, February 18.