As the story goes, Prince was dating the Sister of Wendy Melvoin, who played guitar in his band: “Revolution”

Suzannah Melvoin wrote a short story about a schoolmate the Sisters befriended in their early school years, about whom the song is based.

Apparantly this girl, Cynthia Rose,  possessed a beautiful vivid imagination; in spite of being misunderstood by many socially.

The two young Sisters were very fond of her and thought of her as their special one of a kind friend.

You can read an excerpt of her story here :

Starfish & Coffee
By Susannah Melvoin

I remember Fall in Minneapolis vividly, the air smells like water and earth and the lakes that spread throughout the city become deserted of people, they now walk around the lakes bundled up in what is the last fall jacket one can get away with wearing. I loved it and I loved what was to be an extremely beautiful time in my life. 

Instead of the long drawn version, I can narrow down one particular day in the fall of 1986? maybe 87? That was to be the day I wrote Starfish and Coffee with Prince. Sitting around the kitchen table was Prince, his engineer Susan Rodgers, and myself. It was a time Susan and I spent every day with him either recording or keeping each other company 

Prince and I spent many hours together, either in the studio working, or driving around Minneapolis talking to each other and listening to music. We talked about our histories and our secrets On a few of occasions I told him stories of a 12-year-old girl named Cynthia Rose. My sister Wendy and I knew Cynthia intimately because we shared six years in a classroom with her, plus a bus ride to school It was the Bus rides that I got to know Cynthia. 

Read the full Story HERE : Starfish & Coffee