Prince, American Sign Language, Deaf Culture

Hello all! (I swear there's a question in here somewhere!)

In the book "Prince: The First Illustrated Biography" by John Duffy, it mentions this on page 46 of the book:

"While in Washington D.C. Prince played a surprise concert at the Gallaudet College for the Deaf. More than 2,000 deaf and handicapped youngsters from the state were taken to the concert and a sign language expert relayed to the children what Prince was singing about."

I also remember during the Oprah interview when Prince was showing her some of his wardrobe, he showed her a jacket that had a portion of the word "Welcome" fingerspelled (i.e. pictures of the handshapes used in the manual alphabet) on it (which I presume he wore at the above mentioned show, but maybe not).

I am active in the Deaf Community. Deaf Culture and American Sign Language are very important to me. I was wondering if anybody knew what affiliation Prince had (if any) to the Deaf Community? Has Prince used Sign Language interpreters at any of his other shows? American Sign Language is a very beautiful, visual and expressive language. It seems a very fitting representative of Prince's music and Prince himself. Does Prince have any kind of affinity for sign language? I was just curious if anyone had any information regarding this.

Also, what do you suppose the chances are of getting Prince involved with something like this again? It would be great if his music could transcend sensory barriers. It would be incredible if he could share it with the Deaf Community through the use of interpreters. The man did give away an album in the U.K. after all. Having his music reach as wide of an audience as possible does seem important to him.

I have a friend who is a sign language interpreter in the northeast, and she gets contacted to do concerts all the time. She's been contacted about doing it for Prince but wasn't able to at the time. She now has strict orders from me to say yes the next time a Prince opportunity comes up and to take me with her as her guest.

Let's not forget that Prince and the Revolution sign I Would Die 4 U while performing it in Purple Rain and on tour.

Side note: Wendy also signs the lyrics to Don't Try to Tell Me in the W&L video for the same song...she does a good job signing which made me wonder if she actually knows the language and perhaps was the one who turned Prince on to deaf culture...

I think it would be wonderful if Prince were to do something like that again and you should do all you can to try to get your request to him. Good luck!

Prince probably carries love and respect for deaf people everyday in his heart. The ability to hear is, in my opinion, the most valuable of the senses. If not, our greatest blessing, as living people.

simm0061 said:

Let's not forget that Prince and the Revolution sign I Would Die 4 U while performing it in Purple Rain and on tour.

Side note: Wendy also signs the lyrics to Don't Try to Tell Me in the W&L video for the same song...she does a good job signing which made me wonder if she actually knows the language and perhaps was the one who turned Prince on to deaf culture...

Efan said:

I have a friend who is a sign language interpreter in the northeast, and she gets contacted to do concerts all the time. She's been contacted about doing it for Prince but wasn't able to at the time. She now has strict orders from me to say yes the next time a Prince opportunity comes up and to take me with her as her guest.

Haley said:

Haley said:

I remember a sweet picture of P signing the kids.

It must be an odd thing to perform for people who can't hear you when you're used to a hearing audience. I wonder if that affected any of his delivery, or if he just played business as usual?

It's not that The Joker's gay. What he is, is Batsexual. He'd be whacking it to Batsy whether our hero had girl parts or boy parts underneath that rubber.

Haley said:

simm0061 said:

Let's not forget that Prince and the Revolution sign I Would Die 4 U while performing it in Purple Rain and on tour.

Side note: Wendy also signs the lyrics to Don't Try to Tell Me in the W&L video for the same song...she does a good job signing which made me wonder if she actually knows the language and perhaps was the one who turned Prince on to deaf culture...

Wow! That's cool. I've never seen this video of Wendy signing. I would love to watch it. Do you know how I would be able to get access to it?

As long as it was a kids' performance I'm sure it was kept PG rated. Imagine the signing if he was performing Jack U Off, Head, Sexy MF etc etc..

yes it shows u tht he have some kind of respect for the deaf community which is good and it show how kind hearted person he is .....
deaf people are just like normal human being they have the same amount of brain as everyone else so never judge them.....u be surprise what they can do ...despite being deaf ,,,, deaf is just a handicapped they were born with...
people should never downtalk or make fun of them ..... dont forget GOD made everyone ..we are his children....
american sign language is totally different to the british sign language as the british use the BSL .....
its more easier than the americans one as the american used one hand only whereas the british used both hands ....
there are some deaf who dont need to use sign language as much but use oral instead mean lipreading /speaking tht if they can speak so well....and hear so well.
its not easy for any hearing to learn sign language it does take a long time dependin on person to person how quick u learn it...but u learn more quicker by making friends with any deaf people in the community.....

so it proves prince is a kindhearted person and god told him to do many things ..
if u watch the dolphin video u will see he did a few sign language there... watch closely and listen to what he is singing abt.....
he did very well to learn tht in a big way and l love him for tht ....and l respect tht man so much .....

so please please whatever u do ,,, do not make fun or take the piss out of deaf people ....if people make jokes abt it then u r narrowminded people....or a hyprocite.....

Princes' longtime live sound engineer, Scotty Pakulski put out a really cool dvd that helps children learn sign language. I believe certain recording facilities were offered free of charge.

I also have the video where he performs for the special olympics, it's great.

I seem to recall Prince signing in the Purple Medley video

Hi idont want to sound vulgar but i remember seeing old pictures of prince and in his poses he places his hands together around the genital area and some one told me that was sign language forthe word "vagina".Iam certain some one on here can post pictures of prince doing the sign language for "vagina". I assume he was trying to look sexy and communicate to all people at the same time.