johnnylaw3 said:

Positive thread; I often wonder how long some of us R in2 Prince. My very 1st memory of a Prince song was Delirious. I was about 11 having just moved 2 the USA in '81 from South Africa (where I am now). I recall seeing 1999 and Little Red Corvette on MTV, which had just come out.

I bought Purple Rain in Princeton, NJ at a 2nd album shop in March '85. Missed ATWIAD but Parade; this made me realise that Prince was unique & mo' than commercial pop. After SOTT there was no turning back.

My 1st bootlegs (cassettes & videos) were from true nerds in Pittsburgh, Fox Chapel High School, around '88. Then Khari Cabral Simmons, India Arie's bass player, flooded me w/ more Prince bootlegs when I was about 16.

I've only seen Prince once live > Pittsburgh, 1988, LOVESEXY tour.

Oliver said:

P.S. I know Delirious came out after '81, but I was just mentioning that as a point of reference.

Isn't it funny how we remember things?!?! I bought Purple Rain LP when I was 13 years old at a Payless Drug Store. When ATWIAD came out, I rode my bike 8 miles to buy the record on release day. When Parade came out, I got smart and had my mom drive me to the record store. But when SOTT came out, my parents had me grounded to my room, so I had to have someone smuggle it to me through my bedroom window!! Memories.....

I remember hearing 1999 on the radio and I loved it,
but I didn't know who he was.
When PR came out someone gave me the album to listen to it.
A few days later I bought the album,when ATWIAD came out I
also bought 1999 and that's how I got hooked.
From that moment on I got everything he released,
45's,12",protegees...

Man,he he changed my whole world by taken me away from
the (glam) rock period I was into!!(Motley,Van Halen..though
I still have a lot of respect for Eddie VH).
Be4 that,I also liked MJ and even DuranDuran but that was NOT done for
a real rock fan!!

Thanx to Prince I could enjoy other music and discoverd
TTD,George Micheal,Janet and many other.

I always loved Prince...my folks worked at a radio station so I was exposed to pop since i know myself!

But I became a fan in 1998 with NPS strange i am!
[Edited 9/21/05 0:40am]

During communism we were out of western music. Sometimes we were able to get acces to some records and this way I was able to listen to "1999" in 1986. When we get back to free world I've listen to first album that appeared in shops: "Graffiti Bridge" and I felt in love, 4ever... and it get deeper and deeper.

After I saw the movie Purple Rain.

Cant say the exact time i have been a fan for.The first tune i took notice of was "u got the look" with sheena easton then the first album i got was the vinyl of the batman movie soundtrack.and i have bought every album ever since.I admit to being a prince fan all this time but i would never admit to being a michael jackson fan.i think prince is cooler.

I can remember the 1st time I ever even HEARD of Prince. I was probably in KG or 1st grade, and I was riding the bus home from school in my tiny lil' coal minin' town in PA. I had on my beloved Michael Jackson Thriller pin, when the boy who lived nxt. door to me (also my 1st kiss)came up and said "MJ SUCKS, PRINCE RULES!" Well, I didn't even know who Prince was at the time, but I wasn't havin' it. So me and like 1/2 the bus got in a WHO'S BETTER arguement. I kinda remember the guys diggin' Prince and the sweet lil' girlz we were likein' MJ.


Fast forward a couple o' years to about 5th grade. I was living in Riyadh Saudi Arabia at the time (still no knowledge of who Prince is), and we used to rent movies from the embassy cuz TV was only on a few hrs. a day there. One day we rented this movie in black and white and I remember putting it in and thinking Ohhhhh Man.....NOT BLACK AND WHITE!!!.....but since I had no other choice I watched. I remember LOVING this dudes voice and thinkin' he was CUTE....SWEET LIL' thing I was. Ya know, I haven't seen Under the Cherry Moon since then, but over the years it stayed in my mind. STRANGE! Plus I'm sure 1/2 the scenes were taken out, cuz they used to do that over there.....immigrations I guess?

So then we come to 1995ish (i'm not sure), I was in like 9th or 10th grade. I'm watching the MTV AWARDS (I think), I now know who Prince is cuzza GETT OFF and CREAM. I liked him, but wasn't really a fan yet. So anyways, I'm watching these awards and out strutts Prince in this OFF THE HOOK yellow lacey like number, and AHHHHH theres his ASS!!!!! WELL, I could NOT believe the performance he put on, I had NEVER seen anything so great in all my 15 years o' life. I watched the whole thing, mouth wide open, DahROOLING!!!!! Well, from that moment on I was HOOKED. I started out by borrowing THE HITS 1 & 2 (have yet to get my hands on the b sides ) from a gay friend of mine. I remember hearing PURPLE RAIN for the 1st time.....that voice WENT right through me.....OH MY GOODNESS.....what chills that mans voice can give me! I went on to hear songs like when doves cry, kiss, i would die 4 u.....and was like Hey wait a minute.....so THIS IS PRINCE, AHHHHH I KINDA REMEMBER THESE FORM THE 80'SSSSS. But not so much cuz I was a youngin', and moving around to countries w/no American radio.

And that's how it all began.....

I'm still missin' a lot of classics, but the journey has been amazing so far! Every time I get a new (old) album, I drink up and devoure every drop. It takes me some time to squeeze up every last lyric and I enjoy every album I get my hands on to the fullest b4, I can even begin my cruise into the next.....UGHHHHH, I LOVE IT!!!!!

13 years or so. I became a fan as a teenager, because I needed a break from Michael Jackson and his personal antics and Prince was somehow beckoning me into his dark seductive realm.

Besides Prince's sex-songs really appealed to my raised hormone levels at the time.

Man, I always love these threads!!

First memory of Prince: seeing the Lovesexy album at my cousins house when I was 6 (at least I think it was the album, I can't remember, sometimes your memory plays tricks on you! but it was definately a Prince record)

First appreciation of his music: I was watching TV and stumbled across a Prince special on the music channel. I thought I'd watch it because I had recently read in Miles Davis's biography that he liked Prince (I would have been about 15 I guess, 1998). I remember really liking the chords in "1999".

Moment I knew I was hooked: I got The Hits 1 for christmas 1998, and I slowly started accumulating albums from what I liked of that. By mid 2000 I was pretty much hooked!! By 2002 I was a member of the org (heaven forbid )

1988:

Magic year: summer of love and summer of prince.
Prince was definately ruling in Holland (and Dortmund )

christopheries said:

Lovesexy was his second PR in Europe!!!!

FunkJam said:

I have been a fan since 1979!! My cousin took me to my first Prince concert. I was 11 years old. I actually got to see his first band. Dez, Andre,Gayle,Bobby, and Fink. Probably my fondest P memory and I have tons of Prince memories.

Lucky!!!! Was that the Rick James "Fire It Up" tour with Prince as the opening act? That tour came to my city in the early part of the year 1980. I was 12 and no one would take me.

Being 5 years old and getting yelled at by my mother after a party, I was holding a copy of this very Ebony magazine...



not really paying any attention to my Mother, I was lookin' at my fate. The result? Well, check out the website. U make up your mind.

Also seeing Jill Jones in the 1999 video was the 1st time I guess I got 'aroused'

'dre
[Edited 9/22/05 4:15am]

I've been a fan since 83. I played the 1999 tape so much it snapped.

Novabreaker said:

I recognise that feeling

The first time I heard Prince was way back in '87. I was still a little kid then, always listening to what's hot on the radio. The first Prince song I heard was 'Sign O' The Times'. The beats just knocked me off I thought it was something from out of space, but then I didn't know who he really was or what he looked like. It wasn't until I watched a preview or Purple Rain that I then put a face to his songs and since then I've been a fan ever since.

Though of course, it's a little hard been a fan of Prince when you're in Africa. Most guys over here still think he's gay.

always been a general fan, and considered him as one of my top 10 artists. But only started buying his back catalogue recently (things like crystal ball and new power soul), does that make me a hardcore fan now??

earliest memory was the "partyman" video, so cool
[Edited 9/24/05 17:29pm]

DreZone said:

I remember this very issue fondly. It had a very extensive article on Prince's newfound superstar status. It was wonderful.

NWF said:

WOW! I remember this issue! thanks so much for posting it!

Rhondab said:

Don't feel old....My first introduction to Prince was pretty much the same as yours!! When I was 8 or 9 I remember hearing Soft & Wet on the radio, But I didn't relate it to the picture of that cute guy who looked like one of the Sylvers, in my brother's Right On! and Soul Teen magazines. I actually became super hooked on Prince when I saw this poster on my cousins wall (a Right On! centerfold) during the "PRINCE" era. His looks and "I Wanna be your Lover"..... I feel all happy thinking back.