I have Purple Reign...which was a decent read. I have the Vault with the included magnifying glasses (spec ed). After reading the ALan Leeds interview, I got to wondering about the Possesed book. I know it's not the best tale of our Purple Man...but is it good fictional/factual?

superspaceboy said:

I read this book after it was released. I was quite amazed, shocked. But after hanging around the Prince community and getting to know his fans, I realized he was really not that much different from, hmm, what would we call it .. "some people"? ..

superspaceboy, I think I was more amazed and shocked at the woman in his life at a certain time in his life. Sad really! But thank goodness all have grown both in maturity and spiritually.

About Prince as a musician, the book made me wonder what Prince would have been as a musician if he was not that cursing bad boy and sex(y) image. The image HIS fans love/d.

TheCatWoman said:

I have heard stories about Mani...freaky really. Not that she is. But I heard her life's goal was to be his wife...and that's freaky.

superspaceboy said:

She is just one of many. Go over to the npgmc forums and you will find MANY unlucky ones ..They still wait'n and hoping but it ain't gonna happen .. But the book mentions nothing of his current wife except verifies the fact that Mayte and Prince were still indeed married when he met Manuella.

TheCatWoman said:

right?

superspaceboy said:

Per Nilsson's "DanceMusicSexRomance" is better but the problem is it only covers the first 10 years of Prince's career.

It's not so much that Alex Hahn's book is written from a overly negative point of view (it is but unless you are new to Prince you know a good bit of this info anyway) it's that he beats a dead horse with respect to Wendy & Lisa/The Revolution. Long after the group had disbanded he tends to harp on the topic.For example in the middle of a chapter on let's say ...the Lovesexy tour...there pops up a comment about W&L/The Revolution that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. And it goes on like that for a good portion of the book. It's like every five paragraphs he plops some reference to W&L/The Revolution into the discussion where it's totally irrelevant.

If I recall there was a quote arritbuted to Matt Fink that after the book came out Matt addressed and said he never made.

My issue with the book is that I've found some info that is just blantantly wrong. Some of it's minor but still it's stuff that had no reason to be wrong.

But I immediately knew to take Mr. Hahn's opinion and commentary with a grain of salt after he said r&B singer Teena Marie had a "chirpy" singing voice but later on went on to describe Susannah Melvoin as a "skilled vocalist". I literally laughed out loud at that.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

I laughed too after i read this one. that is alex's opinion but and let me tell u that teena marie's singing blow susannah' away. susannah is just an average singer to me but her voice is weak and less soulful compared to teena marie's.
[Edited 12/26/05 17:54pm]

Ifsixwuz9 said:

oh no he didn't.

superspaceboy said:

I think that possessed is mostly truthful book except the typos and some wrong facts. the book is shocking and also it shows more of prince as a human but not necessary a bad way since he is human just like the rest of us. what turns me off is he is very negative toward prince and yet he acted like lisa and wendy were his saviors. if alex wanted to do a bio of L&W then he should have.
my favorite book is dance music sex romance because it focus more of prince as a musician.

dewalliz said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

yeah ... he did.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

it woulda been a good book...but them errors, man...

Ifsixwuz9 said:[quote]

dewalliz said:

Agree with this except for the shocking part.

.

My thing was like..I don't Wanna Read Hearsay ya know. I took it with a Grain of salt. I wanna read a Tell all by Prince. I NEVER like these AUTOBIOGRAPHIES EVER! JUST DON't LIKE THEM...SORRY. I wanna Read a PRINCE IN HIS OWN WORDS....NOT JON BREEM NOT STEVEN IVORY NOT PER NILSON or ALEX. I want PRINCE..UNCUT.....

alot of negativity. No Sheer joy in Prince.

The guy portrayed in that book is not a good person, hopefully much of it is false. Really no good stories about how Prince treated people well, if there is, theres about 5 other stories inwhich he treats the people like shit.

that comment about Teena Marie was dumb and he also said MJ never truly crossed over as a Black artist (only Hendrix and Prince) because his bleached he skin

just plain inaccurate


The book is heavy on the negative and as Mr.Leeds stated is weak when detailing the 90's years, incidently the years after he left Prince.
[Edited 12/26/05 19:01pm]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

thats my issue with the book...no matter whom writes whatever on any subject matter your going to get bias reporting...but the grammatical errors are soo glarying it waters down my appreciation for it.

lilgish said:

See the thing is that a lot of the stories are probably true but they are only told from the stand point of --look what prince did to so and so--. It hardly ever goes into any detail about what various associates/bandmembers etc., did that weren't so above board to Prince or to each other.

There's probably plenty of things Prince did that were nice that were skimmed over or omitted. Very one sided. But then again Mr. Hahn did have an agenda.

The book is 40% facts, 40% mistruths and mudslinging from former employees, and 10% bullshit.

Hahn used to be a member of the Org and would lurk around waiting for dirt and hearsay from us.

He e-mailed me after I posted info about Prince and Troy Beyer's supposed aborted love child. I got my info from USA-Today in 1992. If he was really doing an investigative piece on someone he would have done serious research about the subject.This led me to believe that he really did not have factual information and fabricated a lot of things in his book. He was lawyer for Uptown in their lawsuit against Prince , which sent all kinds of red flags in my direction.

Saying that it would be good for any "true" Prince fans to have read Possessed,Purple Reign by Liz Jones , and DSMR by Per Nielson

Well, to quote from Alan Leeds' new interview: "I think Alex Hahn's "Possessed" is the best Prince book of its kind to date. Alex devoted a ton of time and labor to get things as accurate as possible."

I've been EXTREMELY hesitant to get this book because of all of the things I've heard about it and that it seems to be quite bias towards Prince but after reading the Alan Leeds thread, I've finally decided to swallow my pride and if I'm feeling up to it (i'm sick right now), I'll make a trip to Barnes & Noble and see if they have the book. I think I'm ready to read it.
[Edited 12/26/05 20:48pm]
[Edited 12/26/05 20:48pm]

I read that statement from Mr. Leeds and started laughing because Hahn sent me an Org note asking me for information that was documented in USA-Today !

So now I am looking at Mr. Leeds like .

That being said get the book!

Read it and then read or re-read Prince: A Pop Life,Purple Reign and DSMR. I think that Liz Jones does not get the credit for her book Purple Reign that Hahn and Neilsen get for their books. Purple Reign was the most informative book IMO ever written about Prince Roger Nelson.

superspaceboy said:

I know *I* need to use reading glasses to read that thing!!



IMHO, it's not nearly as fictional as many want others to believe. It's just that the book points out that Prince isn't always a nice guy and hasn't always made the best choices (particularly when it comes to the business of his music).

muleFunk said:

Are you kidding???? That Purple Reign book is nothing but a collection of interviews or articles already done about Prince from over the years!! It was like Liz did no investigating herself. It was almost written in a way to make the reader believe she conducted all of the research when in actuality, she just "borrowed and lifted" from various print and broadcast interviews. She shed NO new light on Prince whatsoever! If anyone's even thinking about buying this book ("Purple Reign"), let me help you...DON'T!

Its a good book to read if youre interested in getting an insight into all the sides of Prince , not just the genius but also the pain in the arse times , and its cool to read now in a smug way as Hahn basically wrapped up the book by declaring Prince as being unlikely to have any real success in the future and Prince himself proved him spectacularly wrong in 2004

The rabid bile spouted at this book by fams is enough reason to get it.

It's a short, enjoyable read - quite sensational and tabloid-esque, but remember Hahn had access to Uptown and Per Nilsen's research - so I wouldn't cut too much into the book because it's based on solid foundations, I'd wager pretty much everything was true, leaving just Hahn's personal opinion that the reader has to decide whether they agree with or not.

alexnvrmnd said:

So you're saying she didn't actually interview him in fall 1996 (just after his son died)?

alexnvrmnd said:

Like Hahn's book is'nt another collection of interviews done by other people ???

Jones' book is very critical of Prince without the venom.

The people who love Possessed are the ones who want to find dirt on Prince and say .."See I told you so !" Realistic fans who have been around know Prince is an asshole. I just want to see the other side of the story told . "This is a bizness motherfucka" Nobody knows the real reasons why some of these bandmembers quit or got fired .I think a good book would tell why.

CandaceS said:

hell fucking no !! that was her reworking of the oprah interview...