wonder505 said:

very good question

I became a Prince fan
at the age of 3... (in 1984)
(no bullshit)
my sister was a Prince fanatic
when she moved out at the age of 18
(this was around '85-'87)
she left some of her 45s from the
Purple Rain era at the house
and some 45s by The Time also
I remember playing them at low vlumes
just to listen to them
my mother found the stash one day
and she let me keep the one with
"Another Lonely Christmas"
for the b-side...

but the 12 inch album
for Purple Rain
along with the 45s
and the rest of the Prince
albums & memorabilia left behind
she threw away

I will never forget that

somehow a few years later
I found the cassette
for Purple Rain
(it was white)
in the kitchen on top of
our refridgerator... waaaay in the back
and once she discovered that
I had found it
she threw it away...

she despised Prince
I guess because of records
like "Do Me, Baby (the album version)"
"Sister", "Let's Pretend We're Married"

which I didn't hear those
until maybe 3-4 years ago
as an adult...
I can understand why she did that
but most of my friends parents
were liberated and allowed them
to play anything from Prince to Too $hort
most were also younger than my mother
who was 38 when she had me

funny thing is her boyfriend at the time
bought me the 12 inch single
for "Glam Slam" when it came out...
I LOOOOOVED that record

yeah I was a Prince baby

I wasn't allowed to watch
Purple Rain as a kid
didn't see the full movie
til I was 20 years old

I knew nothing about "Soft & Wet"
and the original "I Feel For You"
and "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
until The Hits/B-sides came out
[Edited 1/23/06 15:48pm]

I am 29 and was 7 years old when Purple Rain came out. My father loves music and introduced me to Prince by way of Chaka Khan's "I feel for you".

He mentioned seeing Prince back in 1981 during the time he opened for the Rolling Stones. HE liked the Prince albums prior to Purple Rain and still owns a bunch of the LP's.

When Purple Rain came out, my father wasn't feeling the style of music Prince was doing and opted for the posterchild of 80's pop, MJ. My brothers were into MJ, but something about Prince's style and sound clicked with me and I've been hooked ever since.

i am only 19 now... i have been a prince fan for as long as i can remember. my mom is 36, so she was a big fan herself, but my love for him has exceeded hers by alot! the first song that set me off was SMF! i stole the tape when my mom was at work and listened to it when i was in like 2nd grade. I had listened to all of the other songs on the tape, but my mom always fastfowarded that song!!!i have been to a few of his concerts and i have listened to evey track i have ever came across! all of my friends think i am crazy, but there is just somethig about prince that sets him aside from the other artists out there! i passed out when he played purple rain at the musicology concert!
[Edited 1/23/06 19:23pm]

I'm 25

I had alot of older cousins were into Prince. One in particular, (who was like an older sister) had a Prince poster from the 1999 album on her wall that I loved. When I used to come over, I always wanted to listen to my favorite song "Let's Go Crazy". (I didn't believe it until she told me recently).

My dad had SOTT on tape and used to play it to death.

When I got into high school, I got to a point where I didn't like to listen to anything on the radio. I would raid my parents music stash and make tapes of the oldies. I found a tape of ATWIAD, and played that thing in my walkman until it broke. My friends tease me about my CD collection b/c I have mostly Gospel and Prince.

This past Christmas, I got the 20th anniversary edition of Purple Rain....from my cousin who had no idea about her influence on an impressionable 4 year old.

I'm 25, 26 in April, and live in Scotland. Funnily enough, being into Batman when I was younger was the hook for me. My dad bought the album cos he loved Partyman, and my love of Prince grew from there. Like some of the others who have posted, if I'm being honest I prefer his 90's stuff. It brings back memories of my teens, especially The Gold Experience.

People who know me well give me a power of abuse for liking Prince, but no other artist has ever made me feel such a wealth of emotions with their music. Joy, tears, energy, anger, elation, reflection. To name a few. I love it all and show no shame when letting people know that.

I have yet to see the great man live. I can only hope the opportunity presents itself in the near future. Being in the UK means I have missed so much, and the amount of jealousy I feel is another emotion invoked when I read about his tour shows on here!!!

I can never see myself becoming disillusioned with his music. He has already provided me with everything I need from music, and now I await the next album or song to add to my favourites. And I have a wealth of bootleg material I haven't heard yet!!

Even though I'm 35 I too was very young when I got into prince. When I was 11 I heard controversy on the radio and was hooked ever since. I saved all my money washing cars and bought my second album ever, 1999!!!!

My first exposure to Prince's music came courtesy of the local pop station, playing "today's hits and yesterday's favorites." I heard "Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover" a whole bunch, and, although I couldn't say I was a fan at that point, I found that they were really catchy and that Prince was a gifted songwriter.

However, his image was always something that put me off. I remember seeing a picture of him in a magazine in brief underwear on top of a bed, presumably in the act of "hip gyration." I thought it was the strangest thing.

Then, I saw him on the 2004 Grammy awards with Beyonce. Now, I knew he was a guitar player, but hearing him live like that made me realize exactly how good a guitar player he was. The one word that came to mind watching him play was "effortless." He played the guitar like it was an extension of his body, like it was merely another mouth manifested in this long, wooden mouthpiece. It was incredible.

I bought Musicology late, towards September of 2004, and I loved it. The first half of the CD played in and out in my car, and during the next months, it shifted to the last half of the CD. I devoured that CD. It got to the point where I could play the entire album in my head, cues and all, from beginning to end, all the pieces in their proper key (I am a musician, so I ate up those chord progressions like candy).

For Christmas, I got "The Hits/The B-Sides," and, one-by-one, I fell in love with every song in that collection: "7," "Let's Go Crazy," "1999," "200 Balloons," "Shockadelica," "Erotic City," "She's Always in My Hair," and "Power Fantastic," which is, in my mind, the most perfectly crafted song ever conceived by any human, whether it was a collaborative effort or not. It was pure beauty.

Ever since then, I've been a die-hard fan, and I am only beginning to build my collection. I'm 19, and I cannot wait until I own every piece he has ever recorded. Prince has opened up so many doors in my own musical journey, something that I will always be grateful for.

I LOVE threads like this. It's so great to see other 20-somethings and younger love the same type of music as I do. It makes my heart go . My story and I'll shorten it is I'm 26 and I saw 1999 and Little Red Corvette on a video show when I was 4 in 1983. I dug them but I didn't become a fan till the next year with When Doves Cry. My mom got me Parade when it came and I was 7 then. It's tied with Purple Rain as my favorite album. In 91, I became a die-hard fan with D&P and I've been die-hard ever since.

For all those who haven't seen Prince in concert, RUN to the nearest arena when he comes to town. Your life will NEVER be the same.

I am a Michael Jackson fan aswell as a Prince fan, and it was through Michael Jackson that I became interested in Prince. Alot of Michael Jackson fans I talked to also liked Prince and the two artists are always being compared. So one day I decided, "hell, I'll buy a Prince album and see what it's like". This was at the time of Musicology, so as that was out and happening at the moment, I bought it. I quite enjoyed it as a first Prince album to listen to, even if most P fans don't. I was then advised by a Michael fan to check out SOTT, which from the "oh yeah!" at the start of the title track, I fell in love with. I then got Purple Rain, Lovesexy, Dirty Mind, Diamonds & Pearls, Prince, For You, Around The World In A Day, Parade and the love symbol album. I still have a few albums to buy, but I think I have most of the good ones. I haven't regreted getting any of them, I love them all to death.

I'm still a Michael fan, but I find myself listening to Prince more often these days, because he simply has more stuff to listen to. But I think I'll always be, first and foremost, a Michael Jackson fan. No offense. But that's how I fell in love with Prince. My next mission, to see him live!
[Edited 1/24/06 22:50pm]

From about the age of 2, my Uncle and Aunty used to play me Prince songs. Then when I was growing up, they'd bring all his then new albums for me to listen to (Crystal Ball, etc.). Ever since then, he's been my favourite artist. I'm 17 now, and am only missing about 5 albums from my Prince collection. It's one of the best things my Uncle and Aunty have ever done for me!
[Edited 1/25/06 6:17am]
[Edited 1/25/06 6:19am]

I´m 29 right now and I first listened to Prince during the lovesexy era.On tv they showed here in germany many times the i wish u heaven video and i kinda liked the strange but beautiful rhythm and melody.
But the first album from Prince I got was the batman cd. Me and a friend of mine were huge batman fans and when i saw the cover i had to buy the album .
It really blew me away...
Some months later i got purple rain as a christmas gift from my dad.When i first listened to the songs in the car, i was really electrified and blown away by the music.It was incredible.I realized what kind of genius this man is.
I´ve been a hardcore fan since that moment and i even started to make my own music
to this day...

Im 17, and ive only been a fan for about a year and 2 months! I first got in to prince when i saw the uk music hall of fame. The songs i especially liked early on were i would die 4 u, party man, batdance and D.M.S.R!

what a refreshing read

I'm 19 years old. I've been a Prince fan now for about 3 years. One day I was reading a Michael Jackson biography and in it I read that Michael was intimidated by Prince and probaly jealous of Prince's talent's and the fact that Prince starred in his own movie. I figured that anyone who got MJ all worked up like that must be a bad man.I of course knew who Prince was, and knew his popular songs (1999, When Doves Cry etc etc) but wasen't really interested.But when I read that I went out and bought "The Very Best Of Prince". I played that CD for weeks until I finally got the money to buy my first CD, which was Around The World In A Day,I was orginally looking for Purple Rain but the CD store didn't have it so I grabbed ATWIAD because I really liked the album cover, and that's probably why that CD means so much to me. After that I just started collecting and I became hooked. He has become my second favorite musician (MJ being #1 and Stevie #3). I love him to death.
[Edited 1/25/06 11:40am]

purpleworld said:

but is MJ really a musician?

BTW... Stevie is my #1 favorite

I just like him, cannot expalin why.

I got into Prince somewhere between 14 & 16 (i'm 20 now).I was leafing through any playable media I could find in my attic and found a black tape with the words 'purple rain' written on it (it all seems so humorously mystical now lol) I'll be honest however, when I first listened to it I don't think I understood it but I adored it anyway. By 16 I was bored at an older cousin's house and started burning her cd's, one of which being the hits collection. Being a Gemini, I felt like P could articulate how I felt (to the T) in every song I heard of his (and EVERY interview...I always wondered if other gemini's felt the same, I heard pac did). After that I bought or copied every album of his I didn't have. By now i have all except a few

SirPsycho said:

I know what you mean about the Gemini thing. Me too.



Great thread. Keep it coming young folks!

I was born in 1980 and wasn't really into music that much. My elder sister liked a bit of Prince but i just thought he was weird and dirty. Anyway, i was at school one day and was teasing someone about liking the Wildhearts and they turned round and said "Well what do you listen to????"

I didn't really know what to say so i said "Prince!" That got a few laughs! So after that i went home and thought i should listen to some of his music in case some of my friends quizzed me on him. Symbol had just come out so i put that one. I really like My Name is..., sexy MF (cuz is was naughty) and the Sacrifice of victor rocked me with that bass! I'm ashamed to say i even liked the Flow. Then i listened to D&P. I got hold of the Hits 2 but Sign didn't add up for me then. I considered myself a small time fan.

One day i was in the wrecka stow and saw the sign of the times video on sale for just £6 so i bought it. I didn't really know what to expect! I waited until the folks were out and put it.

Bearing in mind my only experience of live music was watching the Smash Hits Poll Winners party on TV you can imagine what the Sign video did to me at the impressionable age of 14! Blew me away! I was hooked! Bought as much as i could and finally got to see him live on the One Night Alone Tour. Went to all 3 shows in London, anybody there on the 4th October will remember he called a load of us to the front! Well i was in the second row. I'll never forget him burning the solo to Anna Stesia on Habibi within touching distance! I was born in 1980 but this was truly the moment of my conception!

How many people can say they've had a dream come true!!?? ME!! Thanks Prince!

after reading most of these threads Prince does have some of the most loyal fans.