I still have copies of Controversy (did Eileen M fall out with Prince ?) but then I'm trying to remember the other UK one? I think the guy was from Leeds? I also think there was a dutch one ?

In any case I remember those days of going down to Tower Records in Piccadily to check the massive selection of fanzines in the hope I'd spot any thing with Prince on it... And now we have Google!! lol Sign O the Times and all that

I had a subscription to Controversy when I was in high school - I thought it was the most exclusive thing on earth.

And I'd pick up Uptown now and then throughout the '90s, when I was feelin' fammy.

uptown!

Tower Records had Uptown magazine. I would go there religiously looking for the l;atest. This was in the early to mid 90's. It was kind of expensive but a magazine devoted to Prince and the background happenings? I loved it. I have tons of them now and go and look back and read some of th e authors and see that they were several people who I see online now who wrote many of the articles.

Right On magazine was always cool regarding Prince and the royal court information. Wasn't Cynthia Horner the editor (an early Prince supporter)?

Rock n Soul and Creem had some good Prince articles.

Musician and The Face had the best PR era article (honrable mention to Record Magazine who had the best PR tour review by Greg Tate)and Spin had the best Prince overview (1986 Black Narccissus article).

The fanzine from Leeds was called Crystal Ball and was run by Chris Dawson who I had the pleasure of meeting many times at Record fares whenever they were held in Walsall. Chris was a true gentleman and a huge prince fan who ended up meeting prince at the NEC in Birmingham during the Lovesexy tour , i still have many of the crystal ball fanzines , he even ran a shop in Otley called the revolution and it was the only place you could buy sign o the times tour memorabilia in the uk at the time , so i travelled all tyhe way to get myself a few t-shirts and programs , Chris made us feel at home as soon as he recognised we had made such an effort.

dodgydicko said:

Yes Chris Dawson that's right! I remember the Revolution store now, never got to go but knew people who did. So how come Chris and Eileen Murton stopped doing what they were so good at?

Controversy was fantastic... I ALSO used to take trips up to Tower Records specifically to buy the latest edition... that a couple of Uptowns...

I can remember the incredulity at a whole magazine, professionally printed, being devoted to one artist... If only... what with the dolls and the websites and all the paraphenalia that goes on now... at least there used to be enough stuff to FILL a magazine about Prince!

BoySimon said:

Too right mate! I wonder if we shoudl do a Tower Records Controversy reunited event! lol

clarityman said:

Hmmm..... Chris Dawson. Some of us here on the org remember him only for all the bad stuff. His sloppy handling and false advertising of a fan Party (aftershow?) which led to his being questioned by the police, many of us never got refunds. Then later he took money for a Prince fanzine (Dream Nation?) which folded after one issue, again no refunds.
Those who feel ripped off by him do not remember him fondly. I think even Eileen Murton had disagreements with him and that's why they parted company. I also remember Chris bad mouthing Prince in the press after his meeting, giving the impression that he is an arrogant show off. I think he felt that Prince owed him something!

Does anyone remember a fanzine known as "Prince Thang"? It was based in Philadelphia or Pennyslyvania...one of those places.I have an issue that came out in the summer of 1991,just right before the release of the Diamonds and Pearls album.


I also have a few issues of Controversy,but my issues are from the late 80s,before it became a glossy,"official" Prince fanzine.My copies are in black in white with no color pics at all.I have two issues from 1988,during the whole SOTT/Lovesxy era.One of the contributors was Linda Everett,a wonderful lady who I used to correspond with on a regular basis.

I have every issue of "The Prince Family" newsletter.Anybody remember those? I remember being very excited receiving a new issue in my mailbox every two weeks.Diana Dawkins really did a great job.This was in the 90s before I got into the Internet.

I have nearly every issue of Uptown.I used to order it directly from the U.S. representative (I think his name is Harold?),but around 1994 or so,it was available in Tower Records.

dodgydicko said:

I have a few issues of a fanzine known as "Crystal Ball",but it's not entirely devoted to Prince.They discussed other artists too.I wonder if this is the same one you're referring to? My issues feature a white cover and no color pics at all.It talks about alot of Prince-related artists (Jam and Lewis,etc).I bought it from Tower Records in the late 80s.

SoulAlive said:

Yep, same magazine.

i have one issue of a zine called 'if prince was my girlfriend', which was really just a bunch of silly essays from east village hipster types babbling on about prince. it's very cute.

SoulAlive said:

Lets get update on Diana Dawkins? I know alot of you Fanatics out there use to call her hotline back in the day

leeroysoupnutz said:

was that the 1-900 number hotline thingie? yup, i remember calling that!

I loved the Prince Family Newsletter. It was an amazing gift in the mailbox every 2 weeks to be able to wrap up all things Prince. I have about half of them, and I promised DavidEye that I'd tell him which ones I have so he can get me my missing issues for my book research.

UPTOWN was amazing. I don't thing there was ever a more balanced and informed magazing based on Prince. Per Nilsen and everyone really researched their articles. CONTROVERSY was great but it kissed Prince's ass a little too much and as soon as he made it the official magazine, it died.

I have several other magazines that tried and died including CRYSTAL BALL (too much non-Prince stuff for me), DREAM FACTORY, and a few crappy 1-offs from a guy named Nathan Wright who tried to publish, but eventually ended up ripping many of us off.

Those were amazing days for fans. One last thing, who can forget about the PPML (was that the name?), which was a email list of information that was the first taste of what passion there was for Prince online! That was fun too.

Anx said:

I remember calling that hotline alot in the 90s.I didn't have the Internet back then,so Diana's hotline was the best way to keep up with latest news.Does anyone know what Diana is up to these days?

Confession.

I used to help write a Prince magazine in the mid-90s in the UK. It was called the Interactive Experience.

I had tremendous fun doing it, may have ruffled a few feathers... not sure... BUT it did allow me access to some amazing people and times, especially during the Emancipation launch.

Ahhhh, such memories.

madhouseman said:

The Prince Family newsletter was GREAT! Do you remember in the summer of 1996 when Diana surprised us by sending us a copy of the "Dinner With Delores" cassette promo single? She enclosed it with a copy of the newsletter.

DavidEye? I wonder whatever happened to him

BoySimon said:

I used to get the Interactive Experience, used to love it arriving in the post and reading it in one go without putting it down like a right geek!

Some leaflets come with it advertising videos, tapes, etc (if you know what I mean!) so I used to get a lot of stuff from a lady called Linda.

Cant remember the lads name who ran it (may have Peter?), I spoke to him once and he was pissed off after something happened with Prince or Paisley Park and he was selling his collection, think the magazine stopped then.

so how did it ruffle some feathers?

There was another fanzine round the same time run by a guy called Ray in London called Dawn something, that was also quite good

dodger said:

You must be referring to Linda Everett a very nice lady who had a massive collection of Prince stuff.

Peter did, indeed, get annoyed with Prince. I think this was quite common after the release of New Power Soul. I can remember getting home one evening and the phone was ringing off the hook. As far as I can recall, Londell Whatsit had sent out a cease and desist email to a lot of fanclubs around the world, because, it seemed, we had unanimously given NPS a thumbs down.

Peter was annoyed about the interference in what, up until then, had been a tacitly supported set of fanclubs... Hence his selling his Prince collection... which was immense.

'Ruffled feathers'? Well, I can remember getting one letter complaining about our interpretation of Prince's spirituality in regards the Lovesexy Tour. This reader did not take too kindly to the article in question and said so. She then didn't want to take the discussion any further... hey ho... Marvellous times.

Ray still runs a website called the dawnexperience.co.uk I think. He's a superb chap, one of the best. He still organises London Prince parties and stuff, I suggest you check out his site.

BoySimon said:

I wrote a couple of bits for the Interactive Experience and my other half used to transcribe lyrics!! WHat a small world we live in!!

I think as far as Pete giving up on the magazine goes, it was due to the legal threats for using the symbol...What a shame...Like you said though.... those were GREAT times!

[Edited 11/17/06 1:09am]
[Edited 11/17/06 1:10am]

anyone read "7" magazine from Australia? (which later became sevenmag.com)

ZombieKitten said:

I have a few issues of that fanzine!

SoulAlive said:

you do?!

I loved Controversy.
Eileen was asked by Prince to stop though, which pissed her off and cost her quite a bit of money I think (refunds, etc).

Then he launched NPG magazine, which only lasted a few issues. What a waste of time!

ZombieKitten said:

it was a pretty good fanzine

I think I have copies of all the fanzines mentioned in that thread, though of some just a few . As nice as some of them were it happened more than once hat after some issues they just ceased to exist and there was no refund given .

pacey68 said:

I would like point out that this bit is wrong It was run by a guy called David Powell from Walsall. David tried his best in producing the magazine (Dream Nation Ran for around 2 yrs) all by himself with help from like minded people he even did some Prince Partys which I went to and had fun even Madhouse music went along those where the days, but like Chris Dawson both where charming and owe me money for non events.


Eileen Did well on the MPLS convention of 91 (D&P) was released whilst we were in MPLS and we all had limos to take us to the Glam slam for the release party BLISS.

and whilst im here Didnt Chris Leave Controversy to set up the Revolution after an argument with Eileen?
[Edited 11/17/06 4:55am]