Hey guys, I have a question for you Prince-veterans out there.

I have been a fan of his for only about a year so could you tell me about the memories you have of him in the 70's? I can't find that much info about him from the beginning of his career and I'd like to find out more,especially on the Rick James Tours. How was he being promoted then? Was he popular?

Thanks.

Wow, only a year, that's cool.

What made you a fan?

I started being a big fan in 1984. So I can't really offer any 70's input.

But back in the late eighties what I did to back track is look Prince up in the library. Yep, back before the internet, microfiche was the way!

Also do some research at the org, use the Search box at the top of this page.

Good luck, oh and also try reading up on Uptown magazine ( http://www.uptown.se ), they have fantastic articles on Prince's early career! A must for any Prince fan, new and veteran!

Here's a copy and paste from my profile library, due to time constraints...


Soft And Wet--- First heard it on a AM R*B/soul radio station (WIGO AM) on a cold breezy morning on the way to Dodson Drive Elementary school(was 9 years old at the time)in 1978. It sounded so different than what was turning up on R&B radio at the time. Not that was a bad thing because R&B/funk/jazz in the 70's was stellar...from 1970 to 1979. But the fact was it was certainly a unique song.

* Brother 9/15 3/11/02

I'm not one who talks the "Prince speak" or one of the club members but this is something that I truly know about.
The day was Thursday Febuary 28th 1980 Chicago Illinois at the Uptown Theater. Prince opened for Rick James in what turned out to be one of the best performances that I had ever seen at the Uptown Theater (including Genisis and Kansas).The only concerts that I've seen at the Uptown to surpass the Prince/Rick James tour were subsequent Prince shows (Dirty Mind). Prince started the show with an instrumnetal rock number that went into Soft and Wet or Why you wanna treat me so bad I really can't remember but the show was fantastic. Now take in consideration that people had seen Prince on the Midnight Special and American Bandstand and they didn't quite know how to react because of his clothing (or lack there of) at the time. Several people were calling him "bitchy and bitch" but he ignored them and by the end of his concert he had an audience of believers. Rick James came on and before even getting into the the first song (I don't remember what I've never been a fan), he said "well, we had some pyros and sh*t but your city fire department wouldn't let us use them. Right then I knew that he was conceiding that he had been beat at the concert by Prince. That part of the whole evening was the most boring to me. Prince really surprised me though because they were truly tight. Remember, this was only six people with a sound bigger than anything I've heard thus far. Later he came back with the "Dirty Mind tour with Tina Marie opening for him. The thing that impressed me besides the performance was the fact that the Prince group always seeemed as if they had a secret and that secret was that if you didn't want to come along for the ride then you'd be missing something. At the same time they didn't make it seem as though they were forcing their way on you. This was long before the funny words symbols and "Prince Speak". They were very good times for me and I got a lot of pleasure from those performances through the 1999 tour. After that, a lot changed. Know this.
Prince's contemperarys then were far more talented than people in the industry today. There was competition and the music didn't suffer. In turn Prince always strived to be better than his contemporarys. Most people then were more into the Music and not the hype. Thank God for the memories.