I love hearing other orgers stories...not of meeting Prince or anything, just their stories from high school or album release days or personal tales from their fandom. I'm fascinated by stories from those who were around from the beginning, and I like hearing how younger listeners got into him. Post your stories here! Any fun random anecdotes everyone can relate too, or ways to experience being a Prince fan from another perspective.

I've been a fan since I was 9, when my older brother bought Purple Rain. When I discovered this was the same guy singing "Little Red Corvette" and "1999" the year before, I was hooked. Aside from "When Doves Cry," which was constantly on radio and MTV, I was taken in by "Take Me With U." I wore that cassette out rewinding that song. It was the first song I discovered that wasn't on the radio (this was before it was released as a single). Suddenly I felt like Prince was "my" artist.

The following summer, in 1985, my cousins were at my house and we all got excited when the "Raspberry Beret" video premiered. We taped the MTV World Premiere (remember the little cartoon of the Earth dropping into a television set, before the video would play?), and we watched it over and over. One afternoon, we decided to re-enact it. We went out on the front porch, since it was the closest thing we had to a stage, dressed as closely as we could to the Revolution. My oldest cousin got to Prince, because she said so, and I was Brownmark. She wore a suit jacket (which unfortunately didn't have any clouds on it); I was shirtless with a trench coat; and my other cousin dressed as Wendy in a swimsuit with a towel around her waist. We turned the song up, lip-synced, and did all the dance moves.

At this point, my father showed up on his lunch break. He was mortified to find his ten year old son and two female cousins (ages 11 and 12) dancing half-naked on the front porch. He simply said, as sternly as he could, "Get in this house NOW." And we were like "But we're Prince and the Revolution and the song isn't over yet!" We didn't get the implications of half-naked prepubescent children dancing on the porch, ha ha! Ahh, what the neighbors must have thought. We still laugh about that one, and have had the good sense since then to never try and dress as the Revolution.

So let's hear your stories! The good, the bad, the ugly, and the awesome...

[Edited 6/10/10 20:22pm]

at 1st i was scared of prince when i was younger he reminded me HIM from the power puff girls

plus my older brother would scare me with tales of The Man coming to get me by our front door and i would always picture prince's face ( we didnt live in a good area so i had every right to be scared )

plus my brother said that Prince was on America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries ( this did not help)

i got alittle older and i watched graffiti bridge on TV one night and i loved it and i wanted to be ingrid chavez ( i started to like prince after this )

i use sing adore when i was little but never knew who sung it i looked it up and the rest is history

been a fan for about 7-8 years now

became a fam about a couple months ago

Purple Rain, ATWID, and Parade got me through the high school years. That, and Thriller, was my escape (as was most music). I felt like I bonded w/ his music around 1999 finally, although I was aware of him from "I Wanna Be Your Lover", and kept an ear lent in his direction. There are times when the ONLY Cds I've been able to own were Prince CDs, so they were musical companions until I expanded my collection.

The 90's were a rich period too, and his music kept me quite entertained on the bus, at work, at home, etc. He was putting out SO much in the mid 90's, and I ate it up. I also discovered bootlegs around that time and was just in heaven.

Emancipation Era helped me thru a lonely time in my life where all I did was go to work and eat out all the time. That album and the lyrics helped me understand love from a different point of view. I was always singy and thought I knew what love was. I knew one thing I could not be with a woman who didn't love P's music as much as I did because I wasn't against going to another state just for a concert. I've been to Mpls 3 times and it was Prince & The Related Artist visits. & considering the fact that I listen to P's music 90% of the time, I had to have someone in my life that would not have a problem with his music.

I've met P, been to 3121 Vegas, been to Paisley Park back in 2009 for the final concert of the year. It's been a great time in my life the last 14yrs I've been a fan. I just wish I was a fan of P's since his 1st album, like some people I know. I have four very good friends of mine that have been fans since the first album and I'm always in "awe" at some of the stories they have to tell about their fandom and such ... LoL

My older sister was a big fan (at least of the way he looked). i remember her bringing home the 12inch vinyl of 1999 when it was released in the UK, i loved it from the first listen, i was 14 years old. I then remember her binging home the singles from Purple Rain, always the 12inch. I was loving it but had never seen Prince perform, only photographs and posters on my sisters wall. Then sometime during all the Purple Rain hoopla there was a gig broadcast on the tv, (syracuse). As soon as i witnessed him perform i was hooked.

From then until i was 16 and leaving school, i just listened to my sisters Prince records, but when i left school and got my first job i was able to buy my own records.

Since then i have bought everything (and at one point in the late 90's lost my entire collection) and went to many of his shows all over the UK.

I hit a real low point in my life from '97 till '04 which resulted in me losing all my collection and very nearly my life, but Prince's music helped me recover.

Since 2004 i have had to build my entire music collection from scratch, and to have the Prince music and other memorabilia i have now is amazing.

I cannot ever see myself not liking Prince or his music, long may it continue.

When eye went 2 my first prince concert, WOW!

When Purple Rain came out I was 12 yrs old and I begged my grandmother to take me to see it she was a great lady It was at the Fox in Detroit Well, when the love scene between Prince and Apples came on my Granny was like "Baby you need to cover your eyes now!" and I they were also giving away movie posters that night-it was so cool. May my Granny RIP her

[Edited 6/16/10 22:32pm]

These are all awesome stories! I hope you'll come to http://7silhouetteproject.com and share them for the book (just copy and paste!).

so from age 6-10 i was totally stuck on mj.

collected every mj nd j5.

then musicology came out wen i was in 4th grade and purple rain started comin on tv more often(yes..im a young fam!)

after seein it for a first i became obsessed!

immediately drawn to everything about him

dropped mj like a hot potato

bought all prince's cds with my allowance

yes..i was a i littlee young to b listenin to prince

he was kindah like my sex ed teacher..lols

lots of stuff i didnt know i googled after hearin him say it

but he LITERALLY made me the muscian i am 2day

inspired me to to play instruments and write

he was kindah like my music teacher too !

he also inspired me to wave my freak flag nd dare to b different

[Edited 6/17/10 17:52pm]

"he said he truly loved me

he had a girlfriend at the time

his website was a present

guess he thought i wouldnt mind

no wonder it failed

with no ethics behind it

he's still lookin for the ladder

but he and she will never find it"

-unknown

I was 11, and I went gaga for Prince on the Muppets Tonight. Loved the Starfish and Coffee and Rasberry Beret jams. Then quite recently, thanks to a dear friend, got back into his music again.

SherryJackson said:

I was 11, and I went gaga for Prince on the Muppets Tonight. Loved the Starfish and Coffee and Rasberry Beret jams. Then quite recently, thanks to a dear friend, got back into his music again.

That's cute Prince actually got a fan from the Muppets