...and the early Demo's

.

All of this and more is for you.
With love, sincerity and deepest care,
my life with you I share

.
Minneapolis Genius ALPHA Studio 4.1979 LA
I Wanna Be Your Lover rel 8.1979
PRINCE 10.1979
When We're Dancing Close & Slow (Joni Mitchell Coyotte Hejiia1976)
the Capri Theatre Minneapolis
Jellybean Johnson Lincoln Junior High classmate
Andre Anderson, Morris Day
Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me
$150.00
SOUND 80
Grand Central, Flyte Time,
5215 France Ave. 1978
Jamie Shoop Sue Ann Carwell David Rivkin
Gayle Chapman Tommy Vicari Kim Upsher Bobby Z
Matt Fink Dez Dickerson
Warner Brothers We Can Work It Out
Leaving 4 NY
4 U overdubbed 46 times
"I was a physical wreck when I finished that record" -Prince Musician Mag
Oberheim synthesizer
Make It Thru the Storm -Susie Stone

Sitting there on the purple lawn
U've been there since dawn

-Leaving 4 New York

1. For You

2. In Love

3. Soft And Wet

4. Crazy You

5. Just As Long As We're Together

6. Baby

7. My Love Is Forever

8. So Blue

9. I'm Yours

I think every fan, new or old, should always refresh themselves on Prince's beginnings.
These songs, in the simplest way, you can hear throught his recordings throught his career

songs like Tangerine, She Loves Me 4 Me, When 2 R in Love, Kiss, hearken back to these demos and the first albums

I like to sit back and listen to my Early years Prince playlist,

recorded in Summer 1976 at Moonsound, Minneapolis, MN, USA

.

A new recording was made for possible inclusion on Prince's first album For You, and while specific recording dates for the album version of the song are not known, the album was recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, USA, from 1 October 1977 to 22 December 1977.

Prince then re-recorded the song with Sue Ann Carwell on lead vocals in Summer, 1978, at Prince's France Avenue Home Studio, Edina, MN, USA (during the same set of sessions as Since We've Been Together, Wouldn't You Love To Love Me? and I'm Saving It Up).

Although Prince's versions remain unreleased, Sue Ann Carwell released a version of the song in 1981, as the b-side of her single Let Me Let You Rock Me, but with different music, written by Chris Moon; since Prince's original input was limited to music, he had no contribution in the released version, so the track is listed here as unreleased.

-PrinceVault

.

1976 OUTTAKE

Make It Through The Storm

So now you want 2 leave me, but why you will not say
Then don't tell me why, just tell me that you'll never go away
Oh, don't give up now, girl, we've been through so much more
Oh, can't you see you're the only thing that I'm living 4

The world's a cold and empty place
Without a love 2 keep you warm
Oh, hold me in your arms 2night
Don't you know we'll make it, make it through the storm

Our love is pain and pleasure but I keep holding on
Cause I never want 2 lose your love, gotta help me make it strong
Just hold me tight, I'm yours 2night, your love will keep me warm
Hold me in your arms 2night, we'll make it through the storm

The world's such an empty place
Without a love 2 keep you warm
Oh, hold me in your arms 2night
Don't you know we'll make it, make it through the storm

Yeah, yeah, yeah

We're gonna make it, we got 2 make it

(We're gonna make it)
Make it through the storm
The wind, the wind, your heart is so cold
I can make it
Make it through the storm

Your love, is pain and pleasure
you, it's you, it's you I'll always treasure
We'll make it through the storm

Prince moved into his first home in the summer of 1978,

a modest house at 5215 France Avenue in Edina, Minnesota.

He had his drum kit and other instruments set up in the basement of the house.

The majority of his second album, Prince, was demoed on a 4 track, reel to reel tape machine

in the house.

-photo by Alan Freed

http://www.zillow.com/hom...8519_zpid/

Released on April 7, 1978, For You received largely positive reviews, although most of them were concerned more with the fact that it was the work of a 19-year-old and had little to say about the actual musical content. Prince’s local paper, the St. Paul Dispatch, called the album "a technical marvel and a curiosity" most interesting "because one man did it." For You did nonetheless reach Number 21 on Billboard’s R&B chart, while "Soft & Wet" made it to Number 12 on the R&B chart and Number 92 on the Pop chart.

In the summer of 1978, Prince used his Warner Bros. advance to move into a new home at 5215 France Avenue in the Edina area of Minneapolis.

It was while Prince attended Central High School in Minneapolis, MN that he began his recording career. The first recording studio that Prince stepped into was MoonSound Studios in south Minneapolis. MoonSound was a small studio owned and operated by British born, Chris Moon, a talented recording engineer and budding entrepreneur.

Chris first established MoonSound Studios in the basement of a small, single family home at about 57th and Stevens Ave. It’s unknown how Prince first came upon this specific studio, but it’s likely he had heard about MoonSound Studios through a variety of promotions that had been aired on the local “progressive rock” station, KQRS.

At MoonSound Studios, Chris taught Prince the basics of multi-track recording and also provided him access to a variety of musical instruments like a piano, electronic keyboards, synthesizers, drums, etc.. It was during this time that Prince learned how to record and mix all intruments played. Chris eventually gave Prince a set of keys to his studio and Prince would show up after school and evenings.

Chris Moon quickly realized that he had a true talent on his hands, and together, they began working on a demo tape that could be presented to record labels. The first few attempts to secure a record label failed and Chris soon realized that they needed to find someone with better connections to the music business world. As a result, Chris introduced Prince to Owen Husney- a music industry executive in Minneapolis – and they sent him a demo tape. Shortly thereafter Husney became Prince’s first manager. This partnership would eventually led to a record deal with Warner Bros and the rest is musical history.

In the early 1970s Chris Moon (a Brit) became interested in recording technology, he purchased a slew of advanced recording equipment and began searching for musical acts that interested him. He carted his equipment out to gigs and rehearsal halls to make demo recordings. Moon recorded several demos and live gigs with Skogie and the Flaming Pachucos before their move to Los Angeles in the summer of 1976.

Chris Moon was one of the first to discover Prince's musical talent and he was an important factor in getting his career underway. They met in 1976 when Prince came through his Moonsound Studio to record material with his band, then known as Champagne.

Moon had aspirations as a songwriter, having written poetry and song lyrics since he was a teenager, and after seeing Prince at work in the studio, he approached him about collaborating. In exchange for writing and playing the music, Prince would get free studio time. The deal served both well; Moon could turn his lyrics into songs and Prince was able to learn about recording techniques and develop as a songwriter and musician. Their teaming-up contributed to the breakup of Champagne and led to Prince's decision to become solo artist.

Chris Moon can take some credit for his early collaboration with Prince, the famous "naughty implied sexuality" approach to songwriting, and introducing Prince to Owen Husney, who became his first manager. He parted ways with Prince, more than 20 years ago

94 East -- Minneapolis Genius - The Historic 1977 Recordings (1987)

Incredible piece of Jazz/Funk/Disco from Prince and his bestest childhood buddy André Cymone. Recorded one year before Prince's solo debut, For You, at the tender age of just nineteen this record has that definite Minneapolis sound.


Track Listings
1. If You Feel Like Dancin'
2. Lovin' Cup
3. Games
4. Just Another Sucker

5. Dance to the Music of the World

6. One Man Jam

Track Listing side 2
1. If You See Me
2. Games
3. I'll Always Love You
4. Better Than You Think
5. If We Don't
6. You Can Be My Teacher
7. Love Love Love
8. Dance to the Music of the World

9. If You See Me First
10. Better Than You Think

1. For You
For You #1 1976 demo 1:08
For You #2 1976 demo 0:45
For You #3 1976 demo 1:18
For You #4 1976 demo 1:21

2. In Love
"What more do I have 2 say? I really wanna play in your river."

3. Soft And Wet
Soft & Wet #1 (1976)
Soft & Wet #2 (1976)
Hey lover, All I wanna see is the love in your eyes
And all I wanna hear is your sweet love sighs
Hey lover, All I wanna feel is your burning flame

4. Crazy You
U got a strange way about cha

5. Just As Long As We're Together co-lead:Andre Cymone
Just as Long as We're Together #1 3:44
Just as Long as We're Together #2 5:47
Just as Long as We're Together #3 5:57

Girl, I got 2 always have U in my hair

6. Baby
Baby (alt. version) 1976 early version 3:13
Baby (Instrumental) 1976, instrumental version of released song 3:21

I hope our baby has eyes just like yours

7. My Love Is Forever

U're the wind and the rain
And U've got a river that takes away my pain
U're the sky that's oh so blue

8. So Blue

I spend my nights all alone talking 2 myself

9. I'm Yours
And naughty things that we could do danced within my head

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL (1976)
What follows is a transcript of Prince's very first interview. It appeared in his high school newspaper on February 16, 1976. It is accompanied by a picture of a young afro-clad Prince sitting at a piano



Nelson Finds It "Hard To Become Known"

"I play with Grand Central Corporation. I've been playing with them for two years," Prince Nelson, senior at Central, said. Prince started playing piano at age seven and guitar when he got out of eighth grade.


Prince was born in Minneapolis. When asked, he said, "I was born here, unfortunately." Why? "I think it is very hard for a band to make it in this state, even if they're good. Mainly because there aren't any big record companies or studios in this state. I really feel that if we would have lived in Los Angeles or New York or some other big city, we would have gotten over by now."


He likes Central a great deal, because his music teachers let him work on his own. He now is working with Mr. Bickham, a music teacher at Central, but has been working with Mrs. Doepkes.


He plays several instruments, such as guitar, bass, all keyboards, and drums. He also sings sometimes, which he picked up recently. He played saxophone in seventh grade but gave it up. He regrets he did. He quit playing sax when school ended one summer. He never had time to practice sax anymore when he went back to school. He does not play in the school band. Why? "I really don't have time to make the concerts."


Prince has a brother that goes to Central whose name is Duane Nelson, who is more athletically enthusiastic. He plays on the basketball team and played on the football team. Duane is also a senior.


Prince plays by ear. "I've had about two lessons, but they didn't help much. I think you'll always be able to do what your ear tells you, so just think how great you'd be with lessons also," he said.


"I advise anyone who wants to learn guitar to get a teacher unless they are very musically inclined. One should learn all their scales too. That is very important," he continued.

Prince would also like to say that his band is in the process of recording an album containing songs they have composed. It should be released during the early part of the summer.

"Eventually I would like to go to college and start lessons again when I'm much older."

This is one of the reasons why I love the org..Never saw those 3 color pictures of him the leather jacket before. The promo pic brings back great memories of seeing his debut in "Right On!"magazine.

I love this era !!!

OldFriends4Sale said:

Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince

Chapter 1 HOME

p 10-11

Prince's friend and surrogate brother, Andre Anderson, was also musically inclined, and the 2 began to jam together regularly in his mother's basement.

Upstairs, Prince shared a bedroom with Anderson. Despite being good friends, they were poor roommates; Anderson's side of the room was cluttered and disorganized, while Prince's was as meticulously ordered as a Marine barrack. Although he no longer lived with his father, Nelson's disciplined approach to life remained a significant influence on Prince, who sought greater order and privacy by moving into the basement...

Downstairs, he had much easier access to his instruments; already, Prince had started blending the distinction between home and musical workplace. Moreover, the basement became something of a private universe - a small slice of the world where he was in total control. A dark space with little natural light, it was nonetheless where he felt most comfortable, and it provided a prototype for the cloistered recording studios where he would spend the majority of his waking hours over the next thirty-plus years.

...

The Anderson basement - Prince's bedroom and rehearsal space - also represented his first attempt to create an alternative community based around music and, perhaps, sex. Years later in interviews, Prince would recall it as a hedonistic wonderland where he and Anderson engaged in carnal acts with a variety of girlfriends.

...

"My impression is that there were a lot of girls in that basement," said Howard Bloom, Prince's press agent during the 1980s. "He had grown up in the 1960's and the message was make love, not war. In the basement, he was going for liberation and entitlement to any sort of sexuality, pleasure, and enjoyment."

Prince, Andre Cymone And Bobby Z Recorded instrumentals in the rehearsal room of Owen Husney's Loring Park office. They sound like well-crafted compositions rather than spur-of-the-moment jams. The tracks feature keyboards (Prince), Bass (Andre), Drums (Bobby Z).

For You

All of this and more
Is for U
With love, sincerity and deepest care
My life with U I share

Home recordings, 1976
Sweet Thing (4:24) (Chaka Khan)
Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me? #1 (3:53)
I Spend My Time Loving You (7:20)
Rock Me, Lover #1 (3:51)
Improvisation (0:40)
Don’t You Wanna Ride? (5:14)
Nightingale (4:16)
Leaving For New York #1 (5:52)
Humming A Tune (0:34)
Humming A Tune Pt.2 (0:30)
Instrumental (0:37)
Instrumental Pt.2 (0:52)
Telephone conversation (0:56)
Instrumental (1:00)
Instrumental (1:00)
For You #1 (1:06)
For You #2 (0:45)
Hey, Lover (0:46)

14-track demo tape, Moonsound, Minneapolis, spring – December 1976 – no known order
Instrumental (7:25) – possibly titled Farnborough
Aces (Prince/Chris Moon)
Diamond Eyes (Prince/Chris Moon)
Don’t Forget (Prince/Chris Moon)
Don’t Hold Back (Prince/Chris Moon)
Fantasy (Prince/Chris Moon)
Love Is Forever #1 (Prince/Chris Moon)
Make It Through The Storm #1 (Prince/Chris Moon)
Piano Intro (0:40)
Soft And Wet #1 (3:22) (Prince/Chris Moon)
Surprise (Prince/Chris Moon)
Baby #1
I’m Yours #1
Jelly Jam #1 (Instrumental)
Leaving For New York #2
Since We’ve Been Together #1
For You #3 (1:19)
For You #4 (1:20)
Outro (0:13)

- A 4-track demo tape was also made with Soft And Wet, Love Is Forever, Baby & Aces

Sound 80, Minneapolis, 29 December 1976 – summer 1977
Baby #2 (Instrumental) (3:15)
Baby #3 (3:08)
Just As Long As We’re Together #1 (3:34)
Soft And Wet #2 (3:04) (Prince/Chris Moon)
Instrumental (3:49)
My Love Is Forever #2 (previously “Love Is Forever”) (4:03) (Prince/Chris Moon)
Make It Through The Storm #2 (2:44) (Prince/Chris Moon)
Jelly Jam #2 (Instrumental) (2:05)
In Love #1
Just As Long As We’re Together #2 (incorporates “Jelly Jam”) (5:45)
Just As Long As We’re Together #3 (5:51)
Love In The Morning
You Really Get To Me

94 East, Sound 80, Minneapolis, early 1977
- Guitar & background vocals: Prince
Fortune Teller (Hank Cosby)
10:15 (Pepé Willie)

The Lewis Conection, Moonsound, Minneapolis, 1977
- Guitar & background vocals: Prince
Got To Be Something Here* (Sonny Thompson)

Owen Husney’s rehearsal room, Minneapolis, 1977
- Keyboards: Prince, bass: André Cymone, drums: Bobby Z. Rivkin
Instrumental 1 (5:32)
Instrumental 2 (6:24)
Instrumental 3 (6:22)
Instrumental 4 (8:42)
Instrumental 5 (7:06)
Instrumental 6 (8:14)
Instrumental 7 (7:45)
Instrumental 8 (6:39)

Home recordings, 1977
Darling Marie #1
Hello, My Love
I Like What You’re Doing
Neurotic Lover’s Baby’s Bedroom

CBS Records, Village Recorders, Los Angeles, 8 April 1977
Just As Long As We’re Together #4

Sound 80, Minneapolis, June 1977
We Can Work It Out (2:58) – drums: Bobby Z.

Warner Bros., Amigo Studios, Los Angeles, summer 1977
Just As Long As We’re Together #5

For You, The Record Plant, Sausalito, 1 October – 22 December 1977
For You #5 (1:06)*
In Love #2 (3:38)*
Soft And Wet #3 (3:01)* (Prince/Chris Moon)
Crazy You (2:17)*
Just As Long As We’re Together #6 (6:24)*
Baby # 4 (3:09)*
My Love Is Forever #3 (4:09)* (Prince/Chris Moon)
So Blue (4:26)*
I’m Yours #2 (5:01)*
Make It Through The Storm #3 (Prince/Chris Moon)

Instrumental jams, The Record Plant, Sausalito, 4 November – 10 December 1977
- Guitar & keyboards: Prince, bass: André Cymone, drums: Steve Fontano
Bump This (4/11)
E-Pluribous Funk (4/11)
Shine Your Light/Red Zone (4/11)
Instrumental (5/12)
Life Is So Neat (10/12)
Waiting For You (10/12)

Sue Ann Carwell, home studio & Sound 80, summer 1978
Make It Through The Storm #4 (Prince/Chris Moon) – re-recorded and released as b-side of Let Me Let You Rock Me-single in 1981
Since We’ve Been Together #2 – copyrighted at The Library of Congress 21/8-1980
Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me? #2

Pepé Willie, Willie’s home, 1978
- Guitar, bass & backing vocals: Prince
Dance To The Music Of The World #1 (Practice Session)* (Pepé Willie)

Pepé Willie, Sound 80, Minneapolis, 1978
- Guitar, keyboards & drums: Prince, backing vocals on “Dance To The Music Of The World”: Prince
Just Another Sucker (5:21)* (Pepé Willie/Prince)
Lovin’ Cup (4:20)* (Pepé Willie)
Dance To The Music Of The World #2 (5:07)* (Pepé Willie)

Pepé Willie, home studio, 1978
You Can Be My Teacher (4:06)* (Pepé Willie) - bass
Love, Love, Love (3:52)* (Pepé Willie) – bass & guitar

Home recordings, 1978 – 1979
Baby, Baby, Baby (2:44)
Nadeara (1:50)
K-FUNK Interview (featuring Nadeara) (7:47)
Miss You (1:53)
Donna (4:06)
Down A Long Lonely Road (1:18)
Do It Again
Gypsy
I Am You (late ’78)
I Met A Virgin Queen
I’m Leaving LA
Love Affair
Love Of Mine
Rock Me, Lover #2
Rocking Chair
We Would Like To See You Again
Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me? #3 (5:01)
Instrumental 1 (2:14) – guitars, soft drum machine
Instrumental 2 (2:21) – guitar, fast drum machine
Instrumental 3 (0:52) – percussion
Instrumental 4 (1:11) – acoustic guitar
Instrumental 5 (1:30) – funky acoustic & bass guitars
Instrumental 6 (0:37) – funky bass guitar

Owen Husney

In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon in Moon's Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Minneapolis businessman Owen Husney. Husney signed Prince, at the age of 17, to a management contract and helped Prince create a demo recording at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis using producer/engineer David Z. The demo recording, along with a press kit produced at Husney's ad agency, resulted in interest from several record companies including Warner Bros. Records, A&M Records, and Columbi Records. With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros.. Warner Bros. agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights. Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California where Prince's first album, For You, was recorded at Record Plant Studios. Subsequently, the album was mixed in Los Angeles and released in 1978.

With Prince planning to release no less than four new albums this year, we thought it would be fun to relive one of the boy wonder's earliest gigs. Don Snowden was at the Roxy in LA to witness the miniature Minneapolitan's "jarring mixture" of styles, his review appearing in the Los Angeles

Times on 29 November, 1979.--Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

It must be a daunting prospect for anyone to make his or her performing debut, save for a couple of hometown Minneapolis tune-ups, before an industry-heavy crowd at the Roxy. That was the situation confronting Prince Wednesday night.

Prince, 19, is something of a wunderkind who produced, arranged and composed all the material and played all the instruments on his two Warner Bros. albums. His vinyl output, somewhat like Stevie Wonder's, is aimed squarely at the black-pop mainstream and crossover audiences but his live show is heavily influenced by hard-rock flash.

The result is a bizarre combination of musical and visual elements. Guitarist Des Dickerson (black leather jacket and leopard skin pants) and bassist Andre Cymone (legs encased in plastic wrap) both look more punk than funk. Prince largely sticks to guitar and throws enough pelvic grinds and phallic guitar poses at the audience to give most obnoxiously macho rock stars a run for their money.

Prince sings in a thin falsetto that recalls Eddie Holman (remember "Hey There, Lonely Girl"?), but his vocals lack the power to cut through the instrumental attack on the rock-oriented material that comprised half of the hour-long set. The largely black audience responded more favorably to the more restrained, carefully crafted funk exercises like "Sexy Dancer" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover." The latter is the nation's No. 1 soul single this week and also rising fast on the pop charts.

The slack pacing and Prince's uneasiness as a front man can be chalked up to a simple lack of stage experience, but a more pressing problem is his attempt to straddle two disparate musical worlds. That's not necessarily a bad move, but it is a jarring mixture at this point. Prince obviously is a talented new arrival, but he needs to reconcile those two musical instincts if he is to maximize his potential as a live performer.

http://www.flandersart.co...rt-whitman

“Sue Ann Carwell & Enterprize: surprise show at the Entry”

Sue Ann Carwell spent most of the ’70s and ’80s a nomadic vocalist who could make herself at home on any bandstand. Also featured on Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound, an unidentified Orville Shannon happened to be playing with Enterprize for this surprise appearance at 7th Street Entry.

Owen Husney promo press pack photo (Spring 1977) - Source: Prince: A documentary by Per Nilsen

1976 Demo

Leaving For New York
This is one of the most accomplished and interesting unreleased songs from the pre-For You years. Prince demoed the song on a cassette recorder in 1976 and recorded a version of it at Moonsound the same year. It is a gentle piano ballad with some very "Princely" lines, including probably what is his first use of the words "purple", "rain" and "dawn". The song is addressed to a lover, "a love extraordinaire", he is leaving behind as he is going to New York. She is in pain but he assures her that she will "overcome that misery". Oddly enough, the lyrics never specifies why Prince is going to New York.

Leaving For New York

Sitting there on the purple lawn
U've been there since dawn
Wonderin' why I've gone
And 4 just 2 long

U're sorry U gave into me
Giving up your virginity
U're so afraid that U will be
So alone away from me

Though I said I'd never leave U
This is something that I must do
But I never will forget U
Unless U forget 2 come into my dream

Leaving 4 New York in the morning
But I'm leaving behind a love extraordinaire
But I'm taking with me memories of when we made love
And all the other lovely feelings that we share

U overcome that misery
Passed up by life's complexity
Picturing your love around me
Only adds 2 your agony

U're undisturbed by the rain
Your pain must be 2 strong
And even though U wait in vain
U'll wait 4 me no matter how long

Though I said I'd never leave U
This is something that I must do
But I never will forget U
Unless U forget 2 come into my dream

CHORUS:
I'm leaving 4 New York in the morning
But I'm leaving behind a love extraordinaire
But I'm taking with me memories of when we made love
And all the other lovely feelings that we share

The time had arrived, Prince believed, to begin shopping his music to labels in the hope of getting a contract. He had essentially outgrown the need for Moon as a colaborator, and asked him instead to begin serving as a manager. The Englishman declined, however. "The piece I don't do," he responded, "is booking your hotel, making sure you're wearing the right kind of clothes. I'm not interested in that."

Showing remarkable confidence, Prince decided to approach record companies on his own. Armed with a four-song demo tape he flew to New York, where he stayed with his his half sister Sharon Nelson. Predictably, labels were unwilling to meet with an unknown teenager. Frustrated, Prince called Moon and urged him to contact record labels. Moon relented and did as asked, although no one returned his calls either.

Moon then seived on a bolder approach. He contacted Atlantic Records and claimed to a secretary that he represented Stevie Wonder; moments later, an executive called back. Summoning all of the confidence he could muster, Moon admitted that he did not handle Wonder but claimed he had something better to offer. "I'm representing Princ," Moon said "If you like Stevie Wonder, you're gonna love my artist. He's only 18, he plays all the instruments, and he's not blind."

Moon's audacity landed Prince and audience with Atlantic records, but the label came away unimpressed with the tape. The Moonsound demo was simply not slick or professional enough for presentation to major labels. Disappointed but undaunted, Prince hunkered down in his sister's apartment and pondered his next step.

Leaving 4 New York & Soft n Wet were 2 of those songs on the demo

Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince

Chapt 2: One Man Band pg 25

April 1978: release of For You

Prince's next task was forming a band that could tour behind For You. He wanted to create an ensemble that, like his longtime influence Sly & the Family Stone, embraced different races and genders. The first and most obvious selection was Anderson(Andre Cymone) on bass. Although his aspirations went well beyond being a sideman, he and Prince shared musical and personal chemistry. Next chosen was drummer Bobby Z. Rivkin, who by now had been playing with Prince on and off for about a year. Using a rehearsal studio at Del's Tire Mart in Minneapolis, this three man nucleus began auditioning candidates for keyboards and guitar who responded to advertisements placed in local publications by Husney. Gayle Chapman, a quiet young woman and a devout adherent of a Christian sect called the Way, filled the first keyboard slot. Dez Dickerson, a rock oriented guitarist with a punkish sense of fashion, was tabbed as the guitarist. Auditions for the 2nd keyboard slot took longer, with Prince finally settling on Matt Fink, an acquaintance of Rivkin's. Sue Ann Carwell briefly joined on backing vocals and congas but withdrew when she and Prince ceased recording together.

The band members were attracted not just by Prince's obvious talents, but by his focus and drive. Dickerson, recalling a conversation with Prince after he auditioned on guitar, came away impressed by the nineteen year old's maturity. "He asked me deep, long term oriented questios," Dickerson said. "I could tell he was a thinker- he wasn't just saying, 'Gee whiz, we're all going to be rock stars."

Gayle Chapman, singer-songwriter, recording artist, keyboardist and guitar player extraordinaire has wowed audiences as one of Prince’s first professional band mates, performed on a variety of television and radio shows and collaborated with a number of acclaimed musicians.

Early Inspirations: Prince, Mountain Stage and Contemporary Jazz

As early music inspirations go, Chapman, a little bit of Patti Larkin mixed in with a spot of Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls, counts the Yellowjackets, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, George Duke and Ten Wheel Drive, as perhaps her most significant; a diverse selection of influences, indeed.

Chapman’s professional credits are impressive, to say the least. She was hired to play keyboards and sing backup for Prince in 1978; produced a collection of compositions in 1989 called Standard Laments; performed on the long running Mountain Stage, the award winning public radio program; and recorded as one half of the duo Black Diamond including the noteworthy album, Change of Direction. Chapman then released a self-titled CD in 2003 plus the song, “Love Theme,” followed by “H2O” in 2005, which she co-wrote with jazz powerhouse, Morris Pleasure.

California born and Minneapolis grown, Gayle Chapman is currently working with singer Sue Leonard on new material. Suite101 caught up with the artist for a telephone interview from her current home in Boise, Idaho.

Suite101: You were one of Prince’s first professional band mates, playing keyboards and singing backup vocals. How did you first meet Prince?

Gayle Chapman: Well, I auditioned after I met Prince’s cousin who was also a musician. I didn’t know at the time he was his cousin. I borrowed Prince’s music and while listening to it alone in my house in North Minneapolis, I really got revved up. It was so loud. While I was listening, this still voice said he’s gonna need a band, which I told my friend who turned out to be Prince’s cousin. I asked why he didn’t tell me sooner.

Suite101: When did you meet Prince?

G C: I met Prince soon after that. I auditioned, jammed and just left. Later on, three months to the day, Prince called me. He asked what I was doing and if I wanted to come to rehearsal. I said yeah. I rehearsed with some songs, a funky tune, too. They laid this groove on me and I laid one on them. I got the job.