xRachx said:

Why would any drug dealer come forward and incriminate themselves? If there was a fibre of truth in what he's saying wouldn't he be helping the police/DEA with their investigation if he wanted to dob himself in so much? And anyone could see Prince loved being on stage.

BINGO! One of the few logical posts in this thread. The Daily Mail is akin to the National Enquirer that love to report sensationalistic stories about celebrities based on angles they can exploit due to a celebrity's persona and what the public may think of them. Even if there was some truth to his claims, he is not saying it out of the kindness of his heart. He's saying it because he was paid to say it.

leadline said:

xRachx said:

Why would any drug dealer come forward and incriminate themselves? If there was a fibre of truth in what he's saying wouldn't he be helping the police/DEA with their investigation if he wanted to dob himself in so much? And anyone could see Prince loved being on stage.

Exactly, they would not come forward to incriminate themselves, they would be as silent as the vacuum of space. I honestly I don't think that drug dealer even really exists, which begs the question, what was the real agenda behind that article?

and this right here, is what makes the "conspiracy theorist" in me come out...like this guy, who obviously knew what Prince was taking (or what he would "overdose" from)...is he a Lee Harvey Oswald?...a contrived villain, meant to keep you off the trail of the real killer(s)?...something fishy about dude, even fishier now that its confirmed it was Fentanyl...

bashraka said:

xRachx said:

Why would any drug dealer come forward and incriminate themselves?

Money.

avajane said:

We didn't really know Prince to know if he had stage fright. What is obvious is he was a very quiet person and shy, at least when he was younger and it takes courage to go onstage in front of thousands but his willingness to succeed and have his voice heard overcame any fear imo. When you are that talented and you have practiced as much as he had, any nerves go away because you have the stage under your control.

people tend to avoid things they fear, not use any excuse to deal with a phobia. Then we have a very willful guy in Prince so a little stage fright wouldn't get in his way.

PeteSilas said:

PeteSilas said:

me too, first times i performed were awful, although the people liked them. I still get nerves but nothing like that, it's like a muscle, the more you use it, the more strong you get. Elvis used to get stage fright, Duke Ellington did too, many, many others, marvin Gaye was probably the worst I'd read about. Prince? Naw, no one will ever convince me that he had a big problem with it.

Tavis Smiley PBS Show ("Musicology Era"): Prince told him that he'd finally (recently) conquered stage-fright. If you'd look at his earleir shows---he had his back turned to the audience a lot.

Linn4days said:

Tavis Smiley PBS Show ("Musicology Era"): Prince told him that he'd finally (recently) conquered stage-fright. If you'd look at his earleir shows---he had his back turned to the audience a lot.

interesting, but like i keep saying, you can have the tingles but if you're a strong person, you just go do it anyway. I have stage fright but I fucking love being onstage, just love it.

Linn4days said:

Tavis Smiley PBS Show ("Musicology Era"): Prince told him that he'd finally (recently) conquered stage-fright. If you'd look at his earleir shows---he had his back turned to the audience a lot.

^^

PeteSilas said:

As a dancer, I have never been scared onstage (quite the opposite), but I have always suffered from mortifying stagefright BEFORE going onstage. I am not sure why but I never got rid of it even after so many years. Not to mention the time it was Prince who called me to the stage, I nearly passed out beforehand and could barely climb those stairs. And if he and the security man hadn't insisted I would have never done it. I can very easily imagine what Prince could have gone through before each of these big gigs, and even though he seemed happy once performing, it is not impossible that he could have had some form of nervousness or anxiety before the shows started, especially being the perfectionist that he was (i.e. the fear that something might go wrong). I actually recall very well the expression he had on his face whilst being backstage before starting one of the aftershows in London in 2007 (my elbows were on the stage and by turning my head to the left, I was sort of facing him), I remember how very nervous he had looked. Then I smiled at him and he had immediately seemed a bit more relaxed and then came forward to start the show.

athletes get nervous before an event too, but most of them live for those moments. Muhammad Ali, after he was old, called his old trainer and wished he was young again so he could workout and train. The same things he used to complain about when he was young, some ambivalence there for sure, but ali lived to fight.

Would anyone think Axl Rose had stage fright? Well according to GNR's first manager, he did.

I'm not prepared to believe Prince had the problem too, but I wouldn't rule it out either. The drug dealer source (who, BTW, never revealed his own identity) was spot on about Fentanyl, so he's either a fantastic guesser or he has at least some credibility. It would also explain why Prince always stayed away from drugs that could be injected, snorted or smoked.

Every musician knows that if you're confident in your abilities then you simply don't get nervous on stage. It's one place where you're most comfortable.

Pokeno4Money said:

Would anyone think Axl Rose had stage fright? Well according to GNR's first manager, he did.

I'm not prepared to believe Prince had the problem too, but I wouldn't rule it out either. The drug dealer source (who, BTW, never revealed his own identity) was spot on about Fentanyl, so he's either a fantastic guesser or he has at least some credibility. It would also explain why Prince always stayed away from drugs that could be injected, snorted or smoked.

that stuff would have had him nodding off mid performance, and you can't really control when your body craves it, i just don't think that guy is honest. I also just still can't see how Prince was that hardcore of an addict, it would have shown up. As far as stagefright, i don't think it's unusual, even Ali said he was scared before every fight, even when he was fighting bums, just a natural reaction I think. But like I say, when you get used to it, it kinda just lessens at least for me. I'd say there is a wide range of what we're calling "stagefright" you got people who are so scared, like Marvin Gaye that they refused to go out and had to have a little physical cajoling, and then you have the people who accept the nerves as a part of the whole thing.

GoldStandard said:

RJOrion said:

blue22 said:

xRachx said:

mailaccount63 said:

RJOrion said:

could it be possible, the whole stage fright excuse was something Prince told the Drug Dealer... even if it wasnt true..not saying the drug dealer is a good witness, but when he first made those claims, no one had even mentioned or connected Fentanyl to Prince...now the autopsy says Fentanyl...that dude knew something...not saying his whole story about stage fright and whatnot is true, but he snitched about the Fentanyl, and the autopsy corroborated that specific drug...

I said exactly that in another thread, about P could have told the dealer that for whatever reason.

-

For sure the dealer knew it was Fentanyl. Coincidence? Maybe, but very interesting.

-

The whole world is watching and they want to look at every angle they can find, so its not unusual for them to (if they did) pay the dealer off for information. If a dealer phones up and says I can tell you exactly how Prince died, for x-amount of money, and then sends some kind of convincing proof or whatever. He had to give something that interested them enough. Then again, it could be to sell papers.

-

What amazes me more than any of this stuff is how those rags got away with saying he was diagnosed with Aids.

morningsong said:

xRachx said:

Why would any drug dealer come forward and incriminate themselves? If there was a fibre of truth in what he's saying wouldn't he be helping the police/DEA with their investigation if he wanted to dob himself in so much? And anyone could see Prince loved being on stage.

I've been wondering. Wouldn't talking put him in the DEAs crosshair?

I think the DEA would have a hard time going after someone without having a clue what their name is or what they look like. Those pesky drug dealers like to remain private for some reason.

blue22 said:

I said exactly that in another thread, about P could have told the dealer that for whatever reason.

-

For sure the dealer knew it was Fentanyl. Coincidence? Maybe, but very interesting.

-

The whole world is watching and they want to look at every angle they can find, so its not unusual for them to (if they did) pay the dealer off for information. If a dealer phones up and says I can tell you exactly how Prince died, for x-amount of money, and then sends some kind of convincing proof or whatever. He had to give something that interested them enough. Then again, it could be to sell papers.

-

What amazes me more than any of this stuff is how those rags got away with saying he was diagnosed with Aids.

I think it's a great point that Prince could have lied about the reason for the pills, but we'll truly never know unless someone credible who was close to him corroborates the story.

As for Aids, same thing. If it's true the family may decide to never release that information. Aids is a very painful disease, I wouldn't rule it out as a reason for the pills. Most believe he had some type of disease that caused him to do all the unusual things he did the past few years.

It's all speculation, his passing as mysterious as his life.

NorthC said:

doubt it! last couple of decades from most reports Prince was living music and less connected to every day goings on in the world outside his bubble, I would think the performing would have become his normal along with just laying down new music

For most performers, even the most experienced, stagefright usually happens before going onstage not whilst being onstage. Being onstage usually feels the same as diving from a high point: you're scared before, but once you've passed the initial fear, you feel great. So just because Prince looked at ease in his onstage "persona" didn't mean that the transition between not performing / performing (or from being on his own vs being surrounded by a lot of people) wasn't challenging for him. I am not suggesting that he would have resorted to artificial means to overcome this challenge, but simply that one should not exclude the possibility that he may have suffered from stagefright at any point in his career.

Pokeno4Money said:

morningsong said:

xRachx said: I've been wondering. Wouldn't talking put him in the DEAs crosshair?

I think the DEA would have a hard time going after someone without having a clue what their name is or what they look like. Those pesky drug dealers like to remain private for some reason.

This guy said that he had not sold to Prince since 2008, to remove himself from being implicated.

One thing interesting though is that Gene Simmons said in interview that after he attended a Prince concert and went backstage to meet Prince with Diana Ross, Prince was very quiet and shy. I would think that if he was using drugs, he would have still been "on", even after the show was over.

sharonbell said:

Pokeno4Money said:

I think the DEA would have a hard time going after someone without having a clue what their name is or what they look like. Those pesky drug dealers like to remain private for some reason.

This guy said that he had not sold to Prince since 2008, to remove himself from being implicated.

One thing interesting though is that Gene Simmons said in interview that after he attended a Prince concert and went backstage to meet Prince with Diana Ross, Prince was very quiet and shy. I would think that if he was using drugs, he would have still been "on", even after the show was over.

I'm not sure how long the statute of limitations applies, but it's safe to say the dealer was probably dealing to other people since 2008 and probably still dealing to others today. Coming out publicly as a drug dealer is never safe, there's never a good time.

I don't think you can equate stage fright performing on stage in front of thousands of people with speaking one-on-one in private, it's a totally different animal. On stage you're just repeating memorized lyrics/words, you don't even have to think about what you're singing. Speaking to somebody one-on-one you have to think about what to say. We saw that with the American Bandstand video, Prince was great performing but immediately after he couldn't really speak at all one-on-one with Dick Clark because he was so nervous.

And Prince has always been very shy, but that never stopped him from appearing half-naked on stage and doing many bold, daring sexual things while performing. It's hard to explain, but it is what it is. Just like how Ozzy can barely speak offstage, but onstage singing he sounds totally normal.