"He saw Muhammad at the same time Muhammad saw him, and Muhammad said 'Prince!'

"But his daughter, Hana, said 'His name is The Artist, and you have to call him The Artist - or I will get him to call you Cassius Clay.'

How sweet and special that they met and hit it off !

2 living legends at the time

Daw, this is the cutest thing ever. Prince looked about 8 years old in those pics. Also, Ali is the only man he'd let play with his hair ever in life, lol. So very, very cute.

Blakbear said:

Elvie said:

So sad they've both gone.

No doubt. Ali, Prince and Bowie gone and the year aint even half over. I'm getting a little worried for Sly, George Clinton and Stevie at this fucking point.

PurpleMusic07 said:

Blakbear said:

Daw, this is the cutest thing ever. Prince looked about 8 years old in those pics. Also, Ali is the only man he'd let play with his hair ever in life, lol. So very, very cute.

i love those pics. ali is probably saying to him "young man stop frying your hair!"

Prince, meanwhile, is . That right there showed Prince as a human being. Someone he looked up to and he was a puddle of puppy. lol

that wasn't the first time they met though. In Tomas Hauser's bio of Ali, there was a brief meeting which one of ali's daughters related, Prince supposedly looked up at Ali and said "Muhammad Ali, I love you so much". And he did, the story goes he made the time watch Ali to get the right cocky attitude down and you could see Prince imitate Ali at different points, he did it on the Leno show once and he did it on the America video. As a fan of both men I can tell.

herb4 said:

Elvie said:

So sad they've both gone.

No doubt. Ali, Prince and Bowie gone and the year aint even half over. I'm getting a little worried for Sly, George Clinton and Stevie at this fucking point.

this is true, but who knew Sly would outlive them all

Yeah, so glad Sly, George Clinton and Stevie Nicks are still with us, makes you worry about Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry too

dalboy2 said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news...a-36455642 Boxing great Muhammad Ali, right, embraces the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, during a meeting in Washington Tuesday, June 24, 1997. Prince "had a look of amazement on his face" on meeting Ali June, 1997. Prince, at this time, is one of the best-known artists in the world, his string of 1980s and early 1990s hits still recent enough for people to see him as an artist at his peak. And yet, when he received a phone call from another well-known figure, he dropped everything at only 48 hours' notice to fly out to meet him. It's a measure of Prince's affection for Muhammad Ali that he flew from his native Minneapolis to Washington DC to see him. And it's a measure of Ali's affection for Prince that he welcomed him like an old friend, despite this being their first meeting. [Edited 6/5/16 15:51pm]

Thanks for posting this piece... Can't get through a day at work without getting choked up at least once, it seems like these days...

[Edited 6/6/16 8:06am]

[Edited 6/6/16 8:07am]

Blakbear said:

Daw, this is the cutest thing ever. Prince looked about 8 years old in those pics. Also, Ali is the only man he'd let play with his hair ever in life, lol. So very, very cute.

I said the same thing. Prince had looked so young and let all of his guards down to be with his hero.

A similar story popped up on my FB news feed from ESPN and there were endless comments bashing Prince. Calling him an addict and such. I have blocked out the trolls as much as I could but those comments got me so mad. I really hope his legacy is not tarnished from the lack of facts out there. If more facts do become available, I fear that the public light will have died down and people's opinion will be ill-advised.

ya, he said as soon as he heard "Muhammad wants you to" he interrupted and said "yes!" and he said he didn't even know what he was agreeing to, he said it could have been mowing the lawn. And knowing Ali, he was telling Prince how pretty he was, just like him.