The thread about Prince's friendship with Tamron Hall made me think of the longtime friendship between Prince and Twin Cities ex-anchorwoman for KMSP-Fox Robyne Robinson. I moved here to the Minneapolis area in 2002 and I didn't eve realize for awhile that Prince and Robyne were friends. But she did one of the few local news interviews with him, and I remember reading numerous times about what a huge fan of his she was, and how she'd get a call, either from Prince himself or one of his staff, whenever there'd by something happening at Paisley Park, and I know local TC orgers saw her out there for various events and parties. Also (I'll see if I can find it) I'm pretty certain I read an interview with Robyne where she said Prince would call up her at late hours/during the night and she'd be like "Aw man, I have to WORK tomorrow you know!" (I think she said sometimes she wouldn't even answer when he'd call at odd hours because she she needed to sleep! but i could be misremembering that...)****

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Here's a funny teaser for an upcoming interview Robyne did with Prince:

https://www.youtube.com/w...abWZc_FMHE

this is the actual 13 minute long interview with him that Robyne did:

https://www.youtube.com/w...oW9DYGcN8c

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Pic of Robyne so people know who I'm talking about.

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As far as I know, she's now a jewelry designer and not in the journalism business anymore.

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****I searched but couldn't find an article or interview where she made any comments about Prince phoning her at weird latenight hours, and her sometimes not answering - but I'm just so sure I read that somewhere!

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Here are a few quotes from over the years from Robyne regarding Prince. The first one I thought was interesting as it references how much time alone he spent at Paisley

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• ROBYNE ROBINSON: "I showed up [at Glam Slam] after closing my art gallery one night and was just bone-tired, and he was in the mood to talk about Jehovah. That's just what he wanted to talk about that day. He said, 'Have you heard the truth?' I said, 'I'm so tired. Dude, not now.' But he likes to talk about a lot of different things. He has a lot of interests, and he reads a lot. He's kind of isolated out there at Paisley Park if there aren't folks out there."

http://www.startribune.co...58206.html

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ROBYNE ROBINSON: "She (Mayte) had just started the New Power Generation
dance troupe, and I had just started a new talk show. She said,
"I'd love to get some publicity for the dance troupe." So it turned
into an interview. He was very concerned about what people were
going to ask because it was not long after the death of their baby.
I didn't see the need to hurt them, so I asked about it in a gentle
way that wouldn't make her feel uncomfortable. The police were
looking into it. They felt vulnerable.

."

http://www.startribune.co.../51508747/

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Robyne Robinson, a former KMSP Ch. 9 news anchor, interviewed Prince several times and maintained a personal relationship. She was working with University of Minnesota to give Prince an honorary music degree this summer, and she said he had tentatively agreed.

"He was a genius. He was an amazingly generous man to this community and to his people," Robinson said, crying. "There's no one that will match his brilliance. His generosity was really endless. He took me with him when he got an Essence Award. I remember the time he invited me to watch a 'Midnight Special' video with him, sitting on his living room floor, let me share the mike with him and Gwen Stefani at Paisley Park. I'll be a fan until the day I die."

http://www.startribune.co...376587911/
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That last bolded quote was the first I'd heard about his receiving an honorary music degree from the U of M. I'm sure it was discussed around here but it's another thing that got lost in the shuffle for me, I guess, because I don't remember reading that before. Would have been cool to see Prince get an honorary degree from his home state university. I wonder if he'd have worn a cap and gown?

Here is another interview Robyne did with Prince, obviously re-run by KMSP after his passing (as per the intro) but I thought others may have missed it and would enjoy seeing it. There is some good, albeit quick, interior footage of Paisley Park also.

http://www.fox9.com/home/...8369-video

I hadn't seen these interviews before. Thanks so much for posting them.

purplethunder3121 said:

I hadn't seen these interviews before. Thanks so much for posting them.

I'm glad you got to see them now.

prince said, "God willing i make it to 60...." during the interview.

this is the actual 13 minute long interview with him that Robyne did:

https://www.youtube.com/w...oW9DYGcN8c

Thank you for posting. Do you also remember the Prince/Robyne Robinson interview from the early 2000's? All I really remember about it is Robyne saying to Prince "do you think that when people think of you - they think of a pair of pants with some buttcheeks hanging out?" or something to that effect. It was in a fun, playful manner that she asked. I haven't come across that one since it aired.

[Edited 9/2/16 14:05pm]

What in the world? She crazy..

.

It wouldn't matter if it was 3 in the morning, Or the middle of an important meeting at work, heck even if I was in the middle of a doctor's appointment, if my phone rang, and it was Prince calling, NOTHING would stop me from answering the phone AND staying on the line as long as that beautiful soul wanted to tie up my line.

.

Very pretty lady and very fortunate to have been friends with Prince.

ForeverPaisley said:

What in the world? She crazy..

.

It wouldn't matter if it was 3 in the morning, Or the middle of an important meeting at work, heck even if I was in the middle of a doctor's appointment, if my phone rang, and it was Prince calling, NOTHING would stop me from answering the phone AND staying on the line as long as that beautiful soul wanted to tie up my line.

.

I would reach through the phone and remove the larynx from anyone calling me at that hour, including Prince, whom I love.

You try that, you gonna die, bro. Nah, you don't wake me up ever. It will not go well for you.

Be like, "You gon' learn TODAY, bro!"Ain't a body on earth that privileged. Now if he did that at 5 am I would talk to him. And make him buy me coffee. A LOT of coffee.