laurarichardson said:

No he did not cut himself off from people. Even Jill said he had public and private relationships. He also had death threats which we know from bodyguards that worked for him, FBI file and from the Carver County Sheriff logs. He needed bodyguards for protections and he mentioned needing peace and quite to work something he did not understand about his dad when he was a child but something he realized he needed as an adult.

I wish this whole he was loney thing would stop. If he wanted to get off the fame coaster he had more than enough money and assest to liquidate to do so. He stayed on the fame coaster because he liked it Prince, liked the good life and was living it for a long time. I do not see the misery in that life that he lived.

A lot of people wish they could be that miserable.

He did cut himself off from people, his band felt alienated. I never said he was lonely, but he certainly did seperate himself.

PennyPurple said:

laurarichardson said:

PennyPurple said:

He did cut himself off from people, his band felt alienated. I never said he was lonely, but he certainly did seperate himself.

You can always be friends with your employees.

And again, sometimes not.

laurarichardson said:

Misslink88 said:

Pepe spoke of that time he was signing autographs, early on, where they were mobbed by 3000 people and P felt "like a piece of meat". They had to hightail it out of the record store. That may have involved the car chase where his manager was hurt or that could have been another incident. I think it was Dez who spoke of their trailer being mobbed at another concert. Physical danger was a very real thing and a bodyguard was a necessity. When P did the Piano & A Mic tour, the first show at PP, he talked fondly about Lisa and Wendy and he's always said he had more and deeper friendships with women. So, some of the guys in the band may have felt alienated, you're right - he didn't cut himself off from personal relationships altogether.

No he did not cut himself off from people. Even Jill said he had public and private relationships. He also had death threats which we know from bodyguards that worked for him, FBI file and from the Carver County Sheriff logs. He needed bodyguards for protections and he mentioned needing peace and quite to work something he did not understand about his dad when he was a child but something he realized he needed as an adult.

I wish this whole he was loney thing would stop. If he wanted to get off the fame coaster he had more than enough money and assest to liquidate to do so. He stayed on the fame coaster because he liked it Prince, liked the good life and was living it for a long time. I do not see the misery in that life that he lived.

A lot of people wish they could be that miserable.

I agree with you, Laura. I'm not sure why people find it hard to believe that a person might WANT time alone and actually enjoy it. Nobody around wanting anything from you is actually quite peaceful. If he did get lonely, he always had access to company. He worked hard and he enjoyed the fruits of HIS labor. Isn't that what life is all about?

Misslink88 said:

Misslink88 said:

laurarichardson said:

No he did not cut himself off from people. Even Jill said he had public and private relationships. He also had death threats which we know from bodyguards that worked for him, FBI file and from the Carver County Sheriff logs. He needed bodyguards for protections and he mentioned needing peace and quite to work something he did not understand about his dad when he was a child but something he realized he needed as an adult.

I wish this whole he was loney thing would stop. If he wanted to get off the fame coaster he had more than enough money and assest to liquidate to do so. He stayed on the fame coaster because he liked it Prince, liked the good life and was living it for a long time. I do not see the misery in that life that he lived.

A lot of people wish they could be that miserable.

I agree with you, Laura. I'm not sure why people find it hard to believe that a person might WANT time alone and actually enjoy it. Nobody around wanting anything from you is actually quite peaceful. If he did get lonely, he always had access to company. He worked hard and he enjoyed the fruits of HIS labor. Isn't that what life is all about?

That is exactly what life is about.

laurarichardson said:

Misslink88 said:

I agree with you, Laura. I'm not sure why people find it hard to believe that a person might WANT time alone and actually enjoy it. Nobody around wanting anything from you is actually quite peaceful. If he did get lonely, he always had access to company. He worked hard and he enjoyed the fruits of HIS labor. Isn't that what life is all about?

That is exactly what life is about.

That is only part of what life is about. Perhaps when someone like Prince has so much to create in his work, then it becomes their life and there is nothing wrong with that. However, to pretend that human connection is not an important part of life belies the inherent social nature of our species. That doesn't mean that we need to be social 24 x 7, which may be meaningless any way unless it has some depth to it. When you hear most accounts of people who became superstars, there is an extreme isolation and alienation that happens if they aren't grounded by loved ones or people with whom they were close to before they became so famous. Perhaps Prince didn't have the right persons to do this with. Also, I don't think someone who writes There is Lonely is someone who hasn't experienced it profoundly.

gandorb said:

laurarichardson said:

That is exactly what life is about.

That is only part of what life is about. Perhaps when someone like Prince has so much to create in his work, then it becomes their life and there is nothing wrong with that. However, to pretend that human connection is not an important part of life belies the inherent social nature of our species. That doesn't mean that we need to be social 24 x 7, which may be meaningless any way unless it has some depth to it. When you hear most accounts of people who became superstars, there is an extreme isolation and alienation that happens if they aren't grounded by loved ones or people with whom they were close to before they became so famous. Perhaps Prince didn't have the right persons to do this with. Also, I don't think someone who writes There is Lonely is someone who hasn't experienced it profoundly.

We're not discussing other "people who became superstars", only Prince and he wasn't like anyone else so I don't understand why the comparison. It seems he had all the human connection he desired. Loneliness is only a passing emotion not his lifestyle. That's one song in 1000's.

Misslink88 said:

laurarichardson said:

Misslink88 said:

purplegirl00 said:

I do not think Prince was a one-woman-man through the 90's at all. He was juggling Mayte, Nona and whoever else in harem 2.0 up to and possibly beyond his proposal to Mayte if Misslink88 is right. Misslink, if I may, where did you get that information from?

Then when you consider Mani entering the pic around '98, he was definitely not a one-woman man at that point since he was still married to Mayte.

[Edited 5/29/17 20:04pm]

There was a lengthy Youtube vid with 5 or 6 journalists (Toure was one) that was done in June of 2016 I think, where they touched on that. The words used were "she was not in good shape; she was devistated" as well as a couple of Nona's interview. In them, Nona said he had spoken to "a very good friend" and had told that person he was going to ask her. She also said that Mayte flashed the ring onstage at the venue P had invited her to (which took place in December of 1995) and that was how she found out, so the July 1995 engagement date doesn't jive. As to other women, Mayte said in a recent interview that she'd recently been in touch with some people from back then and "didn't know how he found the time" alluding to there were others she was not aware of.

You're right, the engagement date doesn't jive unless they kept it quiet until December. Thanks for the information.

Sorry if I derailed, now back to this book.

Misslink88 said:

purplegirl00 said:

Vashtix said: I agree with this^. Naturally, with becoming a superstar, he was going to need to turn inward more as far as the world stage and fans go. Prince was a little guy and getting mobbed by fans was a real possibility. Like other rockstars, he could be in serious physical danger. If anyone has watched his entrance/ walk on the red carpet towards Mann's Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Purple Rain, some fans were besides themselves trying to even touch him. It was a new reality for Prince. Bodyguards were essential. As far as his inner circle goes, Prince seemed to have had trust issues stemming from his childhood. With his new status, he may have become somewhat reserved with some. This is understandable. However, he was not totally inaccessible to his inner circle because it's obvious he did have intimacy, personal relationships and shared of himself with some. [Edited 5/30/17 3:27am]

Pepe spoke of that time he was signing autographs, early on, where they were mobbed by 3000 people and P felt "like a piece of meat". They had to hightail it out of the record store. That may have involved the car chase where his manager was hurt or that could have been another incident. I think it was Dez who spoke of their trailer being mobbed at another concert. Physical danger was a very real thing and a bodyguard was a necessity. When P did the Piano & A Mic tour, the first show at PP, he talked fondly about Lisa and Wendy and he's always said he had more and deeper friendships with women. So, some of the guys in the band may have felt alienated, you're right - he didn't cut himself off from personal relationships altogether.

Right. I could picture things getting out of hand and chaotic. If having a bodyguard at all times made him seem aloof or stand off-ish in regards to fans and the world stage, oh well. Physical and personal safety was more important.

I don't necessarily think Prince was always a lonely soul. He got so much vitality out of his creativity for that to be the entirety of his experience. Nevertheless, Prince expressed too much heartache in many of his songs to believe that he didn't miss not having a stable connection in life. Those pictures of the camp he went to for two consecutive years shared earlier in the book club thread says it all. When he was happy he wanted to connect, at least some of the time. The next year when so much had gone down at home he was disengaged and disconnected at camp, which is how his school peers described him too after these changes took place. So, I don't think his disconnection solely came from a content place. Moreover, if you only sense his loneliness in one song you are not hearing in his voice what I hear in songs such as Condition of the Heart, Old friends For Sale, and so forth.

laurarichardson said:

laurarichardson said:

Co-sign too many people on this board think that Lrince wanted to be like everybody else that do not get that some people know their path and nothing gets in their way.

laurarichardson said:

Misslink88 said:

Pepe spoke of that time he was signing autographs, early on, where they were mobbed by 3000 people and P felt "like a piece of meat". They had to hightail it out of the record store. That may have involved the car chase where his manager was hurt or that could have been another incident. I think it was Dez who spoke of their trailer being mobbed at another concert. Physical danger was a very real thing and a bodyguard was a necessity. When P did the Piano & A Mic tour, the first show at PP, he talked fondly about Lisa and Wendy and he's always said he had more and deeper friendships with women. So, some of the guys in the band may have felt alienated, you're right - he didn't cut himself off from personal relationships altogether.

No he did not cut himself off from people. Even Jill said he had public and private relationships. He also had death threats which we know from bodyguards that worked for him, FBI file and from the Carver County Sheriff logs. He needed bodyguards for protections and he mentioned needing peace and quite to work something he did not understand about his dad when he was a child but something he realized he needed as an adult.

I wish this whole he was loney thing would stop. If he wanted to get off the fame coaster he had more than enough money and assest to liquidate to do so. He stayed on the fame coaster because he liked it Prince, liked the good life and was living it for a long time. I do not see the misery in that life that he lived.

A lot of people wish they could be that miserable.

YES to all of this ^.

He had relationships and intimacy, having better connections with some (women particularily it seems) and more reserved with others in his band. It's just the way the dynamics were. Also, I'm sure he made decisions that some were not be happy with and even saw that as him alienating them, but that is the nature of business. He was the head honcho.

This is what Prince had to say about his "mistakes". I believe he was never referring to the choices in his personal life, his music or his onstage persona but rather, lamenting what he didn't know about the music industry when he signed on when he talked about his "mistakes" at award shows. Thanks to Anil Dash for reviving this from P's February 1996 website, The Dawn.

Message From The Artist

“O(+>has officially given notice to Warner Bros. Records (WBR) of his desire to terminate his recording agreement with the company. Over the course of their nearly two decade long relationship, The Artist and WBR have developed irreconcilable differences. Most recently, the unstable and ever changing management structure within WBR has made it impossible for the company to effectively market and promote its flagship artists, including .

The Artist is prepared to deliver the three (3) remaining albums under his former name Prince which will fulfill his contractual to WBR. Currently, the albums are titled: Prince: The Vault — Volumes I, II and III.

will release a new recording entitled Emancipation once he is free from all ties with Time Warner.”

The press release wasn’t very detailed, but it outlined my feelings as the Holiday week approached. While it was a message to everyone, it was more for the ears of the entertainment industry, and specifically it was geared towards the music industry and its musicians — both young and old, green and seasoned, struggling and successful. These words from Paisley Park are from me. My ultimate message is a cry for solidarity amongst artists and a reprieve from the greed of entertainment executives.

My message stems from a lifetime of development as an artist and as a businessman, and my increasing awareness of a greedy structure within the music industry that unjustly rewards large, slow corporate management teams, while overlooking and not protecting its bread and butter — the artists.

As difficult as it is to admit now, when I began my career with Warner in 1978, I had a lot to learn. The transition into the artist I am now hasn’t been a smooth one. I don’t want other young artists to be mislead in the same way. I’m expressing my feelings so that others will learn from my mistakes. I also want all established artists to understand the issues and know that there should be a better way and to join with me to create that new path.

A little history.

At 37 years old, I have been a recording artist for Warner Music for what will be seventeen years this April. I was only 19 years old when I recorded my first album as Prince. Recording for a large label was new and exciting. I had an opportunity to reach millions of people around the world, not just my faithful following here in Minneapolis around the club scene. As time passed, the realities of the music industry and its current hierarchical pecking system sunk in. Artists are last on the totem pole in terms of recoupment.

My path has been a long and arduous one. In the beginning, both youth and excitement towards the opportunity to have an album produced made me, as Prince, naïve. Saavy lawyers claiming to have my interest at heart, long in bed with the record companies they pimp, offered me what seemed to be a lucrative contract, without fully explaining the ramifications of its terms. I wrote an album a year for many years until I realized a trap had been laid. I would never be able to leave the legacy of my music to my family, my future children or anyone, because “Prince” did not own the Masters—I did not, and still do not, own my Art.

For most of all of my adult life, I have labored under one construct. I compose music, write lyrics, and produce songs for myself and others. My creativity is my life; it is what guides my everyday, my sleepless nights. My songs are my children. I feel them. I watch them grow and I nurture them to maturity. I deliver them to my record company, and suddenly, they are no longer mine. The process is painful. I have been long ready for a new program. The time is now.

As an artist, I want to share my music with others. I crave the experience of writing and sharing with others. It is what I do as an artist; as a human being. I take pleasure in the fact that others are able to share in my joy once the process is complete. My fans are my children’s friends; I respect them and want to communicate with them.

As a businessman and the owner of NPG Records—the label that released The Most Beautiful Girl In The World—the 1994 Number One release by an independent, I realize that record companies are a natural part of the food chain. It is the record label that allows a musical artist to reach out to his or her audience, but that does not mean that whichever organization markets and distributes the music should own the final product, i.e. the Masters.

What I have learned as both an artist and a businessman is that a middle ground must be developed. All artists, whether new or established, must have a substantial ownership interest in the music they create. Conversely, all record labels need an incentive to market music and push it thorough their distribution systems; still, that incentive should not be ultimate control. Record labels have no right to enslave the creators.

The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to . Prince is the name that my Mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros.

By my 35th birthday, June 7, 1993, I was beyond frustrated with my lack of control over my career and music. It seemed reminiscent of much that had been experienced by other African-Americans over the last couple of hundred years. They had turned me into a slave and I wanted no more of it. The dilemma had only one clear solution. I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was , a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.

I look forward to the release of Emancipation in the near future. It will be The Dawn of the next phase of my life as a musician. It will represent my freedom from the past and it will be a continuum of what I have started here today.

gandorb said:

I don't necessarily think Prince was always a lonely soul. He got so much vitality out of his creativity for that to be the entirety of his experience. Nevertheless, Prince expressed too much heartache in many of his songs to believe that he didn't miss not having a stable connection in life. Those pictures of the camp he went to for two consecutive years shared earlier in the book club thread says it all. When he was happy he wanted to connect, at least some of the time. The next year when so much had gone down at home he was disengaged and disconnected at camp, which is how his school peers described him too after these changes took place. So, I don't think his disconnection solely came from a content place. Moreover, if you only sense his loneliness in one song you are not hearing in his voice what I hear in songs such as Condition of the Heart, Old friends For Sale, and so forth.

laurarichardson said:

laurarichardson said:

What makes you believe that he didn't have a stable connection? He was firmly rooted in his connection to God, which is about as stable as you can get. As for the songs you've cited, aren't they about betrayal and not loneliness?

206Michelle said:

Reading about Prince juggling multiple women at a time in ch. 19, I wonder if he learned this behaviour from his father because my understanding is that John L. Nelson had a lot of women also. I think that Prince didn't really know how to have healthy romantic relationships in his 20s. People can play it off as him being young, sexy, and famous, but not every young, sexy, famous 20-something man behaves like Prince did, having multiple women at the same time.

.

He got better in his 30s and 40s, and he seems to have cut down substantially on the sleeping around starting in the mid-1990s and onward. I think he got better with relationships as he got older, but still struggled with them because both of his marriages ended in divorce.

I definitely see generational issues at play. Prince's grandfather also had two marriages, as with John L. Nelson and Prince. And there's a fair amount of evidence that John L. was also a ladies man, so to speak.

AlexHahn said:

annalizer said:

AlexHahn said:

I definitely see generational issues at play. Prince's grandfather also had two marriages, as with John L. Nelson and Prince. And there's a fair amount of evidence that John L. was also a ladies man, so to speak.

I agree. Women were like Lays to John, no pun intended, as he was never satisfied with just one even after he married Mattie who became pregnant with Prince, born in June of 1958, he also apparently slept with Vivian around the same time who gave birth to Duane in August of 1958, and John adopted as his son only later to find out he wasn't his biological child. I believe this incident was the beginning of the breakdown of their marriage as usual and it had a profound affect on Prince later in his relationships in particular with women. [Edited 5/31/17 12:22pm]

I think growing up Andre house with a pimp had an effect on him and John never adopted Duane.

laurarichardson said:

Here are some of the things Prince said about these things in Rolling Stone (September 1985). When speaking of his father, remember this is 20 years after his parents divorced. Sorry for the large type, that's just the way copy and paste is working and there's no option to resize it.

On being alone:

But it took many more years for the son to understand what a jazzman father needed to survive. Prince figured it out when he moved into his purple house.

“I can be upstairs at the piano, and Rande [his cook] can come in,” he says. “Her footsteps will be in a different time, and it’s real weird when you hear something that’s a totally different rhythm than what you’re playing. A lot of times that’s mistaken for conceit or not having a heart. But it’s not. And my dad’s the same way, and that’s why it was hard for him to live with anybody. I didn’t realize that until recently. When he was working or thinking, he had a private pulse going constantly inside him. I don’t know, your bloodstream beats differently.”

Acknowledging Lisa and Wendy:

An ignition turns. “Wait,” calls Prince, remembering something. He grabs a tape off the T-Bird seat and yells to his father, “I got something for you to listen to. Lisa [Coleman] and Wendy [Melvoin] have been working on these in L.A.” Prince throws the tape, which the two female members of his band have mixed, and his father catches it with one hand. Nelson nods okay and pulls his car behind his son’s in the alley. Closely tailing Prince through North Minneapolis, he waves and smiles whenever we look back. It’s impossible to believe that the gun-toting geezer in Purple Rain was modelled after John Nelson.

On John L.:

“That stuff about my dad was part of [director-cowriter] Al Magnoli’s story,” Prince explains. “We used parts of my past and present to make the story pop more, but it was a story. My dad wouldn’t have nothing to do with guns. He never swore, still doesn’t, and never drinks.” Prince looks in his rearview mirror at the car tailing him. “He don’t look sixty-nine, do he? He’s so cool. He’s got girlfriends, lots of ’em.”

Nearing the turnoff that leads from Minneapolis to suburban Eden Prairie, Prince flips in another tape and peeks in the rearview mirror. John Nelson is still right behind. “It’s real hard for my father to show emotion,” says Prince, heading onto the highway. “He never says, ’I love you,’ and when we hug or something, we bang our heads together like in some Charlie Chaplin movie. But a while ago, he was telling me how I always had to be careful. My father told me, ’If anything happens to you, I’m gone.’ All I thought at first was that it was a real nice thing to say. But then I thought about it for a while and realized something. That was my father’s way of saying ’I love you.’"

The need for bodyguards:

Passing by old neighbors watering their lawns and shooting hoops, the North Side’s favorite son talks about his hometown. “I wouldn’t move, just cuz I like it here so much. I can go out and not get jumped on. It feels good not to be hassled when I dance, which I do a lot. It’s not a thing of everybody saying, ’Whoa, who’s out with who here?’ while photographers flash their bulbs in your face.”

Answers to interview questions:

When you talk abut God, which God are you talking about? The Christian God? Jewish? Buddhist? Is there any God in particular you have in mind?

Yes, very much so. A while back, I had an experience that changed me and made me feel differently about how and what and how I acted toward people. I’m going to make a film about it—not the next one, but the one after that. I’ve wanted to make it for three years now. Don’t get me wrong—I’m still as wild as I was. I’m just funneling it in a different direction. And now I analyze things so much that sometimes I can’t shut off my brain and it hurts. That’s what the movie will be about.

What was the experience that changed you?

I don’t really want to get into it specifically. During the Dirty Mind period, I would go into fits of depression and get physically ill. I would have to call people to help get me out of it. I don’t do that anymore.

What were you depressed about?

A lot had to do with the band’s situation, the fact that I couldn’t make people in the band understand how great we could all be together if we all played our part. A lot had to do with being in love with someone and not getting any love back. And there was the fact that I didn’t talk much with my father and sister. Anyway, a lot of things happened in this two-day period, but I don’t want to get into it right now.

How’d you get over it?

That’s what the movie’s going to be about. Paisley Park is the only way I can say I got over it now. Paisley Park is the place one should find in oneself, where one can go when one is alone.

Does you fame affect your work?

A lot of people think it does, but it doesn’t at all. I think the smartest thing I ever did was record Around the World in a Day right after I finished Purple Rain. I didn’t wait to see what would happen with Purple Rain. That’s why the two albums sound completely different. People think, “Oh, the new album isn’t half as powerful as Purple Rain or 1999.” You know how easy it would have been to open Around the World in a Day with the guitar solo that’s on the end of “Let’s Go Crazy"? You know how easy it would have been to just put it in a different key? That would have shut everybody up who said an album wasn’t half as powerful. I don’t want to make an album like the earlier ones. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to put your albums back to back and not get bored, you dig? I don’t know how many people can play all their albums back to back with each one going to different cities.

Are you afraid to ask your friends to come by?

I’m kind of afraid. That’s because sometimes everybody in the band comes over, and we have very long talks. They’re few and far between, and I do a lot of the talking. Whenever we’re done, one of them will come up to me and say, “Take care of yourself. You know I really love you.” I think they love me so much, and I love them so much, that if they came over all the time I wouldn’t be able to be to them what I am, and they wouldn’t be able to do for me as what they do. I think we all need our individual spaces, and when we come together with what we’ve concocted in our heads, it’s cool.

Does it make you angry when people dig into your background, when they want to know about your sexuality and things like that?

Everyone thinks I have a really mean temper and I don’t like people to do this or do that. I have a sense of humor. I thought that the Saturday Night Live skit with Billy Crystal as me was the funniest thing I ever saw. His imitation of me was hysterical! He was singing, “I am the world, I am the children!” Then Bruce Springsteen came to the mike, and the boys would push him away. It was hilarious. We put it on when we want to laugh. It was great. Of course, that’s not what it is.

And I thought the Prince Spaghetti commercial was the cutest thing in the world. My lawyers and management are the ones who felt it should be stopped. I didn’t even see the commercial until after someone had tried to have it stopped. A lot of things get done without my knowledge because I’m in Minneapolis and they’re where they are.

Chapter 21~Backlash Pages 232-247

.

Eric Leeds enters the picture.

.

Side project was The Family

.

Prince's inner circle consisted of stimulating, creative, sophisticated people.

.

Lisa's brother, David Coleman entered the picture as does Jonathan Melvoin, Wendy & Susannah's brother.

.

The first draft of Around the World in a Day was written, & recorded by David Coleman, via Lisa the song made it's way to Prince.

.

The Revolution started to feel some resentment towards Prince regarding their pay and because he would bring other people into the band, which led to a decrease in certain band members roles.

.

Prince performed Purple Rain at the 1985 AMA's, & collected 3 AMA's.

.

We are The Word, debacle took place, lot's of bad press for him.

.

A romance with Madonna began. Susannah, Sheila E, & Jill Jones were still very much in the picture.

.

Prince cut the song 4 The Tears in Your Eyes to make his contribution to the We are the World album.

.

Big Chick also gave an interview to the National Enquirer, after he quit. It was not flattering.

.

Around the World was not a big hit. She's always in my Hair was written about Jill Jones.

.

Because the album wasn't doing well, he rushed out a video and a single of Raspberry Beret.

.

1985 Rolling Stone did an interview with him, he hadn't done an interview since 1983, he went on a publicity tour which included MTV & radio stations.

PennyPurple said:

Chapter 21~Backlash Pages 232-247

.

Eric Leeds enters the picture.

.

Side project was The Family

.

Prince's inner circle consisted of stimulating, creative, sophisticated people.

.

Lisa's brother, David Coleman entered the picture as does Jonathan Melvoin, Wendy & Susannah's brother.

.

The first draft of Around the World in a Day was written, & recorded by David Coleman, via Lisa the song made it's way to Prince.

.

The Revolution started to feel some resentment towards Prince regarding their pay and because he would bring other people into the band, which led to a decrease in certain band members roles.

.

Prince performed Purple Rain at the 1985 AMA's, & collected 3 AMA's.

.

We are The Word, debacle took place, lot's of bad press for him.

.

A romance with Madonna began. Susannah, Sheila E, & Jill Jones were still very much in the picture.

.

Prince cut the song 4 The Tears in Your Eyes to make his contribution to the We are the World album.

.

Big Chick also gave an interview to the National Enquirer, after he quit. It was not flattering.

.

Around the World was not a big hit. She's always in my Hair was written about Jill Jones.

.

Because the album wasn't doing well, he rushed out a video and a single of Raspberry Beret.

.

1985 Rolling Stone did an interview with him, he hadn't done an interview since 1983, he went on a publicity tour which included MTV & radio stations.

The Big Chick incident forever scarred Prince in my opinion.

Why did Big Chick quit, & why did he sell this type of story? Did Prince try to sue him after the story hit?

PennyPurple said:

annalizer said:

PennyPurple said:

Why did Big Chick quit, & why did he sell this type of story? Did Prince try to sue him after the story hit?

This might help: Rollingstone 1989 The six-foot-six, 350-pound Huntsberry left his job in 1985, a victim of both bad press and a $1000-a-week cocaine habit. "Prince and me were really good friends, man," he says from his suburban home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "I still love the guy like a son. Prince never did drugs, I'll tell you that right now, man. He was against them. But drugs became my whole life. I was so hooked that nothing else mattered, and eventually I told Prince that I didn't want the job anymore because all I wanted was to stay high."

And his habit is why he sold his story to the tabloids. It had to be hard on both of them.

nelcp777 said:

annalizer said:

PennyPurple said:

Why did Big Chick quit, & why did he sell this type of story? Did Prince try to sue him after the story hit?

This might help: Rollingstone 1989 The six-foot-six, 350-pound Huntsberry left his job in 1985, a victim of both bad press and a $1000-a-week cocaine habit. "Prince and me were really good friends, man," he says from his suburban home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "I still love the guy like a son. Prince never did drugs, I'll tell you that right now, man. He was against them. But drugs became my whole life. I was so hooked that nothing else mattered, and eventually I told Prince that I didn't want the job anymore because all I wanted was to stay high."

WOW, thanks. And another friend stabs Prince in the back.

Prince may have been hurt by Chick selling information to the Enquirer back then, but he called him his "best friend bodyguard" in the Melbourne Piano & Mic concert when he paid tribute to Vanity. So if there were hard feelings between them, it didn't last.