Sly?

James?

Fleetwood Mac?

Marvin Gaye maybe?

Anyone else??? because all of his other influences or favorites seem to have been introduced to him by his associates.

[Edited 2/19/18 19:28pm]

No I didn't. That was sarcasm. Seriously, he must have listened to more than just those guys. Oh yeah, I forgot he said he loved Santana, but I am sure someone will come along and say they introduced him to Santana.. Has Sheila said anything yet?

coldasice said:

You answered your own question

His dad.

Prince talked about loads of musicians he listened to over the years. You can hear a big Joni Mitchell influence in some of his song writing.

Same thing every other person his age listened to. Mainly rock and roll.

stpaisios said:

purplerabbithole said:

Sly?

James?

Fleetwood Mac?

Marvin Gaye maybe?

Anyone else??? because all of his other influences or favorites seem to have been introduced to him by his associates.

[Edited 2/19/18 19:28pm]

definitely sly, definitely jimi, probably james, many of the people who influenced him probably influenced him later. Jesse Johnson says he got Prince into Marvin Gaye and there is no telling when Prince got into Elvis but it's obvious he was into him. Overall, he had quite an eclectic listening taste which as time went on seemed to increase, at least throughout the eighties. they say wendy and lisa introduced him to the beatles, and alan leeds says he introduced him to duke ellington and other jazz, i'm not sure if he opened up miles davis to him but he was into him too. Also, inspite of Prince telling journalists he didn't listen to anyone's music or the radio of his time, it's obvious he did from his production style, the synths and the basslines in his synthwork was what was being done by a lot of funk bands at the time and he even gave the early 80's "let's groove" a shout out on musicology.

Now, Jesse is claiming he introduced Prince to marvin Gaye. Damn, another one acting as if Prince lived under a rock prior to becoming a star.

I liked reading Steve Parke's book because he talked about Prince and himself discussing music--it was a back and forth. He introduced some stuff to prince; Prince introduced some stuff to him...or they would expand on their individual knowledge of an artist they liked. These musicians want to claim that Prince was just a sponge that had no discernible taste of his own until they enlightened him.

PeteSilas said:

purplerabbithole said:

Sly?

James?

Fleetwood Mac?

Marvin Gaye maybe?

Anyone else??? because all of his other influences or favorites seem to have been introduced to him by his associates.

[Edited 2/19/18 19:28pm]

definitely sly, definitely jimi, probably james, many of the people who influenced him probably influenced him later. Jesse Johnson says he got Prince into Marvin Gaye and there is no telling when Prince got into Elvis but it's obvious he was into him. Overall, he had quite an eclectic listening taste which as time went on seemed to increase, at least throughout the eighties. they say wendy and lisa introduced him to the beatles, and alan leeds says he introduced him to duke ellington and other jazz, i'm not sure if he opened up miles davis to him but he was into him too. Also, inspite of Prince telling journalists he didn't listen to anyone's music or the radio of his time, it's obvious he did from his production style, the synths and the basslines in his synthwork was what was being done by a lot of funk bands at the time and he even gave the early 80's "let's groove" a shout out on musicology.

i had my doubts about wendy and lisa with the beatles but who knows we weren't there. what's true is that prince didn't do the god/sex stuff until controversy which is the point where jesse first met him so maybe.

purplerabbithole said:

Now, Jesse is claiming he introduced Prince to marvin Gaye. Damn, another one acting as if Prince lived under a rock prior to becoming a star.

I liked reading Steve Parke's book because he talked about Prince and himself discussing music--it was a back and forth. He introduced some stuff to prince; Prince introduced some stuff to him...or they would expand on their individual knowledge of an artist they liked. These musicians want to claim that Prince was just a sponge that had no discernible taste of his own until they enlightened him.

PeteSilas said:

definitely sly, definitely jimi, probably james, many of the people who influenced him probably influenced him later. Jesse Johnson says he got Prince into Marvin Gaye and there is no telling when Prince got into Elvis but it's obvious he was into him. Overall, he had quite an eclectic listening taste which as time went on seemed to increase, at least throughout the eighties. they say wendy and lisa introduced him to the beatles, and alan leeds says he introduced him to duke ellington and other jazz, i'm not sure if he opened up miles davis to him but he was into him too. Also, inspite of Prince telling journalists he didn't listen to anyone's music or the radio of his time, it's obvious he did from his production style, the synths and the basslines in his synthwork was what was being done by a lot of funk bands at the time and he even gave the early 80's "let's groove" a shout out on musicology.

Prince's music is steeped in Sly & The Family Stone, pretty much from the get-go.

Wasn't he big into bands like Chicago and Grank Funk Railroad and jazz rock stuff like Weather Report? I always got the impression he got properly into Sly and Joni after being into the more over the top 70's rock; when he said he was into Graham Central Station before he was into Sly & the Family Stone I believe him.

jaawwnn said:

Wasn't he big into bands like Chicago and Grank Funk Railroad and jazz rock stuff like Weather Report? I always got the impression he got properly into Sly and Joni after being into the more over the top 70's rock; when he said he was into Graham Central Station before he was into Sly & the Family Stone I believe him.

they say grand funk railroad and a band called the james gang who i never heard. chicago? I don't recall but I read recently that he was a big fleetwood mac fan from early on. I could see him being into Graham central before sly but only because sly was not as active when prince was really starting to get into music. Either way, sly was one of the more obvious influences in his 80's music.

littlemissG said:

We know most of his musical influences, but I wager he was also influenced by Michael Jackson. Twelve year old Prince had to be drawn to someone his age already doing what he dreamed of, being a star with sold out concerts. He probably learnt about the downside of fame and fortune from MJ too.

I wouldn't doubt it too, i think andre said they felt they played and looked better though. they were definitely aware of them. but, at least by the time of P's second album he was asking people not to compare him to Michael. It was inevitable really, but, like Mellencamp, Petty and others resented being called a Springsteen knockoff, there were reasons for it.

jaawwnn said:

Wasn't he big into bands like Chicago and Grank Funk Railroad and jazz rock stuff like Weather Report? I always got the impression he got properly into Sly and Joni after being into the more over the top 70's rock; when he said he was into Graham Central Station before he was into Sly & the Family Stone I believe him.

It's been reported that if you wanted to play with Prince back when he was around 15 or so, you had to be able to play the solo from Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4".

Prince is on the record saying he liked Grand Funk Railroad back in the day.

.

[Edited 2/21/18 11:26am]

RodeoSchro said:

jaawwnn said:

Wasn't he big into bands like Chicago and Grank Funk Railroad and jazz rock stuff like Weather Report? I always got the impression he got properly into Sly and Joni after being into the more over the top 70's rock; when he said he was into Graham Central Station before he was into Sly & the Family Stone I believe him.

It's been reported that if you wanted to play with Prince back when he was around 15 or so, you had to be able to play the solo from Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4".

Prince is on the record saying he liked Grand Funk Railroad back in the day.

.

[Edited 2/21/18 11:26am]

i think i heard that too, sorry, my prince trivia gets a little lost after so much time.

As a kid? He listened to whoever was being played on the Top 40 channel on AM radio in Minneapolis.

said:

either way, it's kind of strange hearing how these guys who were so competitive with each other were actually friendly enough to hang out and listen to music together. Most of the time, what we hear or read about morris/jesse and Prince is about conflict.

laurarichardson said:

Poster has it wrong. Jessie got Prince into Marvin and Jessie got Prince into Funadelic. said:

Now, Jesse is claiming he introduced Prince to marvin Gaye. Damn, another one acting as if Prince lived under a rock prior to becoming a star.

I liked reading Steve Parke's book because he talked about Prince and himself discussing music--it was a back and forth. He introduced some stuff to prince; Prince introduced some stuff to him...or they would expand on their individual knowledge of an artist they liked. These musicians want to claim that Prince was just a sponge that had no discernible taste of his own until they enlightened him.

PeteSilas said:

laurarichardson said:

Jessie said he hung out with Prince a lot to learn how to produce. PeteSilas said:

either way, it's kind of strange hearing how these guys who were so competitive with each other were actually friendly enough to hang out and listen to music together. Most of the time, what we hear or read about morris/jesse and Prince is about conflict.

ya, and i read that prince sold him the recording equipement that he used to record 1999 so they must have been somewhat friendly. All i ever heard was stuff like Prince calling him up out of the blue and telling him his album sucked.