"The first time I met Prince he was my rhythm guitarist on stage at

Paisley Park where I performed live with him.

He wanted to meet me and play with us on stage.

He was an amazing human being.

Real honest.

And he liked to laugh, too,

so we were just giggling and s**t, laughing at people.

We kept in touch here and there over the years.

I remember I came out with an album called

Worldwide Underground.

He came to one of my shows.

I got in the limo with him and he said,

"Now look, that's not nothing."

I was like,

"What?"

He said, "That ain't finished, that's not nothing, you need to come on with it now.

Whatchu doin', whatchu doin'?"

I was like

"Oh, well, It's just a process. It's just like a little demo."

He said, "It sure is."

~ERYKAH BADHU~

"He hears things different from normal people, you know?

[When we worked on] ‘If I Love U 2nite’…

what was interesting was where he put the harmonies.

It’s not somewhere I would put them.

He’s totally non-conventional.

The way he does things is completely non-conformist.

Everything is outside the box.

Just think of it like that.

It’s great because it really stretches you. W

here you would normally put something – he would not put it there.

He would put it somewhere else.

So that’s what I learnt from him:

it’s not always about putting something where you would expect it."

"I think that the most incredible thing about him is that he’s such an incredible lyricist.

People don’t really talk about that as much as –

‘ah, he’s such a great musician’.

He is such a great musician

– but his lyrics are amazing too.

I think that’s very unusual,

to have someone who is multi-talented like that,

who can play every instrument and kill it –

but also to have the lyrical content of that level.

He’s a real poet."

"The way he writes.

He writes really unusually…

the way he would describe love as a flower.

You know what I mean? That’s what blew me away.

And I love the way that he’s got that kind of thing where

you can’t define the music as soul, funk or classical or…

he amalgamates all these different styles into one sound,

which is definitely him.

And this is why universally he is loved;

because everyone can get a piece of it.

It appeals to an aspect of every person, regardless of culture."

" I went to his show when I had just turned 18.

I was in the audience and he saw me and asked me –

“aren’t you a singer?” – in the middle of the show.

Then he just sent the mic over to me for me to sing with him while he played

"Just my Imagination"

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe he knew who I was!"

Prince hands Mica the Mic at 2:28

~Mica Paris~

wow, this thread...

thedance said:

wow, this thread...

is everything.

"The on-going issue for Prince was that he was so far ahead of his time.

If he were to be making [his old] music now,

it would be less of an issue.

But Prince was relentless about putting music out.

We constantly had to tell him,

“Take a breath, take a breath. You don’t have to put stuff out all the time.”

But he wanted to put music out."

"We pressed a bunch of records and then he decided

he doesn’t want to do it.

He actually asked us to make sure all of the records were destroyed.

He may have paid for all the records to be pressed

and destroyed it himself.

But that was Prince."

"He was someone with so many different sides to him.

There was the musician and then there was the songwriter,

even his songs were unpredictable.

I’ll be sad knowing that someone that had that immense talent and skill doesn’t exist anymore. Just knowing that he was around,

whenever there was a mention of Prince,

there was always that little hope that he would come back and do,

I don’t want to say one more album, but if he ever did anything, we were interested.

That’s his personality.

Anytime I would speak with him,

for the most part I would pick up on something new.

He was very, very smart.

Like really smart.

He was dynamic and unpredictable and so many other things

that when you put it all together,

you have this amazing and mysterious and brilliant musician,

a truly all-time great.

I will miss him".

~Lenny Waronker~

[Edited 8/20/18 16:50pm]

[Edited 8/20/18 16:56pm]

My Prince Story

"There we were, doing our monthly “Fresh Squeez” freestyle jazz/hip-hop/noise whatnot.

I happened to be playing a Rhodes into a delay pedal for this particular jam,

and I even remember the riff I was playing:

a Bernie Worrell-inspired descending pentatonic thing. Funky.

This huge man in an expensive suit comes up to me and says

(not asks),

“My boss would like to sit in with the group.”

And I’m thinking,

“Some rich guy who always wanted to be in a band wanted to get involved!

Awesome,

tell your boss he can try out music!

It’s super fun!”

This perfect-looking human in all black with jewels where

elf shaped ears would be walks up to me and asks, “What key?”

“Uhhhhhhhh…. D.”

He starts in on the riff I was just playing,

dubbing himself out,

spinning around, dancing,

playing these gorgeous chromatic sheets of notes.

His entire life went into it.

And he was laughing.

Everyone was laughing.

And then he left.

He didn’t have to come.

He didn’t have to stay.

He didn’t have to play.

He could have played anything on any instrument.

He played my riff. "

~JEREMY YLVISAKER~

nelcp777 said:

A much needed thread. Beautiful. Thank you so much!

"I don't think he had any fear.

Prince was a fearless artist,

let me tell you.

He knew how good he was."

"After we signed him we had a lunch for him,

and we found that he was incredibly shy, very taciturn --

I mean,

he hardly spoke,

and it was difficult for him to come out and relate,

so I'm sure he was very uncomfortable meeting all these record executives.

He was very, very shy and did not talk a lot;

at that first meeting we were really taken aback by how little he said.

But when you got to his music,

that's when he could really shine. "

"He was really an incredibly good guy to converse with.

He was laden with ideas,

he had a terrific sense of humor,

he was always fascinating,

he was a lot of fun to be with."

"He came to us early, through his management,

to say he wanted to make a film.

We believed in him very strongly by that time, but it was hard sell --

he didn’t have any experience in that area and still wasn't a huge artist.

But I met with the head of production at Warner [Pictures] at that time,

Mark Canton, and convinced him that he should take a flyer on making a picture with him.

The top executive in the company had some misgivings about it,

and in order to get them to commit,

the management, and probably Prince himself, agreed to put in some money to front the film.

And we told the film company that we -- the record company -- would guarantee everything that went over budget.

So that really sealed the business part of the deal.

And of course Purple Rain was enormous.

I think [the album] was number one for 24 weeks,

and it had two great

No. 1 [singles], “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy”

and then “Purple Rain,” which was a No.2 record"

" His biggest concern always was an ownership interest in the record that he created,

which is understandable.

We had both his records and publishing,

although I said to you earlier one of the reasons he didn't sign with A&M

was because they insisted that publishing be part of the deal and we didn't.

We later made a deal with him to acquire his publishing.

His anger at us actually came out of his obsession with ownership of his own work"

"He was just amazing.

The range of his talent was beyond belief"

~Mo Ostin~

"He pursued me for a long time.

......The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like –

[laughs].

He was beautiful, and he was talented.

I had this thing for guitar players.

But I had just gotten out of another relationship with a guitar player and I was like,

“Not another musician.”

I kept saying no [to Prince], but it was hard.

After a while it was just like, “OK, well maybe.”

And that was it.

He wooed me very well [laughs].

He did so many beautiful things.

During the Lionel Richie tour in 1982,

he sent me flowers at every place, every single day.

Whatever city we were in, there were beautiful arrangements of flowers from the entire tour.

The entire tour.

I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus.

There were some I couldn’t even lift.

Each arrangement was different.

There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because there was no room on the bus.

It was a lot – and I loved it [laughs].

He knew how to get me.

And every arrangement came with a card from him.

I kept every single card."

~Sheila E~

"Prince came to my house one time and

Man he just freaked me out..

I mean I had to call my wife…

I had to sit in a room and just get myself together…

He came to my house..

and he had Bria with him…

and he had this whole speech..

Im just glad Bria was with him coz

there was someone who could corroborate what Im saying…

Any of these stories I tell man..

its important that people tell the Truth..

Coz Prince is not here to defend a lot of stuff that people say ..

you know Some Of the things I hear people say are just not true

So its important that I tell the history ,

that I don’t embellish it or make it up..

Im glad she was there, coz If she hadn’t been..

no body would ever believe THIS Story…

This Dude got on his Knees,

and told me he appreciated me,

and he loves me for the people Ive introduced him to over the years,

He Kissed my Hand !

And I was like..

you know

Im on the Porch in front of My Neighbours,

they could SEE…

And Im like waiting for the candid Camera people to jump out of the weeds and say

“Hahaha Its candid Camera”

Coz Like

Im not believing what this dude is doing…

Im trippin man..

this dude is tellin me this stuff…

Shes standing there, and Hes on his knees..

And I had to call my wife…

I could NOT Believe what just happened here…

I said…

"Prince just came over to our house and got on his knees and told me he loves me, and you know hes sorry that hes hard on me sometimes .."

When I think about it,

it brings me to where I was on that day..

I had to sit down and connect myself…

I didn’t believe myself..

it was UNBELIEVABLE…

It was just stunning to me…."

~Morris Hayes ~

“Prince is a very kind and intelligent person.

We hit it off as friends as the same time

we started jamming together,

so his advice has always been musician to musician

as well as from friend to another

“He gives me a lot of sound advice

about navigating through the business side of music,

and he’s always my critical listener when I have a new musical idea.

And that’s not even mentioning his musical genius

which is of course a continual source of inspiration.”

"I did an interview with Tavis Smiley, who’s close to Prince,

and he thought Prince would like to hear my music.

............. he reached out to my manager

and I sent him a demo I had because I didn’t even have a record yet.

Then Prince asked me to come to Las Vegas

and jam with him and we became friends.

If I were me listening to someone say all of this,

I would think it’s pretty crazy too,

but

Prince is just such a wonderful, creative and loving person.

He’s such a fireball of talent,

creativity and intelligence and he invites people into his sphere for discussion,

so I admire him

and

who he is overshadows what he does"

~Esperanza Spalding~

The album Purple Rain is as enigmatic as Prince himself.

It's so difficult to break down or articulate why it's so special.

It's Hendrix,

it's James Brown,

it's outer space,

it's church,

it's sex,

it's heavy metal.

But at the end of the day, it's just Prince at his absolute best"

Ill Remember

just the great times that we had and just constantly being inspired

by how he did things his way and never let anybody deter

what he wanted to accomplish creatively and musically.

As a musician,

I can't tell you how much that's rubbed off on me."

~Adam Levine ~

Siskel & Ebert - REVIEW "Purple Rain" (1984)

QUOTES :

"I think this Film needs to be Studied for the way it uses Music "Dramatically"

"This film is very sophisticated "

"One of the best combinations Ive ever seen between Music and Dramatic Information"

"Purple Rain is a skillfull exciting personal Film"

PART 1

Part 2

rogifan said:

When Prince told me he loved me... A #memory I will cherish forever. He brought me onstage to dance with him and he whispered "don't let go"... ~Sherri Shepherd~

Naaaaaaaw....

So yesterday I wasn't crying like some may think but I just listened to an interview with Damaris Lewis calling up Prince..Prince!!

and hearing him say that I was his favorite Basketball Player has me feeling all kinds of emotions.. You never know who life you impact.

I know I have fans and lots of supporters around the world but hearing Prince say those words was an ultimate compliment.. #Honored

Dwyane Wade on April 27, 2016 in Miami, Fla.

"Prince and the revolution were in Europe..

I had a whole summer of seeing Prince at gigs and Clubs.

and it was never the same..

From one night to the next..

I remember thinking

"Id give anything to be in his band...

just to learn from The Greatest..."

“I’ve heard him play piano like Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock,

move over to bass and play like Larry Graham,

then play guitar like Jimi Hendrix or Buddy Guy.”

That was Prince's “problem”, maybe.

He was too damn good at everything"

~Sheryl Crow~

"Famously,

Prince rarely gave interviews.

When he did, they'd usually be for television where your average

chat-show host is unlikely to ask about the influence of Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel.

In Prince's own weird purple world,

it's actually astonishing that,

in mainstream media at least,

his sheer musicality often sneaked under the radar.

The TV anchors were more interested in his shoes."

~Michael Leonard~

Gibson .com

"I think Prince is Stunning

and

one of the cornerstones of contemporary Music

I could never be what he is,

He is an Absolute Genius"

"Im not really intimidated by too many people,

but Im very impressed by people

and

Prince is probably the most impressive single person !

..hes incredibly inventive, yet hes using a lot of old ...

hes coming from all sorts of areas from the past and hes really ..

hes pushing them all through a blender

so they come out

oozing

and

tripping

with honey and sex..

That LoveSexy..WOW

Like WHaaa..

....I dont know whether Id like to work with him..

coz hes so Powerful

Hed probably intimidate me a bit.."

~Robert Plant~

"Theres a lot more sensuality in what Prince is doing,

than most Artists.

Maybe he doesn’t know right now how innovative he is being..

Maybe in 10 or 15 years

with that hindsight

hes going to be saying

“oh yeah..I did some Pretty interesting things…"

~Barry Gibb~

Lovejunky said:

precioux said:

Woo hoo!! You made it to a sticky, Lovejunky!! Right where this belongs

"He was so, so supportive of me.

He was always telling me that I should go back to directing,

because I had done one little thing for television.

And then one day, he said,

“Okay, today’s the day.

You have to do this song for me.”

And I said,

“Oh god, I don’t know.

A music video! I don’t watch them, I cannot do this.”

It’s not my thing, you know?

And he’s known for being a control freak.

So I said,

“If I’m going to do this, you have to listen to what I say.

What if we’re fighting ...”

And he said, “No, we’re going to choose the thing and do the thing.”

So I said,

“Okay, let’s go have fun.”

There was no fight,

it was very easy......

A lovely, lovely memory".

"I know, sometimes you hear the stories.

He did whatever I wanted!

He didn’t even have that much makeup on! [Laughs]

We had a great time; we didn’t really feel like we were working"

~Salma Hayek~

[Edited 8/25/18 2:47am]