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Local Prince fans reveal their obsessions
Friday, June 11, 2004


By Christina Killion Valdez

The Post-Bulletin

Dressed in a sleek shirt and tie, David Derby sits in a downtown Rochester coffee shop with the air of a young professional. Nobody would ever guess what's inside the suitcase behind his chair.

People who know Derby as an avid record collector might be surprised to see him unpack a stack of Prince albums from the carry-on bag.

Prince might be almost as talked about today as in the 1980s -- with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this year and three sold-out concerts in St. Paul this week -- but it hasn't always been glamorous to be among his supporters.

Even if it wasn't always evident, truly loyal subjects such as Derby never ceded the purple reign. And for many, the ardor for Prince is as extravagant as the artist.

"I like to stay on this side of obsessive-compulsive," Derby said, a portion of his record collection stacked in front of him.

"His 1999 album was the first album I owned that I hid from my parents," Derby said. "I was 14. I wore out the cassette on my Walkman joyfully singing falsetto to 'Delirious' and being wonderfully shocked listening to 'Let's Pretend We're Married.'"

When Derby went off to the University of Minnesota, he bonded with other Prince fans. "They introduced me to Let it Be Records on Nicollet Mall, and for a few years, we were genuine Prince collectors," Derby said.

To see his collection is to believe it.

Now 35, Derby's boasts more than 100 mint-condition Prince records. That's every major album, plus singles, photo disks, bootlegs, imports and special pressings. He also has Prince videos and magazines featuring Prince.

Even though Derby said he didn't always like what Prince has put out during the last six years, he never gave up on his idol.

Prince is one of the few artists who follows his own muse, he said. "He always did what he wanted to do."

Plus, Derby didn't want a hole in his collection.

Unpacking the albums at the coffee shop, Derby was reminded of the time he and his friends screamed the words to "Darling Nikki" in the woods during the Kasson-Mantoville High School graduation party in 1987.

That same year, Derby said he wrote out the lyrics to "Forever In My Life" on a cut-out paper heart for his then-girlfriend, now wife. "She cried," he said.

It's a sentiment understood only by fans.

Passion for Prince

"The joke around my house is that my husband doesn't bring me flowers, he brings me Prince CDs," said Jennifer Bell, 29, of Rochester.

Her passion for Prince started when she was 10 years old with the song "Raspberry Beret."

"I was drawn to the beat and all, but what stuck out and got me was the line 'She walked in through the out door,'" Bell said. "It conjured this image of a totally self-confident, no-nonsense woman. I thought that would be a great anthem/motto to use growing up."

Bell became that no-nonsense woman, as evidenced by the time two years ago when she went to a Prince concert two weeks after a baby by C-section.

That was when she lived in Portland, Ore.

As soon as it was announced Prince was performing in Minneapolis, Bell said she got offers from friends and family to baby-sit her children so she could see the show. "It would be hard for me to be in Prince country and not be able to go," Bell said.

At least her room isn't purple

The first time Carmen Drinkall, 36, of Rochester, saw Prince in concert was when her mom took her and a friend to the Purple Rain tour in 1986, she said.

A high school student at the time, Drinkall remembered watching Prince slip into a bathtub frothing over with water and bubbles during the show. A female singer slid in with him, and the lights went out, she said, adding "I think it was during 'Darling Nikki.'"

The stunt didn't faze Drinkall or her mother.

"He keeps people on our toes, wondering what's to come next," Drinkall said of Prince. And no matter what, Drinkall considers herself a true fan.

"My room isn't purple or anything," she said, but she did have purple streaks put in her hair once.

The streaks faded, but Drinkall still has a portrait she painted of Prince during her senior year at Mayo High School in 1986. She also has a T-shirt from every Prince concert she's attended. Plus, one more to pick up. "Mom is going with me on the 18th," Drinkall added.

Joining Lisa Anderson, 34, of Rochester, at the concert in St. Paul will be her 9-year-old daughter. The cleaned-up show should be kid-friendly, she said. Anderson and her sister weren't much older when they conned their uncle into taking them to their first Prince concert, she said.

"I remember my mom wasn't really thrilled that I liked Prince as much as I did," Anderson said.

Anderson was only 11 on Jan. 26, 1980, when she was glued to Prince's performance on "American Bandstand," she said. "From that day on, I have been a Prince fan," Anderson said.

She saw "Purple Rain" in the theater twice in one day, she said. She also won a tour of Paisley Park from a radio contest on KROC-FM. But nothing compares to seeing him live, she said.

A couple of years ago, Prince held private concerts at Paisley Park every night for a week, Anderson said. She knows because she went to all of them, driving home at 2 a.m. each time to work the next day, she said. "I'm a die-hard. My family knows it," Anderson said.

"Through the changes in his looks, his name and his music, I have been there loving every moment of it," she said.

When i 1st saw P on American Bandstand i was like yo he's a damn dude! My Aunt loved him and i thought he was a girl so i was shocked. I was a MJ fan at the time bcuz hey i grew up on the J5. But there was this girl named Sweet Kim that i had a crush on and had been tryin 2 hookup with 4the longest but she always turned me down. 1day she came up 2me and asked me..Do u really wanna get with me? I said hell yeah!,and she said only if i took her 2 see P and i said what the hell. 2 make a long story short i took her and P blew me away. And i had never seen so many pretty women almost butt ass naked in 1 place in my life. Needless 2 say i had a very freaky night and have been a P fan ever since. I went and bought every P album and some bootlegs and i must say that his music broadened my musical tastes and also my taste in a variety of women. Now i'm just Livin4Love and 4 the Funk of it!

Damn! This is my area! They should have tracked me down for an interview, too!

NCC2012 said:

same here...and i live very close to wcco studios, too! i wonder how you can get interviewed or what-not.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

This one was from the Rochester Post-Bulletin (Rochester's daily newspaper), though. I don't think WCCO had anything to do with this story. There should have been someone around telling them about some certain Mayo Clinic employee who blasts his Prince music every evening while at work.

Well, while I'm not playing the Beatles on the CD player, I guess.

The first time Carmen Drinkall, 36, of Rochester, saw Prince in concert was when her mom took her and a friend to the Purple Rain tour in 1986, she said.


WOW!!! I didn't know the P.R tour was goin in 1986 , and I missed 2 years of that.

SANSKER7 said:

The mind is the first thing to go....