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- 1980 -Jan 8004-01-1980 : San Carlos Circle Star Theatre* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Attendance : ? / 3.743 / Tick. Price : $8.75-486410123825000This was one of three sets (over two days) supporting Kool & The Gang. Prince was a last minute replacement after Sly Stone and David Ruffin were originally scheduled to appear with Kool & The Gang.05-01-1980 : San Carlos Circle Star Theatre (2 shows)* Advert. Start : 7:00PM / 11:00PM / Attendance : ? / 3.743 / Tick. Price : $8.75114300019812000047434502048510January 4 & 5,1980, Prince opened for Kool & the Gang and posed for this fantastic backstage photo with fan Lennor Smith and her friends !06-01-1980 : Midnight Special Shooting – aired 11-01-80(NBC Studios, Burbank)Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Midnite Special was a show that had taken the country by storm. Hosted by legendary radio DJ Wolfman Jack (with his distinctive gravelly voice), it featured ‘live’ (lip-synched) performances by the day’s hottest artists. It had followed the late night, weekend success of Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert?; a live performance TV show that was extremely successful in the late ‘70s. Midnite Special aired late every Friday night. I had been a faithful viewer since its debut. The news that we were going to appear on the show was massive. The show was on NBC. We arrived on the lot that day in quiet anticipation. I had not seen Prince this, shall we say, introspective, since our very first show at the Capri. Obviously, this was huge, and I’m sure the gravity of it was weighing on him. I don’t remember much about the green room, or the run through, or any of the preliminates. I know another act shot just before us, but, to be honest, I don’t remember who it was. The whole thing felt surreal – as much as I just tried to take it all in, it was a bit of a blur. I do clearly remember going on stage. The thing that struck me most was that there was no audience?! The hallmark of the show was screaming, enthusiastic fans crowding the stage whenever an artist performed. One of Midnite Special’s hooks was the excitement – they obviously mixed the crowd noise way up, to give the viewer that sense of the excitement of a live show. So when we went up on stage, and they gathered together all the folks they could muster (crew, our guests, the janitor?!), and had them crowd together toward the front, I thought, “What the heck is this??” We had rehearsed our performance, right down to actually singing out loud when we lip-synched (so as to capture the actual throat movements and not look like ventriloquist dummies), so we just executed as we had prepared. It sure did feel odd, though?! After we finished, and they showed us the playback, I understood – they shot one camera over the tops of the heads of the ‘audience,’ in such a way that it looked like a much bigger crowd. Later, they would dub in the sound of a crazed audience, and edit our performance in with some actual crowd footage, filmed at another time. And so, we were introduced to the magic of television. And, once again, it was one of those experiences that wasn’t quite what I expected. Two weeks later, we would fulfill one of my biggest and longest-standing dreams. A Soldier in Prince’s RevolutionDrummer Bobby Z opens up about his close relationship with Prince and the early battles they overcame together to create a band and keep the music alive.By Jayne Haugen Olson – MPLS St Paul (2016)The second album comes out in October 1979.?Things were starting to move quickly with [the success of the single] “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” In January 1980 we were on both Midnight Special and American Bandstand. These were milestones. But bands drop every day, and for Prince this was just a step - don’t act too happy. If you watch that video with Dick Clark you see that Prince was gonna win that ego war - “Dick Clark, you’re gonna remember me.” And he did.Prince performs ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ on his TV debut back in 1980By Jack Whatley - Far Out (UK - 2020)The late, great, and forever purple Prince had one of the most incredibly varied and artistically challenging career’s in pop music’s history. His meticulous work in the studio and on the stage is what will always stand him alongside some of the greats. One place he could put all his planning into action, where Prince never failed to keep the spotlight on him was on TV. The singer’s television debut would allow the purple one to leave a mark as soon as he was invited on to NBC’s Midnight Special in 1980. Whether it’s memorable performances or candid interviews, Prince always left his mark wherever he went and television was just another stomping ground for the artist. So whether at his Super Bowl half time show, performing with Michael Jackson and James Brown, or appearing on Arsenio Hall, Prince always showed his power when presenting himself. As polished as Prince may have been, as legendary as he became, it all had to start somewhere. The performance on NBC’s The Midnight Special on January 8th 1980, saw Prince introduced to a national television audience and he wouldn’t disappoint on the show. He would show exactly what he was made of as a performer. The ‘quirky’ hosts (who are in fact members of Dr. Hook and The Medicine Man) offer a small nod to the great man’s talent with their introduction : “There’s nothing our next guest can’t do, he arranged, produced, composed, and performed his last album entirely by himself.” They’re not wrong, Prince had been targeting stardom from the very beginning and this was just another obstacle to clear. The driven artist has always been credited with putting in the extra work and his performances have always shone brighter than any other. Prince, backed by his band, then walks onto the stage in a Zebra print lingerie number and thigh-high black leggings and some heels to deliver versions of ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad’ the lead tracks from his self-titled debut Prince. It’s a magnetic performance that showed right from the very start that the singer was destined to be a legend. -4381501517650011-01-1980 : e Midnight Special (NBC) (Taped 06-01) (0:07)I Wanna Be Your Lover / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?12-01-1980 : Record Mirror (UK)PRINCE : ‘Sexy Dancer’ (from LP ‘Prince’, Warner Bros. K 56772) (BNDA debut 11/10/79)By James HamiltonTotally self-performed multi-tracked set, this terrifically powerful 122bpm backbeat whapping panting breath-sucking strutter being a great chop mixer (especially out of ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’) and even more exciting than the included 118-116bpm ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’, while ‘Still Waiting’ is a perfectly lovely yearning 39/78bpm slow squeaky swayer.Mid 01-1980?: Denver Rainbow Music HallPrince plays a one-off show at the Rainbow Music Hall, Denver. The gig was organised by Prince’s management as a “warm-up” for his 1980 tour. After the concert, teenage girls surrounded a trailer that functioned as the dressing room for the band. They began pounding on it and a window broke. It was a considerable effort for the band members to get from the dressing room to the car. Then a wild chase ensued as the band tried to shake the trailing fans.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Over the rainbow05084445As I recall it, between the Midnite Special taping and the Bandstand taping, CR&F put together a little tune-up show for us in Denver at a new venue called the Rainbow Music Hall. It was a nice little hall – held about 1500, with beautiful, plush seating. There wasn’t a bad seat in the place. Having just done our first national TV show, we were on Cloud 9. Finally, we were doing the things we’d dreamt of doing?! This show, unlike the others we’d played prior to it, didn’t have that ‘pressure’ feel to it. We were all loose, relaxed, and just enjoying ourselves. The Rainbow was owned by a major Denver-based promoter, and I got the impression that the show had been booked on fairly short notice, maybe even done as a favor for someone. As was our custom at the time, we arrived, not by limo, but in rented station wagons. We were flying to gigs and other engagements in those days, and so we rented station wagons because they were practical, and cost effective. It was more Chevy Chase than Mick Jagger… We were staying in a great hotel, a bit on the outskirts of town. It had more the vibe of a big lodge than a hotel. We clowned around and took photos on the huge, double staircase in the lobby. After preparing for the TV tapings by rehearsing our lip-synching, we were ready to actually play again. The buzz of being in front of an audience was addictive – especially with things like airplay and TV appearances. I was ready for another fix. It was January in Colorado, so, of course, there was snow. Nothing we weren’t accustomed to, being Minnesotans. We would, though, in the coming years, develop a pattern in our touring that got us away from the snow and cold from October or so until the beautiful springtime returned in April. I remember soundcheck being light and jovial that day. There would come a day when it would become grueling and onerous for me. I would look back and value the innocence and freshness we had in the beginning. Marchner kept things moving at his usual crisp, if not military, pace. We finished soundcheck, and, as would become our pattern, headed out until nearer to showtime. I was really looking forward to playing that night. It seemed like forever ago since our last show. Denver reminded me a lot of the Twin Cities – not a huge population, but there seemed to be a kind of colorblindedness there. I wondered what, if any, buzz there was on Prince in town?? I wondered how many folks had seen us on TV?? Though the industry and the critical buzz was reaching a crescendo, the jury was still out with respect to the general population. It was still too early to tell – was our experience on the few dates from the abbreviated tour going to be the norm, or was there more to come?? Who would our audience be?? I knew it was still early in the game, but I did think about these things. Soon, we were heading back across the crisp, crinkling snow to the Rainbow. By showtime, we were focused as one. Arriving back at the Rainbow, we pulled around back to the dressing room. The setup at the venue was rather unique – instead of the dressing rooms being inside the building, they were in separate ‘portables,’ 10 or 12 feet behind the building. It seemed odd, especially considering the fact that one would have to come off stage hot and sweaty and have to dash out into the cold Colorado winter’s night air. We made the walk from the portable into the backstage area. We couldn’t see the ‘house’ from our vantage point – we could only hear. When the houselights went down, I was shocked by what I heard – the crowd sounded like something I remembered from old Beatles footage. They were actually screaming?! When we hit the stage, I was amazed at how many people were there. I don’t know if it was sold out, but the folks that were there were LOUD?! The audience was very young, and predominantly female – shrieking females at that. Before long, they had left their plush seats and rushed the stage. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – after the geriatric vibe of Old Man River’s in New Orleans, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven?! When we got to the place in the set where we played I Wanna Be Your Lover, the place exploded. “So,” I thought to myself, “this is what it’s like to have a hit record?!” It seemed that everybody in the audience was singing along. It was an incredible moment. We fed off the crowd, making our always-energetic set positively bionic. After the set, we floated back behind the building and into the dressing room. We chattered excitedly, talking over one another. What an unexpected experience?! What an encouraging night?! We began to recount, blow by blow, like a post game show, all our favorite high points of the evening. We had no idea that the madness was just beginning. As we were changing out of our stage clothes and getting ready to head back to the hotel, we heard the muffled sounds of a crowd outside. A few minutes later, an ashen Rob Marchner appeared at the door, literally bounding in while quickly closing the door behind him, in a flurry of flailing arms, pushing to get in. “We have to get you out of here, NOW?!” he exclaimed. Just then, we heard the sound of crashing glass. One of the windows (up near the ceiling – at least 7 feet off the ground), had been broken, and an arm was reaching in and groping around. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a scene from Night of the Living Dead?! We scurried to get our stuff together and get out of the portable. We had gone from triumphant celebration to a strange kind of concern in mere moments. The police soon formed a gauntlet outside the door so that we could be whisked into the cars and out of there. “Everyone get next to the door, and as soon as it opens, run?!” was the instruction we received. When the doors swung open, and I got outside, I was amazed by the sight. It appeared that the entire audience was out behind the building, and a number of police were trying to control the crowd, parting them like Moses and the Red Sea. There was actually a full-scale teenage riot going on at the Rainbow?! I don’t remember who was driving, but once we were in, they gunned it and we flew out of the parking lot. We had two cars, and I looked back to see if it was behind us. Relieved, I saw it swing out as well. My relief was short lived. Just then, I noticed another car pull out, racing behind us. Then another, and another?! I remember counting at least 12 cars following us at high speed. The riot wasn’t over yet?! The experience was, at once, exciting and frightening. We would come to see this kind of thing routinely, in time, but before that night in Denver, we had NEVER seen anything like it (they certainly didn’t riot at the Western Place?!). “Man,” I thought to myself, “this is like being in A Hard Day’s Night.” In a real sense, though, this was very dangerous. Our driver (and I think it was Rob), was doing everything he could to try and shake those that were tailing us. It was winter, and there was plenty of snow and ice on the roads – not good conditions for a high-speed chase?! We were snaking our way through surface streets and residential neighborhoods trying to lose the tail. We got as high as 60-70 mph on side streets?! Who needs Starsky and Hutch?? One by one, the caravan was reduced as we started to lose them. There was still a determined 2 or 3 cars that we just could not shake. We headed back to the hotel, the feeling being that it was manageable number of folks to deal with. When we pulled back into the hotel parking lot, we were hustled out of the car and into the lobby. I heard some screaming behind us. I looked to see a couple carloads of 17-18 year old girls following us into the building. Management intercepted them, and after the heat of the moment had cooled down, we actually hung with them for a bit in the lobby. These were our first true fans, and all they wanted to do was get close to their newfound heroes. They were great, and we really appreciated them when it was all said and done. It struck me as so odd – it was just us, as far as I was concerned. How could we start a riot?? It would not be the last time, nor would it be anywhere near the biggest. But, that night, we caught a glimpse of what was coming…20-01-1980 : Joepie (NL)In America, the trade press considers the artist Prince just about the umpteenth child prodigy. At nineteen, he is already a gifted composer, arranger, producer, singer and even multi-instrumentalist. Last year he already proved his talent on his album For You, but his recent album Prince sounds a lot more convincing. This album contains many danceable pieces including his hit I Wanna Be Your Lover. The son of an orchestra leader, Prince began his musical career at the age of 7. His first instrument was the piano. Later he was sometimes allowed to sing with his father's band. His preference at that time was for duets with his mother, who was also a singer in the band. As a teenager, he was no longer happy in small-town Minneapolis. In search of a great musical career he left the country. Prince ended up in various bands. Pretty soon his preference went out to the synthesizers. He quickly learned how to play it. It is therefore not surprising that the emblem is most often heard on his records. Keep an eye on Prince's name. We don't want to predict a hot career with the general public, but for hip disco-freaks his music is a must.23-01-1980 : WHY YOU WANNA TREAT ME SO BAD US Single Release -438150226060Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ? (3:49) / Baby (3:09)399351511430"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?” / "Baby" released in the US. It didn’t chart on the pop lists, but reached number 13 on the black chart.Listen2Prince (2018) - The second single was released after both shows aired.?Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ??was aimed at keeping Prince on the white rock audience's radar, but it landed squarely on the R&B charts instead.?The music video shows the band on a stage, playing to the studio version.?Some places say it was to a live recording, but to my ear it seems pretty identical to the album version, complete with multi-tracked Prince vocals.?The focus is clearly on Prince, but the rest of the band gets some prime face time as well.Classic Pop (UK) – 2016WHY YOU WANNA TREAT ME SO BAD ?WARNER BROS, JANUARY 1980The squealing synth line was all the hook this single needed to sustain the chart success of its predecessor, I Wanna Be Your Lover (although that success was limited this time to the R&B chart, where it peaked at No 13). Critics who accused Prince of being a two-theme writer – his sexual voraciousness and the faithlessness of women – would have had their theory confirmed by this dig at a cruel lover, but the guitar solo at the climax was blistering.447675057150026-01-1980 : e American Bandstand (VH1) (Taped 16-12) (0:09)I Wanna Be Your Lover / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?In early 1980, Prince made three US TV appearances with his band : Soul Train, The Midnight Special, and American Bandstand, where Prince was miffed when Dick Clark asked him how he could come from Minneapolis "of all places." When Clark wanted to know how long he had been a musician, Prince said nothing and held up four fingers. Rumors say that Prince did not want to be interviewed because of his shyness. In fact, his performance was deliberate : he would have prevented his band before their interpretation that he would not answer questions from Clark. Patrice Rushen was also invited at the show.While there is something mercenary about Prince, it’s an important record in the artist’s creative development. It starts brilliantly, and Prince would use the first two songs to launch himself to a wider audience in January 1980, lip-synching with the band to ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?’ on the then-popular Saturday-night rock show Midnight Special and Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. The American Bandstand performance also included an early and important part in Prince’s creation of his popular image : an interview with Dick Clark that the veteran host would later describe as the most difficult he’d ever done. Although Clark lay the blame on Prince, this was no Bill Grundy moment. Prince sounded polite and shy, as Clark interviewed him in the sort of tone avuncular hosts usually reserve for maths or chess prodigies. His questions were insulting, suggesting that Prince’s music wasn’t the sort of thing that usually came out of his home town, making fun of his youth (which visibly increased Prince’s anxiety, as he had shaved two years off his age), joking about Matt Fink’s outfit – ‘The man who escaped on keyboards,’ he joshed, as Fink had yet to start dressing up as a doctor and was instead wearing a striped shirt and dark glasses, which did, admittedly, make him look like a convict – and mocking his ability to play many instruments. When Prince paused to recollect how many instruments he could play, Clark turned to the audience and made fun of him, and then questioned why he needed a band. The only moment when Prince truly appeared in any way provocative was when he answered how many years ago he recorded his demos by holding out four fingers in Clark’s face. Bandstand’s producer Larry Klein later defended Prince, saying that the audiences who were offended by his perceived rudeness to Clark ‘misinterpreted what [he thought] was basic shyness on Prince’s part’. Pepe Willie, however, says : ‘I ripped him a new one on that one. I didn’t understand that at all. He came back to Minnesota, and I said to him, “What the hell happened to you ?” I was so pissed at him because the media was something we needed. I wanted him to call radio stations and thank them for playing his records. He wouldn’t do that, not after Dick Clark. What happened, he got stage fright, and he told me, “That will never happen again, Pepe.” From then on, in his interviews, he never talks about his family, always about music, he never talks about his friends. It’s what he wants to talk about. He doesn’t want anything to do with Owen Husney, which is terrible, or Chris Moon.’ Though Klein suggests it was shyness, and Willie stage fright, Dickerson writes in his autobiography that it was deliberate and that Prince had instructed his band not to talk to Clark backstage before they went on. Gayle Chapman agrees that this was the real reason : ‘Prince told us when he started the interview we were not to say anything. Dick Clark is a professional at his gig and he had this child on his show thinking he’s being mysterious. No smiling and no talking. And I couldn’t help it – Dick said my name and I smiled.’Spotlight : Jerry Hubbard JR DREAMS DO COME TRUE - THE JERRY HUBBARD JR STORYHOW A YOUNG BOY WITNESSED THE BIRTH OF THE MINNEAPOLIS SOUND AND WAS DETERMINED TO BECOME A PART OF ITInterviewed by writer : Tony Kiene – PRN Alumni (2019)In January of 1980, after seeing Prince on American Bandstand, Jerry decided to “get serious” about music. “As exciting as it all was, it was also frustrating” reveals Jerry, “I wanted to be out there myself, but I was still too young.” Determined to make his mark, he began gigging with some older musicians and eventually Jerry joined up with The Stylle Band from Rock Island, Illinois. Having recently located to the Minneapolis at the behest of fellow Rock Island native Jesse Johnson, the group featured future Mazarati guitarist Craig “Screamer” Powell. The Stylle Band also included Craig’s sister, the late Sheila Rankin (who later joined the André Cymone project The Girls) and brother Bryan Rankin (who went on to play drums for André, Alexander O’Neal, Sue Ann Carwell, and others). While his time in The Stylle Band was relatively short-lived, it was still pretty wild for a sixteen-year-old kid. “I wouldn’t have been allowed in any of the venues had I not been in the band,” laughs Jerry. “But I wasn’t shy on stage. I’d run out into the audience, jump off speakers, tables, whatever. It was intense.” Feb 80??-??-1980 : Hohner "Telecaster" Guitar -5054601485900Bought in 1980 from Knut Koupee Music store in Mineapolis, Prince according to Karl Dedolph, the store’s manager, probably chose the guitar because of it's leopard skin pickguard which matched his stage outfit. The budget guitar's raw tone was ideal for the clean guitar chugging and staccato rhythms of Punk-Funk. He used it whilst supporting Rick James that year, on the "Dirty Mind" album and on almost every tour to date. A Telecaster variant, the guitar differs greatly to the Fender industry standard. The Hohner is all maple finished in blonde, as opposed to the Ash and Alder body of a Fender. The tonal properties of Maple suit the artist well, it has a bright top end and good sustain; he chose this wood for all his later custom guitars. The Hohners distinctive imitation Mahogany binding on the edges and central join bind a two-piece figured Maple top, the neck is also highly figured one piece affair. The pickups and wiring also differ from a Fender, the Hohner has two bridge style single coils with raised pillars and passive wiring; also there is no treble inducing metal plate at the bridge. The cheaper construction of the Hohner gave rise to problems in the studio, according to Kyle Bess, one time staff engineer at The Recording Plant in L.A., Prince insisted on the guitar, favouring it's tone which he once described as "Raggedy". Discontinued re-issues of the guitar called "Hohner Profesional The Prinz" can still be tracked down.Guitar Aficionado (2016)Early in his career, Prince became attached to a fairly inexpensive Japanese Telecaster copy – the Hohner MadCat. He purchased the Hohner from Knut Koupee Music in Minneapolis in 1980, and it remained his main axe throughout his entire career, even well after he’d made enough money to fill a room with vintage Fender Teles. The Madcat’s maple body has a shape identical to a Fender Tele body, but it had a thin strip of walnut running down the center, joining the two blocks of maple that make up the main body. The bridge is more like a Strat bridge than a Telecaster bridge, which contributes to the MadCat’s slightly different tonality. Prince loved the guitar so much that in 1984 he commissioned New York luthier Roger Sadowsky to make him two replicas of it. “The only thing that was at all different,” Sadowsky says, “was that the top was flame maple with a hand-finished strip of walnut as the centrepiece.” Sadowsky’s next commissioned work for Prince was a little more bizarre. Prince asked him to make two more Hohner Tele copies with an added feature : The guitars had to be working versions of a prop guitar that appears to ejaculate out of the headstock, which Prince used in his film Purple Rain. Actually the white substance it spewed was Ivory dishwashing liquid, released by a valve fit into a cavity that was routed into the back of the prop guitar’s body. All Sadowsky had to do was create two fully playable MadCats that could also cum on command. “We ran copper tubing inside the neck alongside of the truss rod, that terminated right at the tip of the headstock,” Sadowsky explains. “The tubing extended into the body, where we routed a cavity where they could retrofit their valve mechanism. And it had an extra hole in the side for the pressurized hose to come into that cavity and connect to the valve.” With all the guitars Sadowsky made for Prince, his actual interaction with the artist was minimal. This was a fairly typical situation with the eccentric superstar. Sadowsky remembers a meeting during rehearsals at an arena in Minneapolis. “I had some questions about the neck profile,” he recalls. “Prince was standing about 15 feet away, literally, with one of his bodyguards. I would ask a question, and Prince would whisper the answer to his bodyguard. The bodyguard would then walk over to me and tell me what Prince had said. That was exactly the extent of the communication.” It’s not that Prince didn’t like Sadowsky – he later commissioned the luthier to build two more Tele-style guitars with floral designs on the body and fingerboard. The indirect-communication tactics were just part of the mystique he cultivated. “He only wanted to go through a couple of key people in his organization,” says Zeke Clark, Prince’s mid-Nineties guitar tech. “If you were one of those people, you then had to deliver his message to everyone concerned. Sometimes people would say, ‘Shit, why can’t he just take this call himself ? He’s the one who’s going to make the decision.’ But he liked that sensibility of not being able to be reached quite so easily.”06-02-1980 : Minneapolis StarJon Bream interviewed Prince over the phone before his hometown concert at the Orpheum Theatre on the Prince tour. The interview was published in Minneapolis Star, February 6th 1980.LOCAL TALENT HAS HEADS TURNINGA lot of people don't know what to make of Prince. They don't understand his music, they don't understand the unusual outfits he wears and they don't understand how such an extraordinary young talent could come from Minneapolis. That tripped me out when Dick Clark asked how I could come from Minneapolis, of all places. That really gave me an attitude for the rest of the talk. TV personalities are hard to talk to. They come out of certain bags. Music is music. A place is a place. Like Stevie Wonder’s music, Prince's material seems to elude classification. When he took his band on a brief concert tour this winter, the audiences and critics didn’t quite know what to make of Prince, he says. “They didn’t understand that we are trying to bridge the worlds of rock, funk, jazz and whatever. The critics were led to believe we would be laid-back because of the albums. The albums are not as fiery as the concert. Older people found it hard to get into us. The kids were the smartest. They are ready for a change. You have to tell them the truth, whether it's politics, lyrics, music, school, busing. Kids are a lot more aware. We can't dress in three piece suits or glitter outfits or raggedy clothes. It’s basically us. I wear what I wear because I don’t like clothes. This is what's most comfortable. People should wake up and not worry about what people think about them. Like it was in the '60s. The crowds at concerts were wilder than the acts sometimes. It was live. Now it's all commercial and cool. We'll suffer a slow death like that”. Only one local radio station – a disco-oriented one - regularly played the record, but Prince didn't expect much air play here anyway. “Until radio programmers wake up to the fact that we are far behind here, people will probably want to leave if they can. I’d play their record even if it wasn't good music. If it's good music, it's good music. I’m not saying mine is good. But if it charted, it must be good. It surprised me that ”I Wanna Be Your Lover” became a hit. I basically make songs I like. And I like excitement and surprise”.07-02-1980 : Smash Hits (UK)Prince : PrinceBy Red StarrBee Gee voiced Prince has actually come up with a new variant of disco sound. No orchestral extravaganzas but wispy, haunting melodies and a simple clean sound featuring guitar and drums, like The Four Seasons crossed with Chic, plus some rock style instrumental work. (Good keyboards especially). Result : different but hardly electrifying. Best tracks : I Wanna Be Your Lover, When We’re Dancing Close And Slow. (5 out of 10)09-02-1980 : MPLS Orpheum Theater* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Attendance : 1.000 / 2.300 / Tick. Price : $9.50 / $8.50(Opening Act : Keenan Ivory Wayans)-43815035718755636895163830After the discontinued 1979 tour, Prince opens his 1980 tour with a concert at the 2.300-seat Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. Although “I Wanna Be Your Lover” was a big hit, the concert only drew about 1.000 people. With the same band as on the 1979 concerts, Prince headlined mostly club dates all over the States. The Orpheum Theater concert was his first home-town appearance since the debut performances a year earlier. The 70-80-minute set was built around For You and Prince. Also introduced in the set during the tour was a new song, "Head," which had Prince and Gayle simulating a fellatio act on stage. Undoubtedly, the predominantly black audiences who saw Prince on tour in 1980 were surprised to find the relatively soft and laid-back music of his records re-arranged into hard rock on stage. The band’s physical appearance also set Prince apart from being just another black soul act. Dressing more outrageously than before, Prince wore little more than zebra-striped bikini briefs, legwarmers and high-heel shoes. Some critics were so taken by the appearance of Prince and his band that they couldn’t get away from the topic of Prince’s underwear and focus instead on the music. However, as reviewer Reginald Roberts, writing for New Orleans Times-Picayune, pointed out, Prince was not one to worry about the response : “He conveyed a silent message : "Here I am, and I 1833245158750don’t care what you think !"”Twin Cities Reader's (a local entertainment paper) Laura Fissinger described the audience reaction : “The fellow dancing alone in front of me has skin that looks like polished mahogany next to the thick, off-white fold of what appears to be a cashmere collar. You writing this for someone ? Well let me tell you what the scene is here : Prince is bringing a rock thing to the black community. You see this place is rocking, yes ? He gestured emphatically to the houseful of bobbing silhouettes. Above and around his voice in my ear, Prince's guitar rolled a funk groove into a rock one. No white person could do it, you hear what I’m saying ? And you’re feeling not only a musical approval, but pride ! He's a hometown boy, you know, and these folks are proud tonight." Michael Anthony, Minneapolis Tribune, was also enthusiastic : “It’s a ?ashy show. Prince is definitely out to show what he can do onstage, and though there certainly were moments of calculation and contrivance in the set, the show demonstrated his considerable potential as a performer.”3613785831596000 Truth In Rhythm – Pepe Willie (2022) (2:18)Pepe and Prince drifted apart in the ensuing years, but Pepe stayed in touch and followed Prince's career. He was in attendance for Prince's next performance in Minneapolis, at the Orpheum Theatre in February 1980. I saw the show at the Orpheum Theatre. We gave him total support there. We knew that he was on his way. He looked and acted more professional, the band was more professional, his management team was a lot more professional. I was very proud of him at that time. We were very close still, but I wasn’t much involved in his career moves. I thought that the Dirty Mind album was funky, but it wasn't my favourite album. A lot of people loved that album, but I didn't like it because I didn't support the sexual things that Prince did. I liked his earlier stuff but when the Dirty Mind album came out, it was a bit hard for me to take. It was funky, it was raw. I loved the music, but I didn't like the lyrics. We started drifting apart at that time. He was just too busy. He wasn't rehearsing at my place any more, but we stayed in contact. I was present at a lot of his parties. I walked in on a lot of his rehearsals, he and the band were always happy to see me and we always had a good time. Prophets Of Rock – Pepe Willie (2014) (0:19)-4381501320165Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Firing it upThere was an odd dynamic with Prince in our hometown. He was, already, the darling of the press in the Twin Cities (it would eventually grow to absolutely epic proportions). There was a great groundswell of support for both Prince and the band among fans (after all, we were the Great Frozen Hope). But the radio situation was typical of the status quo in those days. Music, for all the supposed tolerance and progressiveness of Hollywood and the entertainment community, was a strictly segregated world. There was black music, and there was white music. There was black radio, and there was white radio. Labels had black music departments, and then every other music department. And, there were black audiences, and white audiences. The Twin Cities had always been a bastion of musical colorblindness. When I was coming up, the local bands I went out to see were often multiracial – it wasn’t uncommon to see black guys in rock bands, and white guys in funk bands. In fact, I knew a whole lot of white dudes that were WAY funkier than me?! I was one of the brothers that always played in rock bands. While there were sometimes challenges in some of the small towns in northern Minnesota or central Wisconsin (the occasional epithet of threat), I was generally very well accepted. It was just inconceivable to me that the Great and Powerful Record People in Hollywood could do anything but, in keeping with Dr. King’s dream, judge folks by the extent of their ability, and not the color of their skin. So, it was a rude awakening for me when my new gig thrust me face to face with the hidden apartheid of the American record industry. In the Twin Cities, what it meant was radio was predominately a white medium. There was a small black station in Minneapolis, KUXL, but it was SO low-powered, that you almost had to park in front of their transmitter to pick it up?! In those days, formats just didn’t overlap. Album rock still 4379595145415ruled, and disco had driven a further cultural wedge between rock aficionados and funkmeisters. So, if KQRS or KDWB, the rock stations in town, didn’t play Prince’s music, there was little or no chance of it being heard. Later on, this would translate into us selling out arenas in many towns around the country, only to play venues a fraction that size in our own town. Given the airplay situation in the Twin Cities, I really didn’t expect we would draw many more for our February Minneapolis date than the 300 we drew at the Capri a year earlier. When I heard that over a thousand tickets were sold, I was blown away. The Orpheum was a grand old theater that held about 2500. It had that great kind of ornate stone and plaster work, a wonderful proscenium stage, and sweeping balconies. When we stepped out onstage for soundcheck, I was spellbound by the sight. The show was just what the doctor ordered for a young band that had just come out of a yo-yo year of emotion. The hometown greeting was even more warm and amazing than the Capri had been. There was a record that, while you couldn’t hear it on radio, a lot of folks had obviously chosen to embrace. That night, everything felt different, and I realized, “kid, it’s happened. You’ve crossed over to another level in this thing, and it’s NEVER going to be the same again…” It was a wonderful kick-off to our renewed tour. It was a great way to share the beginning with family, friends, and a whole town, and for them to send us off like heroes. Heady stuff for some kids from the Frozen North… Inside The Purple Reign (84)-43815016129000By Jon Bream“I Wanna Be Your Lover,” a peppy tune with breathy falsetto vocals, reached Number One on the soul charts in December of 1979. That greatly pleased Warner Bros. But Prince had other dreams. “The second record [featuring ‘Lover’] was pretty contrived,” he told Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times a few years after the fact. “I just made it a hit album.” The song landed Prince and his band on TV’s “American Bandstand” and “Midnight Special.” After the group lipsynched its way through the hit, Dick Clark sauntered into the picture and declared, “I can’t believe you come from Minneapolis !” The tone of the comment did not sit well with Prince. So he copped an attitude that didn’t sit well with Clark. “How many instruments do you play ?” the ageless host asked. “Thousands.” Prince came off as rude. But he didn’t see it that way. “That tripped me out when Dick Clark asked how I could come from Minneapolis of all places,” Prince said shortly after his first TV encounter in January of 1980. “That really gave me an attitude for the rest of the talk. Music is music. A place is a place. I don’t know where he expected me to come from.” Maybe this was the first appearance of his rude-boy attitude. A few weeks later at a concert in Minneapolis he revealed the real Prince. He came onstage in zebra-pattern bikini briefs and leg-warmers. And he made “I Wanna Be Your Lover” seem like a candy-floss come-on. Right onstage in front of 2,600 people, he French-kissed keyboardist Gayle Chapman. And as his dad sat in the orchestra pit at the Orpheum Theater, Prince tore into “Head.” “I think we’ve become stranger - our personalities,” said the bandleader, comparing how the group had changed since its first Minneapolis performance thirteen months earlier. “I think we are a little bit more comfortable in our image. We all felt that we’ve wanted to dress this way, talk this way, and play this way. When we first went out, it was like shock treatment. Because some of the places we played were really behind and they [audiences] were older, too, so they were really tripped. We know for a fact that we can’t dress in three-piece suits or glitter outfits, or we can’t dress so raggedy till no one will want to watch us anyway. It’s just basically us. I wear what I wear because I don’t like clothes, It’s the most comfortable thing I can find. I’ve gotten a lot of criticism for it. Everybody thinks I’m gay or a freak and all kinds of things like that [giggles] but it doesn’t bother me. It’s just me. That’s the way I am. I let it all hang down. People should wake up to life like that and not worry what everyone else is thinking about them. In the ‘60s, it was just like that; nobody cared what anybody else thought. People would go to concerts with their mother’s clothes on if they wanted and paint all over their face and it didn’t even matter. They were just as wild as the acts were, if not wilder. It was live. Everything now is getting commercial and cool. We’ll suffer a slow death like that - musicians and audiences.” Kids, he said, are the smartest members of the audience. That’s what he learned on his truncated first tour. “They’re ready for a change. You have to tell them the truth now. You can’t play around when it comes to politics, lyrics, music, school, busing, the whole works. They just seem a lot more aware. The older people are going to have to listen to them.” Yet Prince doesn’t aim his songs at kids. He essentially creates material that he likes. “I like to surprise. I like excitement.” And that became apparent in 1980. 11-02-1980 : Minneapolis StarHome-grown Prince : On way to stardom ? Prince performed during 'homecoming concert' By Jon BreamPrince's national hit records have had a low profile in his hometown, but his homecoming concert Saturday at the Orpheum Theater clearly demonstrated to the locals that he has the makings of a star. In his first concert here since his "I Wanna Be Your Lover" climbed to No. 1 on the soul charts and No. 11 on the pop surveys, Prince was totally captivating, exciting, charming and a bit strange. The 20-year-old recording wiz who composed, performed and produced two entire albums by himself projected a curious androgynous persona. The muscular, long-haired performer wore zebra-patterned bikini briefs with a matching, shredded top and black, over-the-knee socks and high-heeled boots. Prince pranced around the stage like Mick Jagger, sang with a girlish falsetto that recalled Smokey Robinson and humped his guitar a la Jimi Hendrix. No matter what he did, the crowd of about 2,000 people was transfixed. And the teen-age girls screamed every time the sexy singer waved an arm or swiveled a hip. Prince's music is a hybrid as odd as his outfits. Simply put, he blends hard-rock and funk - the hard-edge of soul music with ballad-styled falsetto vocals. (He throws in an occasional ballad, too, which made for an expertly paced, 75-minute show.) In many ways, his music recalls that of the Isley Brothers when Hendrix was their guitarist. Although Prince records his albums with no other musicians, his young and inexperienced backup band has matured remarkably since its debut here a year ago. (And Prince has grown into an assured performer, too.) The chemistry between the six players was apparent, especially in the way Prince used bassist Andre Cymone and guitarist Dez Dickerson as dramatic and musical foils. Their long instrumental breaks occasionally seemed indulgent, showy and unimaginative to anyone who attended concerts by heavy-metal rock bands in the 1970s. But they left Prince's predominantly teen-aged audience in awe. The songs, though, were undeniably attractive. Prince effectively synthesized catchy melodies with danceable rhythms. His lyrics were less accomplished; they tended to be simple-minded and often sexually explicit. The concert left little doubt that Prince is an extraordinary young talent and commanding entertainer who should win many followers when he embarks this week on his first major national concert tour. In short, Prince will likely become the first pop star born, bred and based In Minneapolis. Cincinatti Bogart’s* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Attendance : 450 / 1.300 / Tick. Price : $5.50(Opening Act : Keenan Ivory Wayans)-4381506250940Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)54102006372225A couple of days later, once again, reality would rear its ugly head. We were about to play Cincinnati, at the legendary Bogart’s. Before the show, we got a gut wrenching report – there had been a tragedy at the Who concert, also in town that night. People had lost their lives. Suddenly, what we did seemed so shallow, so selfish. What could playing some songs and collecting applause possibly mean when weighed against young lives, snuffed out. This would be the first of many experiences that would cause me to deeply question my motives, my priorities, and my values over the next year. 14-02-1980 : Philadelphia Emerald City* Advert. Start : 10:00PM / Attendance : 400 / Sold Out / Tick. Price : $9.00 / $7.50(Opening Act : Nona Hendryx & Zero Cool)Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)The next show found us in Philly, at a club called the Emerald City (as I recall, it was actually across the river in Cherry Hill, NJ, but it was considered to be Philly). It was our first real experience with that east coast attitude – it was a real tough crowd, even though we had a massive hit, and were headlining?! Years later, this would be brought into perspective when Journey, at that time one of the biggest selling bands on the planet, was booed off the stage in Philly during a show they did with the Stones. So much for brotherly love…) 15-02-1980 : NY Bottom Line (2 shows)* Advert. Start : 8:00PM (1) / 11:00PM (2) / Attendance : ? / 400 / Tick. Price : $7.00-438785523875(Opening Act : Keenen Ivory Wayans)Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Our next stop was the one I was completely pumped about – New York. I was finally back in the City That Never Sleeps, and this time, it was different. The word was out among the media and industry crowd, so thy would be out in force. The greatest thrill for me, though, was the venue – we were playing the legendary Bottom Line. Every big name of the past 10 years had played the Bottom Line. I had seen countless pictures in my favorite rock magazines of folks that went on to be superstars on that stage. And we were about to be on that stage ourselves… amazing?! Walking in for soundcheck, I had another experience that would become commonplace for me. It was the, “so THIS is it…??” experience. The place was smaller than I thought it would be (‘intimate’ in showbiz parlayance – if it was less famous, it would be called small). It was, well, kind of dingy (I would come to understand that New York has a vibe that Midwesterners would consider dingy in general?!). The weirdest thing was, the stage had this big concrete pillar right in the middle of it?! Kind of like performing next to a bridge abutment… We would once again do two shows (two very LATE shows, another New York peculiarity). There were rumors of Big Names that would be attending to check out the new Wunderkind (kind of like Hendrix at Monterrey). We were told by management that it was imperative that we do well (kind of like Tom Hanks character in That Thing You Do – “It’s important that you not stink tonight…”) After the first show, we had what was, for me, our first significant Rock Star Moment. We were in the dressing room, effusive over the success of the first set, when two VERY TALL, longhaired gentleman (made even taller by the massive shoes they wore) were ushered in by management. The next thing I knew, we were being introduced to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from KISS?! The thing that really blew my mind, though, was the fact that this was prior to the Unmasked album, so no one had ever seen them without their make-up before?! THIS impressed me – now we were rockin?! The second show went fantastically, and management was pleased. Press response was wonderful, and the stage was set for Prince to continue to build a reputation as a critic fave. It was also evident that steps had been taken to safeguard Prince’s voice. He had started with a vocal coach (great idea?!), and was doing things to take proper care of himself and his voice that were paying off. As exhilarating as the New York visit had been, we were about to join the Rick James Fire It Up tour, as Special Guest. In concert hierarchy, on a three-act bill, the first band up is the opener, the middle act, the Special Guest, and then, obviously, the headliner. I have come to feel that the Special Guest slot always holds the greatest potential to win, because the ice has been broken by the opening act, but the crowd’s energy peaks during your set. Often times, it can be better than headlining. It would be our first arena tour. We were so excited – for all of us, that’s where we saw ourselves. I had seen myself there since I was in 9th grade, playing air guitar to Cream, Grand Funk, and Hendrix in my bedroom. Rick’s career going with Super Freak. His drawing power was at its peak. Unfortunately, some of the problems that would plague him in later years, in the form of alcohol and drug abuse, were beginning to manifest themselves at that time. We were scheduled to be on tour with Rick for about to perform for the biggest crowds, and in the largest venues, that we had seen to date. But, as always, there were also some surprises waiting for us…My Strange Relationship with PrinceBy Nelson George - The Riff (2021)Of all the musical forces that defined the ’80s, I had the most unusual interactions with Prince Rogers Nelson, that bold singer-songwriter-producer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He would be in and out of my life quite a bit in “the Me Decade,” I’d have no interaction with him for years after, and then he’d become my unlikely benefactor in the 21st century. My first serious introduction to his music occurred at a house party hosted by friends from St. John’s University, which we’d all graduated from in June 1979. I knew “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “Sexy Dancer” from the radio, but at the party my college pals played the entire ‘Prince’ LP, particularly vibing the hard-rocking “Bambi.” As early adopters, my college friends had already sensed that Prince wasn’t just another Stevie Wonder-influenced R&B love man (though he was partially that), but a musical adventurer unbound by tradition. In the fall of 1980 word got out that Prince was gonna play the Bottom Line in Greenwich Village, then New York’s premier showcase club. So by college friends bought a block of tickets and we had a mini college reunion. After all these years I still remember the shock of seeing Prince and his first band, which had men and women, blacks and whites, in a very segregated era of music. His single “Uptown” was already in rotation on black radio and his mixed-race and gender band epitomized “black, white, Puerto Rican/ everybody just a freakin’.” Prince, in his first trademark outfit - trench coat, black bikini underwear, red bandana, heavy eye-liner - was a blaze of audacity and talent. He sang falsetto like Smokey, shredded on guitar like Santana, and bent gender like Bowie. It was my first time hearing the ‘Dirty Mind’ classics “Head,” “Party Up” and “When You Were Mine.” Still vivid in my mind is Prince humping the leg of bassist Andre Cymone and then walking over to kiss keyboardist Lisa Coleman. When he did the incest song, “Sister,” I nearly fell backward out of my chair. Whatever was going on up in frigid Minnesota was sho nuff freaky. 4023360773620500Ultimate Prince – 2018Prince and Nile Rodgers friendship began at Prince's first-ever concert in New York City. Rodgers wasn't quite prepared for what he saw. He arrived a little late, just as the band had taken the stage, and he was struck by the sight of a "gorgeous girl" with her back to the stage in an outfit that exposed a set of tight buns. "I'm going, 'Whoa ! Look at the girls they have in this band !'" he said?in the video above. But then the person turned around to begin the first song, and Rodgers realized that the wonderful ass belonged to Prince. Nile Rogers @ Loose Women (2016) (0:01)16-02-1980 : NY Bottom Line (2 shows)* Advert. Start : 8:00PM (1) / 11:00PM (2) / Attendance : ? / 400 / Tick. Price : $7.00(Opening Act : Keenen Ivory Wayans)5399405532130Prince’s first New York appearances, at Bottom Line, a small 400-capacity club. -534035876935A rave review by Steve Bloom appeared in Soho Daily News : “Judging by the album, you‘d never know that Prince is anything but a rock dilettante. In concert, it's clearly his lifeline. The set concluded with the hit "I Wanna Be Your Lover" with Prince necking on the platform with his sexy blonde keyboardist and a black patron screaming out beside me euphorically, "rock'n’roll !"” The Stories Behind Some Of Music’s Most Iconic?PhotosBy Aylin Zafar,?BuzzFeed Staff August 27, 2014Deborah Feingold has shot everyone from Madonna and Prince to Joey Ramone and the Beastie Boys.37604703683635Here, she talks about the unforgettable images from her new book, Music. I was hired by the Soho Weekly News to photograph him at The Bottom Line. They said, ‘Yeah, there’s this new guy, there’s a lot of talk about it, he’s from Minnesota. We want you to get some concert shots. And we want you to ask to go backstage and see if you can get a photo.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t do that.. I… I…. I…’ ?I was really shy. So, I go make my way backstage, knock on the door. Introduce myself to the man who answers the door - big tall guy. I really quickly ask if I can get a portrait backstage of Prince. And the guy said, ‘Nah. Prince doesn’t do that.’ And then with great relief I was like, ‘OK, thanks !’ and went running back to my [place in the pit]. I’m getting ready to shoot, and I feel a tap on my shoulder. That same man signals for me to follow him backstage and looks at me and says, ‘You were so nice about that, come on in and take a few pictures.’ I get in the room, it’s the two of us, it’s a really teeny-tiny space. And I think after 12 shots, I didn’t know what the hell to do after that. I mean, really, what were Prince and I gonna talk about ? After ‘Hi, how are you ?’ What was there to say ? He’s getting ready to go on stage for his first New York show, and I didn’t know what took over me but I just said, ‘Would you like to take a picture of me ?’ So I now have a picture of me taken by Prince. I didn’t know what the hell to do. I didn’t even finish one roll of film. Look at the picture of me, I’m just sitting like a dork smiling, and then there’s a picture of him all happy walking out the door. You had to be pushy in that business to get your pictures. It was mostly men - there were a couple of us women, but it was a lot of men - and the last thing you could ever accuse me of was being pushy. To a fault. And I think [my manner] hit a nerve with him and I think he felt like doing something nice in turn. That was kind of always my experience. I was always polite.17-02-1980 : Boston Paradise* Attendance : ? / 730 (Opening Act : Keenen Ivory Wayans)v – Nightchild Reviews – Looking At 1979-1980 Prince Tour (2019) (0:06)-5353057078345??-02-1980 : Fire It Up Ad (0:01)BillboardPrince – Bottom Line, New YorkBy Nelson GeorgeAdmission : $7This young Warner Bros performer made an impressive New York concert debut before an SRO crowd Feb. 15. While Prince’s hit single I Wanna Be Your Lover initially attracted the audience, he proved himself to be an artist of many dimensions. Musically, Prince’s 11-songs, 120-minute set mixed well crafted pop/r&b love songs with hard edged rock. With his Smokey Robinson-like voice and Jimi Hendrix-influenced guitar playing, Prince successfully married these two diverse styles. On Still Waiting his sound is tenderly romantic. But he was just as comfortable performing Don’t Wanna Stay (???), a rock tune highlighted by his guitar solo. His five-piece band was as flexible as its leader, though it did seem a bit more confident in a rock milieu. Visually, Prince’s appearance fascinated the female patrons and mystified the males. His clothes fit his image. He wore purple tights and leopard skin shorts. Putting both music and image together the audience was confronted with a charismatic performer who inspired laughter, good feeling and much in the aisles dancing. All of which suggest that Prince has the qualities to be a star.34963104070350018-02-1980 : NY TimesRock : Prince and Band-447675170815By John RockwellPrince is the name that a 19-year-old rock composer, singer and instrumentalist from Minneapolis calls himself. With two albums and a hit single to his credit, which were essentially solo efforts (Prince producing and playing all the instruments), he has now assembled a touring band, and appeared at the Bottom Line Friday and Saturday evenings. The results were interesting for several reasons, not all of them positive. Prince clearly has a following, especially at the Friday late show among a young, sophisticated, middle-class black audience. He also has a certain flair and charisma to justify that following, and he is obviously a talented musician. But to this taste his work seems a calculated, not very original pastiche of several rock styles, of note mostly because what its success says about black attitudes toward white rock. If George Clinton, in a visual sense, represents a black extension of late-60’s acid rock, then Prince is essentially a similar equivalent for early-70’s glitter rock, with a bit of punk thrown in for contemporaneity. Musically, this is basically 70’s formula rock with a hint of disco (downplayed in live performance) and ornate balladry. Prince sings in a colorless falsetto; the comparison to Smokey Robinson seem premature at best. All in all, the show seemed vulgar and derivative, although his young age and the passing grace of some of the ballads do suggest that there may be room for growth.19-02-1980?: Mountain EarsStill Waiting (Edit) * - Bambi single22-02-1980: Rick James ‘Fire It Up’ Tour-4483105088890The tour resumed and eventually hooked up with the popular funkster Rick James, with Prince serving as the opening act. Featuring an established veteran and an up-and-coming artist, these shows were a bonanza for fans and were billed by promoters as "The Battle of Funk," which helped generate rivalry between the two bands. Often, Prince's concise, energetic sets were more appealing than James' ponderous two-hour performances. "We were young and hungry, and we started kicking his butt." remembered Rivkin. 44202357010400Prince was the opening for the funk star. Many dates include a third act for the tour, either with Lenny White, and his jazz band Twentynine or with Kleer, a funk band with three girls. Focused on the east coast and south with a few extra dates for the west coast, the tour went through 38 cities, most venues having a capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 people. The promoters of the tour spoke about a "Battle of Funk" and the press focused on the rivalry between Prince and Rick James, describing Prince as the young challenger. The Prince set delights the audience and it often had better critics than James’, which actually contributed to a certain rivalry between the two stars. Prince and his group did not sympathize with James’ camp, whose principal activities were turning to drugs and an underlying tension appeared throughout the tour.Prince’s set focuses on the last album. Traditionally, the setlist is as follows : "Soft And Wet", "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad", "Still Waiting", “I Feel For You", "Sexy Dancer", "Just As Long As We're Together", "I Wanna Be Your Lover". He sometimes add "Head" and "When You Were Mine" was sometimes included in the set a few times at the end of the tour.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Trouble in the land of funkFrom the standpoint of where we had come from, this tour was staggering in its scope. The number of folks in Rick’s crew, the size of the sound company and the rig they carried, the number of people onstage with Rick – everything dwarfed us and our little hit single. How would we be received?? Before, we had only played for folks that had come specifically to see Prince. How would Rick’s audience respond?? The tour would have a rotating opening act slot, with former Chick Corea drummer Lenny White, and his band, Twennynine, doing some shows, Roger and Zapp doing some, and Tina Marie on yet others. Lenny and Twennynine was a special treat for me. I was a huge fan of his solo work, and had once sent him a copy of a really crappy demo of mine. In a hilarious coincidence, once the tour started and we got to hang out a bit, Lenny reaches into his bag, and pulls out my tape?! It was part of a ‘bad demo’ collection that he carried with him. We had BIG laughs over that?! He had tremendously talented cats in his band (even his soundman was one of the best I’d ever heard?!). My favorite was one of his two guitarists, Eddie Martinez. Eddie would go on to fame, as the power guitarist sound behind Robert Palmer’s massive hit, Addicted To Love. They were all such REAL guys?; I had a blast hanging with them. There were some great folks in Rick’s band as well. My favorite was the bass player, Oscar. He was instantly engaging and friendly, and helped make us feel at ease right away. It was uneasy from jumpstreet, though, between Rick and Prince. There was definitely an ‘alpha dog’ thing goin’ on between them. Again, Prince was the kind of guy that, no matter who you were, you were going to have to EARN his respect. It’s important to realize a common personality dynamic among performers, of any kind (musicians, actors, athletes, etc..) Their greatest drive is to be acknowledged, and accepted (love me, please love me…) There is usually also a heightened sensitivity to being rejected. To protect oneself against the pain of rejection, when you have chosen a life that requires you to subject yourself to the continuous possibility of being rejected, a peculiar personality type emerges. It’s the ‘egomaniac with an inferiority complex’ – in other words, “I’m great, aren’t I?? Or am I??” When two such personalities collide, resentments, suspicions, and feuding are often the byproduct. Prince and Rick were no different than many pairs that started off awkwardly, and, in the rarified, pressure cooker atmosphere that stardom creates, who’s to say how any of us would respond. But, suffice to say, from the beginning, the elements were present for one whopper of a clash. It intensified once the show started. Like I said earlier, sometimes you’re just better off playing 2nd than headlining. We just had so many things going for us – the freshness of Prince’s sound, the fact that he was being touted by the black teen mags as the next matinee idol, the sheer energy and flamboyance of the band and the show (nobody had ever seen an R&B act rock like that?!) It all just added up to us destroying the audience every night, while Rick would struggle many nights, losing half the crowd before his set was over. It was the Rainbow on steroids, EVERY NIGHT?! The problem was compounded by Rick’s lifestyle. He would party all night every night, and then sleep, literally, until right before showtime. Upon waking, he’d grab a bottle of Courvassier, light up some chronic, and head out onstage. This is a recipe for disaster in every way – physically, vocally, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Perceptions can become permanently distorted under those conditions. Things seemed to be smooth for the first two weeks. It appeared that Prince, and Rick were, if nothing else, cordial. Rick was the kind of guy who would trust you if you hung out with him – Prince was the kind of guy who only hung out with his own crew. It was a recipe for misunderstanding. I genuinely liked Rick. We had come from similar backgrounds, in that we had both been black musicians in white bands at one time. While we didn’t hang a lot, we spoke often. I felt I could see past the bluster and bravado into the real man. I felt that, while our lifestyles at that time were very different (I had given up the party animal thing before joining Prince), I understood him. There were some laughs along the way, including one incident straight out of This Is Spinal Tap. A backlit stage sign had been ordered with Prince’s new logo, to dress up the stage for our set. There was talk from Prince as to how expensive this thing was. He showed us a drawing, and it looked great. Prince was real anxious to get the thing out on the road and start using it. A few days later, the word came that it would arrive at the venue that afternoon. When the crate was unloaded, I think everyone’s unspoken initial reaction was the same – ‘man that crate looks awfully small…’ I remember thinking, “maybe there’s more to it somewhere else.” Once they uncrate it and set it up, it reminded me of the ‘Stonehenge’ scene in Spinal Tap (the one where they had drawn a diagram on a cocktail napkin for this immense replica of Stonehenge that they would have made for a backdrop, but they got the dimensions on the napkin wrong – it ended up being a miniature?!) It looked like a little baby gas station sign – it was about 7 feet high and 5 or 6 feet wide?! It would have looked like a Lego on stage. After Prince got over the shock of it (and the anger that someone wasted his money on something that looked so puny), we had a big laugh over it. Several weeks into the tour, things just seemed real tense between Rick and Prince. Bobby, Andre, and me, accepted Rick’s invitation to eat dinner with him and his band before the show. It was a good time – Rick seemed more relaxed, less ‘in character’ than he normally was. He said a couple of things during dinner that alerted me to the fact that Rick’s perception, and opinion, of Prince was sinking fast, and that we had a much bigger problem on our hands than we realized. I told the other guys that I was real concerned about the bad blood between Rick and Prince. I knew there was no chance of convincing Prince to sit down with Rick – we were going to have to do it ourselves. That night, after the show (actually, pretty late into the night, about 2am), I took Bobby and Andre with me to Rick’s room. Several of the guys from his group, the Stone City Band, were there. I felt I had Rick’s respect, so I went ahead and did the talking. I just broke it down, and told him that I thought all the drama between he and Prince was largely misunderstanding. I told him I knew Prince didn’t have any ill will towards him, and that it’s just a personality thing – he’s just not the gregarious type. I told him we all respected him, and appreciated the opportunity to be on the tour. After I broke the ice, the other guys spoke from their hearts, as well. Rick really seemed to receive what was said, and it felt like the hatchet was buried. Many times, as the oldest guy in the band, especially in the early days, I just felt a responsibility sometimes to watch Prince’s back. Maybe it was part of being an oldest child in the birth order – sometimes, I just had this big brother thing kick in. In this particular case, I felt I had done the right thing. To my shame, there would come times in the future when I stopped caring, and started watching out for me…The shows were billed as a ‘Battle of Funk’ between Prince and Rick James. Dickerson believes that Prince easily got the best response, arguing, ‘The freshness of Prince’s sound, the fact that he was being touted by the black teen mags as the next matinee idol, the sheer energy and flamboyance of the band and the show … all just added up to us destroying the audience every night, while Rick would struggle.’ James, however, remembered things differently, writing in his autobiography : ‘At the end of his set he’d take off his trench coat and he’d be wearing little girl’s bloomers. I just died. The guys in the audience just booed the poor thing to death.’ It seems odd that James would pick on Prince’s dress sense to ridicule him, as his own stage wear wasn’t that dissimilar: it’s not as if leather chaps, a bullet belt and neckerchief is that much more sensible than Prince’s trench coat and briefs. James was forced to admit that Prince’s performance improved during the tour, but he argued that this was because the younger artist was cribbing from his act. The importance of pleasing the audience – such an important part of Prince’s early studio records – was even more prevalent onstage. Announcing the title of the second song, ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?’, as a question before launching into it, he would change the song from a rebuke to a lover to an encouragement to an audience that was already screaming its approval. These were less rock shows than mass seductions. Before starting ‘Just as Long as We’re Together’, in a voice noticeably softer than his singing voice (or his famously deep speaking voice), he’d sweetly enquire of the audience, ‘Is everybody wet ?’ It was also during this tour that Matt Fink adopted his arresting onstage uniform of green scrubs, a white face mask, hat, shades and stethoscope. Although this was in 1979, the image is as indelibly 1980s as Max Headroom : this strange, jerking figure at the back of the stage, ready to take off on a synth solo whenever Prince shouts ‘Doctor !’ – an essential part of what makes this band so visually interesting.A Pop Life (NL – 2019)However, the album and the single I Wanna Be Your Lover were selling very well and were certified gold. What next ? Maybe playing as a support act wasn’t such a bad idea ? Enter Rick James. Prince was added to the line-up for Rick James’ Fire It Up Tour, which was quickly dubbed The Battle Of Funk. The tour lasted from February 22nd to May 3rd, 1980. It laid the foundation for Rick James’ lifelong hatred of Prince. According to James protégé Teena Marie, James was to blame, for the full 100% : “It wasn’t really Prince. It was more Rick than anything. In private, [he dug Prince’s music] although he would never admit it”. In his (auto)biography Glow James writes : “The eighties had arrived. I felt like I was racing a souped-up Ferrari with no one challenging my front position. But then I looked into my rearview mirror and saw this one sports car gaining on me. The driver was so small I could barely see his head above the steering wheel. Strange thing is that, on the advice of others, I had invited him to the race. He didn’t catch me - and he wouldn’t for a long time to come - but I never liked his fuckin’ attitude. He called himself Prince.” James had never heard of Prince, but after listening to the album and single he was prepared to give the upcoming artist a shot. Things went sour very quickly. James was annoyed by Prince and his (‘alleged’ according to James) shyness. The fact that Prince watched James’ show every night was frowned upon as well, quickly turning into accusations of Prince stealing from James (moves and/or music). During the tour it became ever more obvious that Prince had considerable talent and he started to win over the audience with his showmanship, soul, funk and new wave. Bobby Z. : “We were young and hungry and we started kicking his ass”. The band wanted to learn, were hungry and worked fast. The show ran smoothly by now and there were nights the support act met with more enthusiasm than the headliner. Long story short : Rick James would diss and ridicule Prince for the rest of his career. Prince has never said a word about Rick James and/or his music.PopMATTERS (2012)Like Prince, James issued his debut album in April of 1978. But he was the first to enjoy chart success and position himself as the next prominent figure in funk. James wrote, arranged and produced Come Get It ! as a satisfying blend of hedonism and romance. It included thrusting grooves such as “You and I”, soul searching ballads like “Hollywood” and reeked of sex and drugs with “Sexy Lady” and “Mary Jane”. James dominated on bass while sporting a healthy horn section and relied on bright female backup vocals. His own singing was teasing and raw, but never too emotional to completely tarnish the party vibes. James’ presented his cheeky style as “Punk Funk”, a clever marketing tool made to distance his blasting tunes from disco. That reputation further emphasized his fresh and unapologetic approach, shielding him from any risk of looking outdated. That was a key sentiment sought by James’ label, Motown. The prestigious label was an empire in decline during the late ‘70s. Its recent film endeavors flopped and many of Motown’s classic acts were gone, and resident genius Stevie Wonder was losing his edge with a concept album exploring the life of plants. So Rick James’ street smarts and appeal were in desperate need, bursting through with perfect timing. James’ punk attitude and labeling also hinted a sacred bond with the disenfranchised, intriguing fans overseas. In a 1979 Blues and Soul interview, he pointed out the similarities shared by UK punks and his own rough experiences: “To me, a punk is someone who says what’s on his mind and doesn’t take no shit. Punk… is relatable [to funk] because punk rock was poor, white British kids whose only vehicle to get away from their suppression and economic stress was through their music… Now, I was born in the ghetto and everyone in my band has starved and we’ve all been through the rats and roaches syndrome. We’re from the streets and we’ve been through the gang trip, too.” Rick James was 30 years old then, enjoying his big break after roaming around since the late ‘60s. Previously, he served some jail time for minor felonies, played with numerous bands and tried his luck in Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. -4762506772275Meanwhile, Prince was barely 20 years old. He still boasted his high school afro and lived in his somewhat remote hometown of Minneapolis. Despite those odd circumstances, the young Prince secured a three-album record deal with Warner Brothers. His 1978 debut, For You, consisted mostly of bashful love songs that didn’t quite excite as much as James’ entry onto the scene. It was a rather moody album - even its lead single, “Soft and Wet”, wasn’t so daring. Despite acting as a one man R&B band—writing, arranging, producing and performing—Prince was still far from being in full swing. His wider musical spectrum rarely shined, only glimpsed through rocking tunes like “I’m Yours”. Vocally, he maintained a high pitch, which proved a bit tiring due to excessive overdubbing. The uneven effort and modest sales further increased Prince’s fears that he might be mismanaged by Warner’s industry-standard “Black Music Department”. He would soon pen more risqué tunes than before and establish a distinct image to avoid any kind of labeling. Almost effortlessly, Rick James was on a roll with his subsequent releases. Bustin’ Out of L Seven (1978) and Fire It Up (1979) quickly went gold, keeping intact James’ devious tradition of featuring himself with at least one girl on the cover. He also continued to avoid the strong social commentary funk was known for earlier in the decade, and showed no interest in creating a sci-fi alter-ego like George Clinton and his adventurous space cadets band, Parliament. Instead, he composed his funk tunes as a marching band for freaks - one of his most commonly used adjectives. In many of his songs, James presented himself as the natural go-to-guy for any kind of action. Resting his case in “Come into My Life”, he sweetens the deal by promising to “bring my private stash if you come”. James had a knack for pounding beats and didn’t permit long improvised solos. Still, he enjoyed shout outs, like “Horns Blow !”, cueing his group to step up. At times, James appeared as strict as James Brown was when he bossed around the J.B’s. But often enough, James led his parade at ease, demanding satisfaction and promising liberation for all the dancers, hustlers, and druggies to come his way. Prince went on to record his self-titled second album in 1979, carrying a more reserved, mystical persona. He gave rare and awkwardly brief interviews which didn’t quite complement his newfound musical aggressiveness. “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad” and “Bambi” soared with crushing sexual frustration; ballads such as “It’s Gonna Be Lonely” and “When We’re Dancing Close and Slow”, were now eerily erotic instead of hopelessly romantic. He generated profound intimacy by sparse instrumentation, soft voice and confessional lyrics, such as “sex related fantasies is all that my mind can see/ baby, that’s honestly the way I feel”. The looming theme of obsession was mostly sugar coated, for the time being, in the up tempos of “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “I Feel for You”. Thus, Prince’s sophomore release was catchy enough to earn him his first immediate commercial success, including a national TV performance on American Bandstand.Rick JamesPrince and Rick James were turning heads as the new men of funk. Each was a bluntly sexually driven figure who was exciting to follow as he groomed a musical talent about to manifest in its entirety. Yet to fully crossover, both continued to depend upon the same fan base of young black Americans. In 1979, James had begun hearing about Prince without giving him a second thought. However, concert promoters regarded them as two of a kind and a guaranteed attraction if billed together. Soon, Prince was slated as James’ opening act for the Fire It Up tour. An inevitable clash was on its way. James’ baffling first impression is duly noted in his autobiography The Confessions of Rick James: Memoirs of a Super Freak (2007): “The first time I saw Prince and his band I felt sorry for him. Here’s this little dude wearing hi-heels, playing this New Wave Rock & Roll, not moving or anything on stage, just standing there wearing this trench coat. Then at the end of his set he’d take off his trench coat and he’d be wearing little girl’s bloomers. I just died. The guys in the audience just booed the poor thing to death.” Other accounts suggest Prince made a point in upstaging James. Either way, tensions were running high throughout the tour. Backstage shenanigans of stealing instruments, physical confrontation and general intolerance were served cold by each artist. Long after parting ways, Prince and James never resolved their resentment and remained touchy when comparisons were drawn between them. For both, the ‘80s marked the beginning of trying times and notable turning points. Prince released Dirty Mind in 1980, which gained him the most notorious reputation he could have ever hoped for. His sexual frustration was slowly graduating into sheer confidence. Prince’s sensitivity in “When You Were Mine” and “Sister” had led to a challenging moral and sexual ambiguity. His desire was no longer confined to a traditional adult relationship. He also started to represent a collective thought, similar to Rick James upon backing those in need of “Bustin’ Out”. Prince’s “Uptown” and “Party Up” were also songs that projected the dance floor as the vital sphere in which a new breed will arise, free of any hang ups. He further crystallized this progressive idea with his own multi-racial and gender-bender backing group, soon to be dubbed The Revolution. -4572002475865Prince adapted wholeheartedly the New Wave sound on Dirty Mind, and his subsequent albums also included plenty of synthesizer-based tunes, ditching the traditional funk gear and sound. He eschewed a “Punk Funk” tag to his current musical direction, but he did dress the part. He performed nearly in the nude with a new borderline spiky haircut, while attaching a “Rude Boy” pin to his coat, embracing the calling card of Ska-heads. He was also pleased to preach to NME straight out of the punk manifesto in 1981 : ”All the groups in America seem to do just exactly the same as each other - which is to get on the radio… Obviously, the new wave thing has brought back a lot of that greaser reality. There are so many of those groups that there is just no way many of them can make it in those vast commercial terms. So they have no choice but to write what’s inside of them. I think it’s all getting better, actually.” OUAT In MPLS - S01E4 (2020) (0:13)464629576835Fort Worth Tarrant Convention CenterPrince plays Tarrant Convention Center, Fort Worth, the first date of the nine weeks tour with Rick James??-02-1980 : Fort Worth Star-TelegramA new “Prince” of soul arrives on the sceneBy Roger KayeThey’re calling him the next Stevie Wonder, and perhaps with a good reason. The singer-composer known simply as Prince appears to be on his way to becoming the biggest solo artist in years. And “solo” definitely is an apt way to describe his talents because Prince does everything on his records except press and sell them. The credits on his current hot selling self titled second LP tell the story. It was produced, arranged, composed and performed by one person - Prince, who says he doesn’t want his real name known “because it’s too hard to remember.” The album already has yielded one big pop single, “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” which reached No. 11 on the charts. And a second single, “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad,” is bulleting up the charts and could go higher than the first hit. All this and Prince has yet to reach his 20th birthday. In fact, the multi talented artist received a six figure contract to sign with Warner Bros. when he was 18 and then became the youngest person ever in the labels history to produce his own album. That LP, “Prince - For You” included the disco oriented hit single “Soft And Wet,” which gave Prince his first musical recognition when it reached the soul top 20. But Prince can’t be considered simply a disco artist. This music is a fusion of blues, jazz, rock, pop and funk that defies categorization. And that’s just the way he wants it. “I don’t like categories at all,” said the young entertainer who open for Rick James at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Friday night. “I’m not soul and I’m not jazz, but everyone wants to put one of those labels on me. They don’t call the Bee Gees soul. They are either pop or something else. It’s hard to classify Earth, Wind and Fire, but you always know it’s them when your hear them.” And that’s the type of musical recognition prince is seeking. He wants to develop his own sound and identity. “There’s just not one category that all of my tracks fit into,” he pointed out. “Some are funk, some hard rock and roll and others like ‘For You’ could be classical.” Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince was introduced to music in a hurry because his father was a jazz band leader and his mother sang in the band. At the age of seven, prince begin picking out themes from his favorite television shows on the piano. “I had one piano lesson and two guitar lessons as a kid,” recalled the singer who was heading up his own rock band by the time he was 12. That band initially called Grand Central and then named Champagne went to when the group members entered high school, began playing hotels and high school dances, and about half of the group’s material was original songs written by Prince. After mastering the guitar by the age of 13, prince learned the drums at 14 and then moved onto the bass, saxophone and an assortment of keyboards. Finally, by the time he was 16, Prince had his eyes set on signing with a major record company. He needed some sort of break, though, and he got it in the summer of '76 when he hooked up with Chris Moon, the proprietor of a Minneapolis recording studio who earlier had recorded some tapes by Champagne. Hoping to sell some of his own original material, Moon had made a demonstration deep of his songs back to only buy his own acoustic guitar. Realizing that he needed some more music on the tape to sweeten the sound, Moon called on Prince to add some backing piano tracks. Prince then ask the producer if he wanted bass on the tapes. Moon excepted the offer. And before he was through, Prince also laid down some drums, an electric guitar lead and some multiple tracks as a back up singer. Amazed by the youth’s first eternity, moon took the tape to his musician-manager friend, Owen Husney, a 12 year veteran of the music scene. “Not bad. Who are they ?” Husney asked Moon after listening to the tape. When told it was just one teenager, Husney immediately offered to be Prince’s manager. In the winter of 1977 he produced a professional demo tape of the young singer and then took the tape to the West Coast, played it for a few of the major record companies and watched the tape sell itself. The tape immediately netted Prince two big contract offers, But he turned them down. “I didn't take either one of them because they wouldn’t let me produce myself. They had a lot of strange ideas… tubas and cellos and such. I knew I’d have to do it myself if it was going to come out right.” Warners afforded him that opportunity and sign him up. He’s already achieved a certain amount of success with his health records, and that Stevie Wonder-style stardom many are predicting for him may not be that far away. However, princess taking it all in stride. “I just don’t think about it,” he says, “it’s all just part of the dream factory. If it happens, it happens. It’s best not to worry about it, though, because if you strive for it and then don’t get it, you end up disappointing and feeling like a failure.” But many record people are betting that won’t happen. They feel that Prince could be a king before it’s all over.23-02-1980 : Shreveport Hersham Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:50(Opening Act : Instant Funk)Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)They grow so fastI learned in my cover band days that a group grows more in a week on the road than they do in a month of rehearsing. There’s something about doing it every night in front of an audience that speeds your growth and development as a band, as well as individually. The Fire It Up tour would prove to be significant for a number of reasons. First, it was huge in helping Prince, as a frontman, and us as a band, to ‘find’ ourselves. We found our niche and began the long process of mastering it. It also solidified our R&B base. Rick’s audience was predominantly black, and in light of the edgy ‘funk meets punk rock’ thing we were doing, we needed to capture the loyalty of that audience. It was important to Prince, and it was important to us – we wanted to go boldly where no band had gone before, but we wanted to take his core audience with us. It was a great new experience for me, as well. I had always played predominantly white venues coming up – sometimes, I was the first brother ever to set foot in the joint?! For me, to come out on stage in a city like Shreveport?; Louisiana, and see 18.000 African American faces was a powerful thing. Only about 3% of the population of Minneapolis/St. Paul was black, so this was a whole new world for us. Prince’s vision for us (and I shared it with him) always was to be more of a multiracial Rolling Stones than a stereotypical R&B group. He had spoken often of my playing Keith to his Mick. It was something that had never been seen in black music – or any other music for that matter. In the end, it’s the barrier busting we were able to do that I’m most proud of. Over the years, I’ve had dozens of young (and not-so-young) black men tell me that they started playing guitar because of seeing me with the band. That’s a powerful and a humbling thing – that’s a legacy that goes beyond the adulation or the temporary buzz of being a celebrity. That was one of the incredible things about the early days of the band – working with someone who was as insane as I was about the future. He was the first person I ever worked with that had a more bodacious dream than I did. For the first time of my career, I was in league with someone who could dream as big as I could, and was crazy enough to believe, like I did, that anything was possible (even if it meant rewriting the industry’s rulebook…) It was that vision, that dream, which drove Prince and the rest of us to be the absolute best we could be. We had to be the best – the best musicians, the best performers. As Tina would say, ‘simply the best.’ Rick had done the same in his way, before us. He had brought a Big Rock Show attitude to the R&B world, in much the same way Garth Brooks would bring it to country music many years later. In a way, he brought the spectacle of an Alice Cooper to the funk (complete with a dancing joint onstage?!) In a real sense, we were able to take that next step because someone like Rick had already pushed the envelope. It was obvious to those that witnessed the tour, though, that this was a changing of the guard. Even people who didn’t get it, couldn’t deny the power of it. We were also learning how to live with fame (frankly, we had no choice?!) During the first week of the tour with Rick, we had an experience that sealed the lesson that began at the Rainbow. Prince and I got the bright idea that, after we had finished our set, we’d go out into the house to see Rick’s show. In fact, we thought it would be cool to hit the lobby and the snack bar for a hot dog or something. Now, at some level, we were obviously still mischievous kids trying to see how much we could get away with. We were aware that it would probably create some kind of stir – we just weren’t sure what that would be. As I recall, it was Prince, Andre, and myself. We were able to take a kind of backstage shortcut to get to a lobby entrance, and proceeded to head to the snack bar. In a weak attempt at being incognito, Prince was wearing shades. Growing up in the Midwest, you could live in a major city, and still be just 15 or 20 minutes away from fields and cows. Cows are really funny animals – their responses are incredibly slow. When I was a teenager, we used to find a herd of cows and play a little game. We’d sneak up behind them, and then make noise to get their attention. They do this bizarre slow-motion thing, where one or two of them s-l-o-w-l-y turns around to see what it is, and, eventually (in what seems like hours), they ALL turn around and look at you. Then, slowly, they would start to chase you (this may seem bizarre, but we didn’t have bungee jumping or rock climbing, so you could consider it one of the early Extreme Sports…)?! That night, as we strolled toward the snack bar, it kind of reminded me of the cow thing – slowly, one or two folks realized it was us, standing in line, and they s-l-o-w-l-y started to surround us (kind of like one of those zombie movies). Suddenly, I was struck with the sense of urgency, and said to Prince and Andre, “We’d better get out of here…” When we started to head back to our little ‘secret passage,’ the response stepped up several notches to something that began to resemble our Rainbow experience. A couple of security guys were alert enough to help, and we escaped with just a little clothes tugging and bumping. So, our little experiment proved to us once and for all that things had changed (“Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more…”) It would be the last time we tried to hang out in the house at a show. We were really hitting our stride onstage. The band was growing tighter by the day, and we had this soaring confidence that every time we went onstage, we’d win. The vocal coaching was paying off as well, and Prince’s voice stayed strong. He had developed a very strict regimen to safeguard his voice, and he seemed to have no trouble this time out. For all the growing folklore about Prince and the sex-crazed image, behind the scenes it really more closely resembled the Cosby show. We would go out from time to time after a how or on a night off, but we were so tame. At the time I joined the band, Prince had never tried drugs of any kind – no pot, no nothing. He didn’t drink at all, due in no small part to the fact that he couldn’t. His body simply wouldn’t tolerate it. He would have one drink, and get violently ill. The rest of the band just didn’t have any great need for it,, especially in the beginning. I had been a drinker and recreational drug user in my high school days. It continued for my first few post-high school years, but I grew concerned about its affects – not on my health, but on my ability. I had become so obsessed with becoming the best musician I could be, that I wanted NOTHING, not even an alleged ‘good time’ to hinder or diminish my skills. The mind-numbing effects of fame would challenge my perspective later, but, when I 5294630-445770joined the band, I was not only a teetotaler and non-drug user, but I didn’t even ingest caffeine (I still don’t – I’m kinetic enough without it?!) We would often repair to the hotel lounge after a show, have a soft drink, and check out the band, whenever they had live entertainment. Somewhere along the line, a ritual began – Prince had Rob Marchner arrange for us to get up and use the lounge band’s gear and play a few songs. Thys would grow to become a tradition on the road over the years. Some nights, in the interest of protecting his voice, Prince stayed in. The rest of us would elect from time to time to venture out anyway – to a club, a movie, or walk around a mall. Every once in a while, life would remind us that we weren’t in Minnesota anymore. One night, Andre, Gayle, and I were unwinding in the lounge of the Holiday Inn we were staying at in Shreveport. Gayle got up from the table for a few minutes, and when she returned, told us that some ‘good old boy’ had cornered her and asked her if she was with “them niggers.” Gayle, who was not by any means timid, told him that, yes, she was, and walked away. When she pointed him out, Andre and I must have somehow, with a look, put the fear of God in him – he slithered to his beat up pick-up truck in the parking lot like he was running Olympic time trials?! I’m sure it didn’t help much that we dressed the rock star part 24/7 (a philosophy I had developed in my cover band days – if you’re going to be it, look it). We were not exactly an unconspicious lot. Sometimes, our ‘unique’ appearance caused folks some serious distress. I remember during one of our mad dashes through the airport (somewhere in the Deep South) seeing a matronly older Southern Belle suddenly get this look of horror on her face and exclaim, “Oh, my word?!” as we sprinted by (OK, I admit it – I LOVED it when people got that upset)?! Rick’s band also drew their share of attention. They travelled via tour bus, and frequented many truck stop restaurants in the wee hours. All the brothers in the band had weaves-long braids (someone in the crew, I can’t remember who, started calling them the Braid-y Bunch?!) One night, Rick announced from the stage that they had been forced to throw down the night before at a truck stop. Rick said, “somebody used the ‘magic word,’ and we had to kick some…” I thought, “I guess we have overcome – that’s a far cry from Nat King Cole being pulled offstage and beaten in mid-performance by racists…” In stark contrast, we were seeing a number of white fans in the audiences in many markets. Later, the racial breakdown of our audiences would serve as an informal indicator of how much pop airplay we were receiving in a city, but, in the beginning, it was just cool to see everybody on the scene. Our band was developing a personality offstage, too. The one thing we all shared was a sense of humor, and a love of pranks and other escapades. One of our favorite public pranks was ‘the wheelchair gag.’ We would find an empty wheelchair in an airport, and one of us would get in it (usually Prince). We’d push it down a concourse, or in the main terminal, and then leave him sitting while we walked away. Then, as we watched from a hidden vantage point, he’d fall out of the wheel chair onto the floor?! Panicked people would scurry to help him, and then we’d come rushing back to wheel him away (let me add that we meant no disrespect to the handicapped – we were just messing with people’s heads?!) Once, I took a turn in the chair, and the guys rolled me just outside the doors to the sidewalk, pretending to leave me while they were getting the car. I pretended to slowly slump over in the chair, and then proceeded to star drooling – the kind that forms this long strand that slowly reaches toward the ground?! Funny, people weren’t as eager to help when you added the drool to the gag… 24-02-1980 : Houston Sam Building* Advert. Start : 8:00PM(Opening Act : Instant Funk)28-02-1980 : Chicago Uptown Theater * Tick. Price : $10.50Matt Fink becomes Doctor Fink -5143506477000Matt Fink, who was re-christened Doctor Fink, dressed in an entire surgical outfit, complete with rubber gloves, stethoscope and surgical mask. He just wanted to avoid comparison with Rick James, who was singing a song dressed as a prisoner. Prince used a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson L6S for this concert.Matt became "Dr. Fink" during the Rick James "Fire It Up Tour" when Prince was the opening act. Wearing a jail outfit quite similar to one of Rick James outfit on "Bustin Out (On Funk)", Prince asked Fink to change his image and come up with ideas : "In one video I wore a tacky looking paratrooper's jumpsuit. It was actually Prince's, but didn't fit him. I had also worn a black-and-gold suit with tails a la "Elton John". He said : "nah...it's been done before". I was also looking at trying to do something in black leather, but there wasn't enough time to get that together... Another idea was a guy in a doctor's suit. He perked up on that one. He said : "why don't try you try on a doctor's suit and you can become Dr. Fink". He sent his wardrobe person out in Chicago - we were on the road - who brought back a pair of scrubs, a stethoscope and a mask."434149550800“The lightbulb went off above his head. He has his wardrobe gal run out to a uniform shop and get me authentic scrubs. And Prince goes, “I’m going to get an easel and a canvas up there, and I want you to act like you’re painting when I introduce you. It will be weird. It will be funny. Watch.” So for several nights I was introduced as Dr Fink, and I’m up there painting.” – Matt Fink, former Revolution keyboardist (Spin, 2009)4653915-447675Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful : Dr. Fink Talks 2 Beautiful Nights (2013)I became Dr. Fink when we were on the (Fire it Up) tour with Rick James, when we were his opening act. We had done a couple shows with James and I was wearing a jail outfit. James did this song called "Bustin Out (On Funk)," which was about a cell block, he wore a prison jumpsuit and Prince saw this during the show. He took me aside and said “the headlining group is wearing the jail suit. Since we're the opening act, I think you're going to have to change your image. Do you have any ideas ?” I said “maybe.” In one video I wore a tacky looking paratrooper's jumpsuit. It was actually Prince's, but, didn't fit him. I (had also worn) a black-and-gold suit with tails a la Elton John. He said “nah...it's been done before.” I was also looking at trying to do something in black leather, but, there wasn't enough time to get that together (on the road)... (Another idea) was a guy in a doctor's suit. He perked up on that one. He said “why don't try you try on a doctor's suit and you can become Dr. Fink.” He sent his wardrobe person out in Chicago - we were on the road - who brought back a pair of scrubs, a stethoscope and a mask.29-02-1980 : Chicago Uptown Theater* Tick. Price : $10.50-467995259969000A complete history of Prince's Chicago performancesBy Jake Austen – Time Out (2016)February 28-29, 1980 - Uptown Theater, Fire It Up/Prince TourAfter canceling the solo tour that would have seen Prince (promoting his self-titled sophomore album) debut in Chicago the previous December, the Minneapolis singer opens two shows for Rick James. Upon arriving in town Prince decides to lose Matt Fink’s prison-themed stage costume and has an assistant visit a nearby surgical supply store to buy a gown and a surgical mask, and Dr. Fink was born on the Uptown stage that night.Mar 8001-03-1980 : Pittsburgh Stanley Theater* Attendance : 2.952 / ?02-03-1980 : Pittsburgh Stanley Theater* Attendance : 2.951 / ?05-03-1980 : Greenville Coliseum5274945578231006-03-1980 : ? Atlanta Omni(0:52)(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)(A : City Lights Atlanta – 10/10)-4667256124575Soft & Wet / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad / Still Waiting I Feel For You / Sexy Dancer / Just As Long As We’re TogetherI Wanna Be Your LoverThe earliest widely circulating recording of Prince's career taken from his stint as the opening act for Rick James. An excellent soundboard recording, and all the more remarkable considering it is almost 30 years old. The recording is unfortunately slightly incomplete, however that's more an observation than a complaint. There are a few minor flaws throughout, but again these are extremely minor. The recording starts abruptly during the opening 'Soft And Wet', the sound level slightly dips during 'Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad', and there is a 3 second drop-out during 'Just As Long As We're Together' - very small flaws considering the overall quality. The show itself is a fascinating look at Prince's early live career, and includes a rare live performance of 'Just As Long As We're Together' - something which is hard to find in all the performances through the years. An essential release in any collection. For the age of the recording, it is surprisingly good and crisp. It doesn’t start with a roar as you might expect, just a nice beat provided by Bobby Z. The keys join in very soon and it’s straight into Soft and Wet. I have a couple of immediate impressions. The first is that the band sound very accurate and it sounds very much like the album recording. I expected something a little more rugged like the recordings I have heard of the Dirty Mind and Controversy eras. My second impression is that Bobby Z is very good. I really enjoy his playing here, it’s not stand out spectacular, but very solid. The song sounds great, good enough that it makes me want to go back and listen to the original. Its sounds just as sharp as it does on record, the only real moment it deviates is the 1.40 minute mark when there is a brief guitar moment. It’s held in pretty tight, and the rest of the song is played straight. A nice little -487680-457835change of pace next, as Prince brings us down with Still Waiting. I would love to see some footage of this show, I really want to know who is playing what. Still Waiting has a nice little keyboard intro, I want to say its Prince, but that’s just guessing, and a little wishful thinking. Still Waiting is beautiful. It’s a forgotten song in my collection, and listening here I want to grab out the first couple of albums and give them a week in the car. Again, I am amazed how good the band sound, everything is very clean, and I can’t fault a single note. It’s not very rock n roll, but it’s fantastic on my stereo. Things take an upswing about the five minute mark, and nice drum fill by Bobby, and then the ever familiar Prince falsetto wailing. He sounds so young, and already so good. I can’t see the crowd, but I imagine there are some young ladies passing out about now. There is a pause as Prince introduces the band, although it takes him a few seconds to quieten the crowd – “shhhh, Atlanta, shhh” The Prince I know and love becomes apparent as he introduces himself “I’m just a freak baby” It’s a moment in the recording when I smile to myself. I Feel For You is very vibrant, and I guess most of the crowd are moving to it. The keyboard isn’t too strong, and the bass is more prominent. It definitely gets two thumbs up from me. In fact every song on this recording sounds great, it’s hard to say one is a highlight or any better than another. During the bridge Prince hits us with his faux seduction. He starts with “there’s so much I want to do to you”, and then goes on to mention his desires, before the music ups again, 49796702428240and dirty Prince starts “When I’m with you, all I want to do is screw you” Very funny, it seems in contrast to the rest of the song, but gives a true indication of what Prince was about in the earlier days. Straight after this Dez plays hard for a minute, and in the last couple of minutes of the song we see the template for the Dirty Mind/Controversy albums to follow. The bass is fantastic in Sexy Dancer, much louder and more popping than I have previously heard. I wish the album version was more like this, I would play it more often if it was. This for me is the most surprising song on the recording. Normally I would have Sexy Dancer on, but wouldn’t give it much attention, but on this recording I can’t ignore it. I listen rapt to the bass and guitar interplay. Weaved in with the keyboard, it casts quite a spell. The band play this one to death and the keyboards towards the end are well worth giving attention to. Things get even better when Prince says “Andre…” and we get a minute of bass work. I was just thinking, “Wow, this is a great song, the band is stretching out” and then the guitar enters for its turn. It’s fast, and tight. Even with all the fret work the song never once threatens to become rock, and I love it even more for this. Just As Long As We’re Together begins with Prince asking “Is everyone wet ?” The song has a nice little feel to it, and I love it when Prince sings “I gotta always have you in my hair” – a foretelling of things to come. Once again I find myself listening to mostly the keyboards and Bobby Z on the drums. The song flies by and I find it finishing before I have properly composed any thoughts about it. There is another change near the end, and some nice interplay between the keys and the guitars. In fact the whole band locks in very nicely and keeps it going for some time. Andre again is impressive on the bass, and again I find myself wishing there was some footage of this. I am very surprised, the song goes for 10 minutes, but it’s always interesting, and it’s one of the most enjoyable parts of the gig for me. Prince -4845055503545thanks the crowd, and then encourages them to get up as the band plays I Wanna Be Your Lover. Like every song on this recording, the playing is so good, it’s hard to believe it’s live. The band is obviously very well rehearsed and drilled. There’s not much to say about this song, all the elements of it that we know so well are there, and sounding just as good as ever. I was thinking that this gig was pristine, and missing the grittiness that I often enjoy, but there is 30 seconds of guitar near the end that remind me that it really is a live show. It’s not too much, just enough to give it a live dirty sound. Again the band stretch it out after the three minute mark and it heads off into the territory I love, and good groove and some jamming. The whole thing winds up about with Prince exhorting the crowd “Yea……yea…….yea !” then in a flash it’s over. Although very short, this recording is very highly recommended. The quality of the recording is excellent, and Prince and the band sound great. As I said earlier, I was impressed by how sharp they were. Although not as nitty gritty as the live recordings I normally enjoy, you cannot fault a band for being so sharp and good. There is plenty of indications as we listen here of what will come in the future, but this is hindsight, I don’t think at the time I would of guessed. All in all a great peek into the beginnings of the legend.07-03-1980 : Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:50 (Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)I had my doubts about this Prince guy. I liked “Soft & Wet,” cause girls went all buttery when it came on, and they let you put your hands on them while you danced. The falsetto was problematic, but Smokey Robinson had done pretty well for himself, so I let it go. All I saw of him was still pictures, so I saw the hair and soulful eyes, but I ain’t automatically go to male hatred of pretty guys, cause he played guitar well, and I’m a rock guy (Van Halen is my favorite rock group). I figured he had to be a regular guy, more or less. I would have a chance to see him up close and personal, because he’s coming to Jacksonville with Rick James, the King Of Punk Funk ! I LOVED Rick James, absolutely loved him. He took funk to a new level; he did what he wanted to, said what he wanted to, and looked like he wanted to. He smoked weed unapologetically, sometimes onstage; his latest album was named “Fire It Up,” after all. I hoped that the new guy could hang onstage, that Rick wouldn’t blow the kid away with pyrotechnics. Lenny White is an established jazz drummer, with a neat slice of funk named “Peanut Butter,” but I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup at gunpoint. He came on stage while I was getting my head right in the low seats of the Jacksonville Coliseum. It would only take a few minutes to wend my way up to front row center if I left a little before Lenny finished playing. Just have to be persistent. As Lenny White ended, I was in place. I was a little to the right of center, about four rows back. Perfect. I’ve always liked to be close to the stage; I like to see the expressions on the artist’s face, hear their voices over the mikes. Bands had talent back then, they could stand the scrutiny. But, I digress. That Prince guy was about to come on. Let’s see what this purty muhfucka was all about. The band came onstage generically, except for how they looked : Dez and Andre looked like they could have been in Led Zeppelin, if Led Zeppelin had Black guys in it. Lisa looked like she was out cheating on her richass, old husband. Fink was in full doctor regalia, complete with jet-black shades, and Bobby Z looked much too cool to be the drummer. They all just strolled on stage with the house lights only partly dimmed, followed by this little dude who I swore seemed like he had an aura around him as he walked to the middle mike. He had on a little lacy shirt (more like a blouse, really), thigh-high woolen leg-warmers, leading into high-heeled black boots with stars at the ankles, along with black bikini briefs. A palpable gasp echoed through the crowd, and a deep, street-wise voice rang out, “Lookit this faggot muthafucka !” Prince ain’t move for about thirty seconds, just looking out over the crowd; then, he widened his stance, and ripped into the opening notes of one of the deep cuts on his second album, “Bambi.” I was startled at how loud it was; keep in mind, I had been to an AC/DC concert, and they ain’t have shit on how loud Prince played that night. And every hit was played in a long version. I was soaking wet after dancing to “Sexy Dancer,” and he ain’t had even got to “Soft & Wet” yet. He damn near blew the roof off the sucker when he played “I Wanna Be Your Lover;” those guitar licks sounded far deeper and crunchier live. Close to the end of his set, he took off his little shirt, and threw it out over the crowd. The lady in front of me thought she had a clean shot at it, but I’m 6’4”, and a basketball player then, so I reached over her and grabbed it. She called me all kinds of sissies because I wouldn’t give it back to her, but I guess I thought that shirt would be worth something later on, because in less than an hour, I was convinced that Prince would be our next big rock star. After he finished, a voice came over the loudspeaker telling us that whoever caught the shirt would be allowed to meet Prince. I walked over to the gate, showed the shirt and was let in. His dressing room was spare, with the band scattered around; I shook everybody’s hand, Prince asked me if I enjoyed the show, I said yes, and was quickly ushered away. I guess had I been a girl, I would have been treated a bit more cordially, but I understood. For a little fella, he sure had a big presence. When I walked back out to the floor, the crowd had dissipated, almost as if it was over. Everybody had taken a seat in the stands, because Prince had wore them out. It took Rick about thirty minutes and four songs before folks gradually came back out on the floor. I heard later that Rick had gotten really angry with Prince for showing him up, that Prince had been stealing Rick’s onstage moves, and often went over time as an opening act. It was a beef that lasted until Rick’s death. I went to three more Prince shows after that one : the Controversy tour, 1999 show, and the Musicology extravaganza. I would have gone to see him every time he came, even if both of us were on walkers. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he is no longer breathing the same air as me. But I guess that he’s through looking for the purple banana, since they put him in the truck. But he left the world better than he found it, if only for his being in it. Good night, sweet Prince; may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…Chapman has particularly vivid memories of a date in Jacksonville, Florida, which she says was her ‘first experience with racial inequality and racial tension. People were quite upset with me for doing some of the things I was doing with Prince onstage, although it was all choreographed and part of the show. They’re screaming, “White bitch, get away from him.” It’s hard to ignore that when it’s a few feet from the stage. At one point in the same show, the audience started to press forward and people were getting hurt, and Prince finally did the right thing and refused to play until they backed up.’08-03-1980 : ? Lakeland Civic Center (0:57)(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)(A : I’m Just A Freak – 10/10)-4953005608320Instrumental Intro / Soft And Wet / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ? / Still WaitingBambi / Sexy Dancer / Just As Long As We’re Together / I Wanna Be Your Lover43884856503670The “Boogie Intro” has me agape from the very first moment. It is a rambunctious ball of all that Prince does, a four-minute blast that encapsulates all his sounds and genres. From the opening groove underpinned with the brute strength of Prince’s guitar riff, to the fantastically electric wonder of Dr Fink’s synth solo, we are immediately transported into Prince’s world. I shouldn’t read too much into this opening number, but already I can hear funk, rock, and hints of the Minneapolis sound that will come in later years. It is an engaging opening that never wavers from its unflinching servitude to the groove, no matter what euphoric sounds Prince pulls from his guitar, the dance floor is firmly in mind. On top of the cyclone of an intro, “Soft And Wet” plays as per its title, it is both soft and wet in comparison. It’s only halfway through the song that the first musical punch is thrown, and the second half is a feisty drunk in comparison to the first sober minute. It does sound gorgeous in this quality though, and it only suffers in comparison to the earlier song. The concert takes the phrase?hot and heavy, and makes come alive in the music they are playing. “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad” bleeds a warmth through the recording, and Prince and Dez bring a heavier sound with their twin guitar onslaught. It’s not about a wall of noise however, they play with a sparkling finesse that provides wings for the song to soar above such earthly sounds. If not grounded by Bobby Z’s insistent drive the song would threaten to disappear in its own swirl of smoke and mirrors, instead Bob is the captain who keeps it moored as he underpins Prince’s flight of fancy. Prince stakes out his genre hopping style as he tackles a ballad, in this case “Still Waiting.” He plays it with a breezy style, there is space throughout the song and Prince feels no need to over complicate it with sound. It is a thoughtful performance and has a wistfulness to it that lies just beyond my ability to articulate. It’s an immersive experience, the schmaltzy synths? a canvas for Prince to paint his vocals across. After the color and sophistication of some of this earlier material, “Bambi” sounds positively caveman like. It plays as a battering ram, Prince clubbing us early with his muscular guitar riffs, but for me the real joy comes later in the song when he shakes of these rock cliches and plays his solos with his own unique electric fury. There is the feeling that I have heard it all before, but the unhinged final minutes awakens the fan inside me and I am caught up in this wave of untamed big guitar sheen. The band introductions are timely, especially as “Sexy Dancer” is the moment when we can hear Andre and his bass in all its glory. With its nagging hook it is all about the dance floor, and even if I can’t see it I can certainly feel it in the low end. A coherent amalgamation of all the band’s talents, I am particularly taken by the synth solo that is sumptuous, yet lies entirely within the groove, always remaining slave to the beat. Andre’s bass solo goes one better, and leaves me full of regret that it isn’t longer, but the final guitar solo on the song cleanses me of any such thoughts and makes a strident statement across what had been a disco song. There is a clutter about “Just As Long As We’re Together” and initially I aren’t drawn to it in the same way as I am with some of the other numbers. Prince is forceful though, and already he and the band are good enough to win me over with their evolving styles and hybrid sound. The bass and guitar battle to hold my attention, and I am the real winner as both are relentless in their drive for a petulant funk sound. Andre is thrilling in the bass lines he creates, I expect this of Prince with guitar, but Andre’s finesse and blistering skills is a revelation to me - this exactly why I collect bootlegs so passionately. The show finishes with a strutting version of “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” From the first riff ringing out in the darkness it is a moment to stand up and celebrate the pure pop sound that lies at the heart of Prince’s music. Infectious and uplifting, there is nothing more to wish for, this concert may only be eight songs, but it holds everything you could want from Prince. The pop sound may reignite the audience, but Prince pulls the rug from under them as the final half of the song becomes an extended jam that touches on the bases already covered by Prince. He touches on the first base of pop, before sliding into the second base of funk. From here it is a helter skelter sprint for third base and his strong rock sound. The home run comes as all these are amalgamated in one glorious sound that can only be described as “Prince.” The music acts as a time machine, and this final jam has me right back in 1980, I am with Prince and the band every step of the way as they bring the concert to a close. These Rick James concerts by Prince are short, but that matters not one bit as he crams every sound and genre he can into a short sharp set list. Each song comes as a jolt as he continues to change direction, but always the music is focused and? delivers a powerful experience. Eye records has done us all a favor with this release, these concerts are part of Prince’s legacy and an important part of his story that the estate are not telling, He was about the live performance as much as the studio, and this raw unfiltered Prince deserves every piece of coverage he gets. This will be on my player for a long, long time to come, and with every listen I remember just how electrifying Prince was in the 1980’s.Keyboardist Matt Fink recalled that, prior to the album’s (Dirty Mind) recording having begun, Prince was already focused on its writing, recalling that “we were in Orlando, Florida on the Rick James tour, and me and Bobby and Dez were heading out to Disney World, and I asked ‘Wanna join us ?’ So Prince was sitting up outside on a balcony playing his guitar, and he said ‘Naw, I’m gonna stay here, working on a new song,’ which turned out to be ‘When You Were Mine.’”5017770645096509-03-1980 : Fort Lauderdale Sunrise Theater(Opening acts : Twennynine featuring Lenny White / Lady T)-447675-77851014-03-1980 : Hampton Rhodes Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:50 (Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)15-03-1980 : Greensboro (rescheduled 11-04)Raleigh Dorton Arena* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:50(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)Ben Greenman – Dig If U Will The PictureIn his American Bandstand interview in 1980, Dick Clark asked Prince about his plans to take his album out on the road. “We have a tour,” he said coyly. It was a brutal understatement. He would finish up a run of shows in support of his Prince album on February 17 in Boston, and then, five days later, take the stage in Fort Worth opening for Rick James, which would keep him on the road for three more months, and not a leisurely three months either - they barnstormed across the eastern half of the country, playing forty dates in seventy days : Shreveport, Greenville, Saginaw, Jackson, Landover. In March, after playing a show at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, Prince and his band returned to the downtown Holiday Inn where they were sleeping. That same night, North Carolina State University’s Sigma Pi fraternity was holding their spring formal in the hotel’s ballroom. Prince approached the stage and asked if he could play when the party band took a break. He and his band performed a short set, shook some hands and left. Colby Warren, now a designer, remembers being impressed. “We were an all-white frat at the time,” Warren told me, “but I was a hardcore funkateer.” It is not known exactly what attracted Prince to Sigma Pi, though their crest was lavender and white.16-03-1980 : ? Columbia Carolina Coliseum (0:43)(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)(A : I’m Just A Freak – 10/10)Instrumental Intro / Soft And Wet / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ? / Still WaitingSexy Dancer / I Wanna Be Your LoverThe band opens with “Boogie Intro” and only eight days after the Lakeland concert it is sounding a lot more raw and dirtied up, the guitars growling with a barely restrained aggression, while the synth does little to defuse this general feeling, its squiggles and noodles barely light decoration across the far more solid and unrelenting guitar drive. There is a sense of showmanship with some of the guitar work, but the main riff is all muscle, tough and sinewy. Although “Soft And Wet” doesn’t grab me in the same way that the opening “Boogie Intro” did, it is nevertheless warm and inviting, with the music sounding playful against Prince’s lyrics. It does threaten to become a purely pop vehicle for Prince to ride, but a midsong guitar break gives it a jolt of energy that elevates it beyond pop pulp. The guitar sound that has threatened to rise up in these first two songs is finally unleashed for “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad” and immediately conquers all in its path with a sound that at first supports and elevates the song, before later running off on its own and making the latter half a pure guitar onslaught. I like it both ways, but in the end it is the latter stages of the song that remain most memorable for me, as the guitar becomes the musical manifestation of all Prince has been singing about, and his inner hurt and anger is released in the shriek and howl of the guitar, before Prince ends it by returning to the simple groove and the heart of the song. The recording is warm for “Still Waiting” and Prince and the band linger on the opening, giving us a slow descent into the emotional body of the song. From the descent, the next five minutes we slowly rise again, until we hit a high point when the band, Prince, and the underlying emotion, all boil over, before Prince brings it back to a gentle simmer for the remainder of the song. It’s a seductive piece, it seduces me almost unknowingly, it wasn’t until much later in the song that I realized how closely I was listening and how invested I was in the music. This is a surprise package, and one that carries this centre point of the show before the final two songs take us out on a high. The band introductions are lowkey, and very respectful, as Prince takes the time name check each bandmember. The music returns to the fore with an extended work out of “Sexy Dancer.” It doesn’t have any fizz to it, instead it stays an easy groove, albeit one with its own natural way as it swells and rises as if it was breathing. Of note is the keyboard solo that sounds like a classic 1970’s cocaine fueled jam that was heard on so many albums of the late 70’s,? updated and modernized for Prince’s more musically propelled sound as he brings the disco feel into a 1980’s context. Of course, the song is furnished with a guitar solo, this one sitting lower in the mix, only breaking cover as it builds into a flurry of notes. I said earlier that I thought this was a complete recording, but there is a fade at the end of “Sexy Dancer” that suggests otherwise. There may be more to this show, but it is hard to make a definite statement one way or the other. Prince’s set finishes with his major song of the time - “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” Although poppy, it doesn’t snap or crackle in the way I expect, and initially it doesn’t interest me. However it runs for ten minutes, and the second half of the song is given over entirely to a groove aimed at making the crowd move, while some guitar work arrives pitched squarely at creating an interstellar sound, a sound that I am mesmerized by, an audacious move for a pop song, and especially one that is playing to a pop audience. Prince is certainly creating a splash, and as an ending for the bootleg it is perfect as I immediately want to hear the next step in this evolution. Like a good book, Prince’s music keeps me wanting to read the next chapter. Short, yet highly enjoyable. Of course, I whole heartily recommend this bootleg to anyone who follows the early part of Prince career and his trajectory to the top. An impressive soundboard recording, this is one bootleg that I am sure will only grow in stature with time. It has been circulating for a while now, and I am sure that those who follow the bootleg world are well aware of where to hear this. As always, it comes highly recommended by me.20-03-1980 : Rochester War Memorial-43815012255521-03-1980 : ? Cleveland Public Hall(0:20)* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $9.00 / $8:00(Opening act : Vaughan Mason)I Wanna Be Your Lover / Sexy Dancer / I Feel For YouSoft & Wet / Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?This concert was broadcasted by local radio.22-03-1980 : Louisville Freedom Hall(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)23-03-1980 : Detroit Cobo Arena* Advert. Start : 8:00PMWally Safford – Wally, Where’d U Get Those Glasses (2019)I first met Prince with his first band. It was him, Dez, Andre, Bobby Z, Dr. Fink and Gayle Chapman. Prince was wearing that trench coat with the bikini briefs. But then he would wear blue jeans with the black boots that had tassels on them. From the time we met, we always did their tours. There was a rapport with the Cavallo, Ruffalo, Fargnoli management team. When I first met him in 1979, he was opening up for Rick James. We were doing security, but I had already known about him. I was working in the pit in front of the stage. It was me and Mitch, working with the house security at the venue. We were normally backstage, but we would check and constantly make our rounds. We checked to make sure everybody was doing what they were supposed to be doing. I recall Rick getting constantly mad at Prince because Prince and his band were making Rick work awfully hard. Prince and his band sucked the energy out of the crowd. Rick had gotten a little ticked off about that. All I remember was for the next shows, Rick’s people kept moving Prince’s equipment further and further up front on the stage. It was as if he was almost pushing his equipment off the stage. I mean each night Prince had just a little room to work with on the stage. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why the equipment kept being moved. Each night his equipment was moved closer and closer to the edge of the stage. It was like the game Cliffhanger that would be on the TV show The Price Is Right. The mountaineer climbed and then the game slowed, and each of the prices would stop. The guy stopped, and they would try to guess the price, or the mountaineer would go over the cliff. Then one night, folks with Rick stole Prince’s uniform and the band members’ outfits. The wardrobe case was missing. Prince and his band had to come out in zoot suits like the ones worn by Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Prince had on a pin stripe black and white suit with a white shirt and suspenders. They still kicked butt. I never heard them complain. They just kept going. You could feel the energy. You knew. He sapped the energy out of people with his performances. By the time Rick came on stage, it was like the crowd had been in a 12-round fight with Muhammad Ali. On stage, Rick had to work harder to try to get that hype back up because the artist feeds off the crowd. Me and Prince talked about it. He said, “I remember when I first played in front of Detroit crowd.” He said, ‘They looked at me like ‘Hey. You belong to us, motherfucker. We got you. We got you.” He never forgot that. Ever since then, there was a Detroit connection. This included having a connection with Mojo, who was the first to play Prince’s music in Detroit. Back then Prince did not do a lot of interviews. He did that one interview when he came to Detroit for his birthday with Mojo. This was special. It’s like an iconic interview. I would sometimes think to myself how this is the same guy I remember on his album and now he’s opening up for Rick James. By this time he had his second album. It came out in October 1979 and was self-titled. Rick James’ album, Come Get It !, came out in April 1978. Rick was wild. When “You and I” by Rick James came out, it was on fire. That song was wild and it was the most heavily-rotated tune on the radio. Rick also had the No. 1 album at that time. Then in comes Prince with a song like “Bambi.” It was almost Rock and Roll versus Funk. Records at that point were fast records. Most songs were club records. Take for instance the group Switch. We were the promotional street team for them in Detroit. One of their early songs was an uptempo tune called “Best Beat in Town.” Everything about that time was about fast music. Slow songs weren’t favored until a bit later. I wasn’t that close to Prince at that time. We didn’t actually get close to one another until later. He just didn’t take on to people like that. He had to warm up to you. He had to get to know you first because he was a very private person. We did so many tours. We worked with the group Heatwave, who toured with the Commodores. Heatwave was giving the Commodores the fit just like Prince was giving Rick James a run for his money. The same thing would happen later to Prince with one of his own groups, The Time. Prince had an affinity for Mojo, a radio DJ, because he broke a lot of his songs right here in Detroit. He was a radio DJ. Prince told me the story himself. He told me that when he opened up in Detroit with Rick James on Rick’s Fire It Up Tour in 1980, that Detroit gravitated toward him. He said it was like people in Detroit were saying, “Yeah, man, you belong to us.” That’s what Prince said he felt. So everywhere, whenever he did a tour, he always used Detroit as the testing ground because he said, “If you can make it in Detroit, you can make it anywhere.” You’ve got to deal with the egos, because that’s why that camera lens is something else. I was prepared for everything that came with being in this industry at an early age. My brother in-law, Billy Sparks, used to always say, “Hey, don’t get caught up in the hype. Make the cash and make a dash.” That was a lesson to be learned, because I grew up around older people.Robert Gordy Jr. : The first time I saw Prince - in 1980, he opened for Rick James at Cobo Hall Arena on the riverfront in Detroit ! Prince ! - and his original band - with their fierce swag and attitude - no one had ever seen anything like this before ! - Left the Detroit crowd in SHOCK AND AWE ! Our minds were truly blown away ! We couldn’t comprehend what had just happened ! All of a sudden ! Prince and his crew, at the end of his performance set, suddenly unplugged/“actually ripped” their guitar cords out of their amplifiers, and rushed off stage like the newest ROCK GOD’s we had never seen before ! The crowd of 10,000 (the arena held 16,000) Rick James fans were completely IN SHOCK ! Mesmerized and paralyzed with a catatonic insanity of unbelief ! “What tha F*ck just happened here !” It was an immediate worship of a new deity ! When Rick James finally hit the stage, the crowd’s expectations were EXTREMELY HIGH ! (as you would imagine) “Slay the impostor and perpetrator to your throne Rick !” But once Rick started playing, we realised he couldn’t match or keep up with the youth, energy, swag, attitude, quickness, newness, electric shock and neo-sex-funk! of the new alchemist ! Rick plodded through his set like AN OLD MAN ! The King is dead ! Long live the new Rock/Funk god ! The Detroit music audience is of one mind ! They are one of the hardest audiences to impress in the whole World ! They almost booed Rick off the stage ! (Rick was much better in concert after his Street Songs Album came out) We found out later that Rick was so furious at what Prince had done by up staging him, that he tried to attack Prince backstage !!! Thus, - the long time rivalry had begun !25-03-1980 : STILL WAITING Single Release 54959256734175Still Waiting (Edit) (3:48) / Bambi (4:21)Still Waiting is the third single from Prince's second album Prince, and was released in the USA and New Zealand only. The b-side was Bambi. Unlike the first two singles from the album, no picture sleeve was issued for this single. The New Zealand pressing of the single contained the full 4:24 version of Still Waiting, but which was replaced with an edited 4:12 version on all future pressings of the album worldwide. The single did not enter the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, but reached number 65 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. Listen2Prince (2018) - Released only in the USA and New Zealand, the third single kept his radio and shelf space presence alive.?Barely.vIt only achieved middling success on the Hot Soul chart, stalling at #65.?The New Zealand edition of the single is the only other place to feature the full 4:24 version of "Still Waiting." This ballad was an odd choice for a single, and potentially only selected because of its prominent position in the live set.?There was no cover art made for it, relegated to a generic sleeve.27-03-1980 : Columbus Municipal Auditorium* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:5028-03-1980 : New Orleans Municipal Auditorium* Advert. Start : 8:00PM(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)29-03-1980 : NY Amsterdam NewsCount, uke, arl – move over ! Here’s Prince !By Michael WellsPrince appeared recently at the Bottom Line. No doubt he will arrive atop the white Pegasus that he is astride on the back jacket cover of his latest album entitled Prince. If you are not familiar with the Greek myth of Pegasus, it goes like this : These cats, the Muses, were holding a song contest. The music was so much the joint that it charmed the streams and made Mount Helecon grow toward the heavens. Now ole Poseidan, the God of the waters, didn’t dig it, so he ordered Pegasus to stop the growing by striking the mountain with his hoof. Pegasus did this, and the fountain of Hippocrene sprang forth with waters that inspired the people to write poetry. You see, as the Pegasus is connected with the writing of poetry – that is to say, a poet is said to mount his Pegasus when he begins to write, so, too, is Prince : musically, lyrically, and physically a poet, a song writer, whose weapon and charm is his singingBidding warA native of Minneapolis, Minn., at eighteen, Prince went to California with a demo tape which started a bidding war among the major record companies, the likes of which we have not seen since prior to the NBA-ABA merger, when the leagues flaunted unheard of sums of money to college seniors and proven veterans in order to lure them to their respective leagues. Warner Brothers Records won out, by “making an offer I couldn’t refuse,” beams Prince. Aside from the substantial sum of money, the contract allowed Prince to produce, arrange, compose, and perform his own material. Only the giants in the industry, a la Stevie Wonder, can also make similar claims. Amazingly, Prince can’t read music. However, not being able to read music “hasn’t gotten in my way yet,” says Prince. In fact, it might be his greatest asset. It’s like a blind person’s four functioning senses becoming supersensitive to compensate for the inability to see. They a sixth sense which gives access to areas of the world not available to the sighted person.Dramatic phrasingPrince’s music exhibits that rare quality of spontaneity, enhanced by a montage of instrumental affects. Prince’s voice is earthy and intimate; while his phrasing hinges on the dramatic, always ending statements with proper accent : a sexy, sensitive, exasperating sigh or moan, since love and lust dominate his lyrics. Vocally he can be soft and gentle as on With You; or hard and excited as on Bambi. Can you imagine a voice that is a mixture of Minnie Riperton, Smokey Robinson and Robert Plant ? No ! Well that’s what kind of voice God has blessed Prince with. It is the most unique sound to come around in years ! I can sum up the totality of Prince in two words, musical genius. On his debut album, For You, he played twenty-seven instruments and sang all lead and background vocals. The title tune, For You, a five-month effort, set Prince’s lead against forty-five vocal tapes of himself. The effect is hypnotic, this “Niagara of voices cascading in intertwining over and around each other in a dreamy, romantic melody.” I’m Yours, from the same album, is a hard rocking, ass-kicking tune. Prince played some guitar that probably had George “Lightnin’ Licks” Johnson shaking his head because of the screaming funk. Prince’s talent is so diverse, to display it and act like a male peacock spreading his colourful plumage. Prince must write tunes in a variety of musical genres. Each song tends to highlight a particular aspect of his ability. Prince contains a lot of crossover material and is receiving airplay on pop, rock, and rhythm and blues stations while ranking high on the charts of each category. The funkified, disco-dance rocker I Wanna Be Your Lover and the freaky, synthesized, boogie tune Sexy Dancer serve as hooks, to get you to buy the album and check out the rest of his musical wonderland. Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones did the same thing with Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough from Off The Wall, the pop surprise of 1979. In short, Prince is a smoker and deserves more than a casual listen. Live, in concert, he is bound to be a mutha ! Remember, no first, last, or middle name, just Prince. A musical genius who “wants to be your lover”, (musically, that is !). 409384579375Jacksonville Veterans MemorialTravelling from Jackson to Lake Charles for the next concert, Prince and Matt Fink were arrested because of a prank they played on the airplane. They ended up spending a few hours in a local jail. After the matter was resolved, they chartered a private Lear jet to get to Lake Charles on time.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Another time, we were boarding a flight from Mississippi to our next gig. For some reason, on that particular flight, our seats were separated – Prince and Matt were in the front, and the rest of us interspersed throughout the plane. I was sitting furthest back. Prince was inspired to take the megaphone from the overhead compartment (the one that they keep for emergencies). Only problem was, he had no carry-on to place it in – Matt did. He told Matt to put it in his bag. Understand, this was not malicious, nor was it a Winona Rider kind of thing – stealing wasn’t the issue. The prank value of taking the megaphone off the plane was the issue (and yes, don’t worry, I know that it was wrong…) However, a woman sitting directly behind Prince didn’t appreciate the humor. In fact, she didn’t seem to appreciate the fact that we were allowed to roam free in polite society?! So, she felt it her civic duty to rat on Prince. Remember, I’m sitting in the back of the plane, and I can see this whole drama unfolding. I saw her call for the flight attendant, I saw the look of contempt on the flight attendant’s face as the woman pointed out Matt and Prince, and I saw the flight attendant enter the pilot’s cabin. About this time, Prince sent Matt back to me with the bag, and asks me to stash it under my seat?! “Oh, great,” I thought, “plant the evidence on me…” After a few minutes had passed, the forward door opened, and two (very LARGE) Sky Marshals entered the aircraft. The pilot announced, in a very officious, almost ominous tone, “Ladies and gentleman, please do not be alarmed. A piece of airline property has been stolen, and Sky Marshals will now conduct a row-by-row search in order to recover the stolen item.” With that, our uninformed friends began their sweep of the cabin, checking every carry-on in every row, working their way back toward me. During what seemed like an eternity, I thought, “…maybe the guys will turn themselves in, you know, bolt upright dramatically with their hands up and say, ‘it was us, PLEASE don’t shoot…,’ or maybe just dash and make a run for it. Heck, we were in Mississippi, they could hit the Gulf and leave the country…” Finally, the inevitable came – they had reached my row. The thought hit me, “…shoot, I’m not taken the rap for this?!” and before I realized it, I said, “It’s here, but this isn’t my bag.” The marshals asked me who’s it was, and I pointed to Matt?! Without a word, Matt stood up, the marshals went up and got him and escorted him off the plane?! In a stand-up move, Prince voluntarily went with him, more or less turning themselves in. The rest of us were mildly freaked out, in that we had a show that night?! But, shortly after we arrived at the venue, we got word that Prince and Matt were flying in on a private Lear jet. Seems they were arrested and sent to the local joint, but it turned into a big meet-and-greet?! Prince ended up posing for pictures and signing autographs in jail?! Life was good – really good. Prince’s star was rising, and, by association, so was the rest of the band. We were really developing a strong bond on and off the stage, and our collective personality was becoming more defined every day. The shows were going our way, and it seemed like everything we did worked. As the tour drew to a close (ironically, ending in what has now been my adopted hometown for the last years, Nashville), I wondered what was next…DEZ DICKERSON (Guitarist, 1979-83) – Variety 2018You know the [1980] mugshot ? This is where it came from. We were flying from Jackson, Mississippi and we were spread out all over the plane, but Prince and [keyboardist Matt Fink] were seated together. Prince opened the overhead bin where they kept the emergency gear and one of the things in it was a bullhorn. And I guess he decided he’d like to have a bullhorn, so he snatched it out of the bin and initially gave it to Matt to put in his bag but it wouldn’t fit. So Matt came up to me, 15 rows back, and I’m like “This is gonna end badly but okay, he’s the boss.” I found a way to put it in my bag, but there was a lady who was so incensed that these bizarre-looking people would dare to do this, so she told a flight attendant who told the pilot, and they called the sky marshals. “Ladies and gentlemen, someone has stolen a piece of airline equipment and the sky marshals will be conducting a row-by-row search.” When they got to my row I said, “Yeah, I’ve got it, but I didn’t take it - they did.” Prince stood up, huge smile, thought it was hilarious and was just like, “Take me” - and they did, took him and Matt off the plane and to jail and the whole nine. But because people at the police station knew who he was, they just ended up joking around and signing autographs until management got him out.While on tour in 1980 opening up for Rick James, Fink had suggested to Prince that they should get a police megaphone as a stage prop. The next day, the band boarded a plane and coincidently, Fink noticed the plane had an emergency bullhorn in an overhead bin. He pointed it out to Prince, who then convinced him to put it in his bag since he didn’t have a carry on. A lady sitting behind Prince notified the flight attendant of the theft while the plane was still on the tarmac. Fink explained, “The next thing we know, the pilot comes out and announces, ‘It has come to our attention someone has removed some emergency equipment from the airplane, which is a federal offense.” Sky Marshals conducted a search and found it on Fink and in a stand up move, Prince voluntarily went to jail with him. They were arrested and sent to a local joint, but it turned into a big meet and greet and Prince ended up posing for pictures and signing autographs in jail.”30-03-1980 : Lake Charles Centre CiviqueVenue information suggests this show was rescheduled from February 14, 1980-457200485013003-1980 : Soul TeenThat Mysterious Prince : He Talks About Himself !By J. Randy Taraborrelli “I don’t know why so many people think I’m trying to be so mysterious,” says Prince innocently. “I’m really not into mysteries. I’m just into my music… that’s all.” Maybe that’s why he seems so mysterious. Since bursting on the music scene just last year with the album For You, many have wondered just where this young guy they call Prince was coming from. First of all, what kind of name is “Prince,” anyway ? Secondly, why don’t we ever see any pictures of this guy ? All we see is the same ol’ publicity shot over and over again. Well, the mystery is beginning to unfold. Prince is beginning to open up and they’ve been plenty of new photos in circulation. Prince (who simply goes by his last name because, he claims, the first is “too long”), has scored with a triple-sized hit, I Wanna Be Your Lover. To backtrack a little of his history, the young, 19-year-old singer/musician was born and raised in Minneapolis. He’s the son of a jazz band leader and at the age of 12, Prince fronted his own band and called it Champagne. After about five years of local struggle, the group disbanded and, recalls Prince, “I figured that if I was going to et serious about a career in music, I better start getting busy.” And that’s exactly what he did. A friend of his worked as an engineer in a recording studio. This came in mighty handy when Prince decided to cut some demos (demonstration tapes to take to record companies for possible contractual talks). Prince played all of the instruments on the tape and produced it as well. With demo in hand he went to New York to find his deal. He returned to Minneapolis two months later with two possible contracts. He turned both deals down however because neither record company was interested in having him produce himself. They’d rather he be assigned a producer – which didn’t sit well with Prince. Warner Brothers, though, saw the natural talent so obvious in Prince’s music and decided that, yes, he was certainly able to produce his own recordings. Prince signed a deal with the company and, last year at 18, the young mastermind released his For You album. Needless to say, the record was vinyl-magic. Soft And Wet, a smash single release, brought Prince into the public eye and, from there, it’s been smooth sailing all the way. Well, now the man’s reached the ripe ol’ age of 19 and rode the charts with I Wanna Be Your Lover. Again, he produced, arranged and played all of the instruments. Many have criticized the young wizard with assaults on his ego. What kind of entertainer wants to do everything on his sessions and not have other musicians involved ? Is Prince, in fact, ego-tripping ? “No, I don’t think so,” he says softly (Prince says everything “softly,” by the way.) “It’s just that when I was putting those albums together, I didn't have a band. The ideal situation would have been to have a band back me but l didn’t have one so I did it all myself. I've got one now,” he smiles, “and they are really hot ! In fact, we've been out on the road and it's been a great experience for all of us. If everything goes all right then I may use them on my next album.” Prince recalls the years when his father called his piano playing “banging on the keys.” He adds, “No one really paid much attention to my playing when I was a kid. It was just a phase, maybe that’s why they thought.” But that “phase” mushroomed into a spiraling recording career more astronomical than anyone would have dreamed, including Prince himself. “It’s been great in a lot of ways,” he relates, “but I just don't know if this is what l want to do. Sometimes I think it is… other times l don't.” One thing, however, is pretty certain and that's the fact that Prince does not want to be a so-called "teen-idol." In fact, he goes as far as to say that “if it ever gets to the point where I can't concentrate on my music because I'm always dodging crowds, then I'll quit.” But meanwhile, his career steadily progresses. Prince doesn't listen to much music outside of his own recordings. Why ? “Because if l listen to other people’s stuff I think of how l would have done it differently,” he explains. “I begin changing the whole song around in my head and that's really not fair. Whoever recorded the tune probably worked very hard on it. So rather than be critical, I just don't listen to anyone except myself. When I feel like I want to hear music, I rehearse.” Prince’s current album has done quite well on the national charts and consists on nine of the 20 tunes he wrote for the project. His stage act is quite dynamite. Along with five powerhouse musicians, including a female keyboardist, Prince performs with more stage energy than one would ever dream possible. He’s an introvert in many ways and doesn’t say a great deal. But he thinks a lot and manages to convey those thoughts through his music. When on stage under those hot lights, Prince really comes alive. “I live for my music,” he says, “for the time being. But there’s no telling what I might do if I get bored with it. Maybe I'll go into art. Who knows ? Or I might do just anything,” he shrugs. Actually, one can’t imagine Prince being involved in anything but his music. But one thing is certain and that it, in Prince’s words : “Whatever I do is gonna be good. It'll be the best I have to give... whether it's in music or something else. I always do the ultimate to make sure that I always come across positively. All the time...”Marylou Badeaux – Moments (2017)Men are from Mars, Prince is from PlutoYes, artists are different. Yes, they "march to a different drummer" - some more so than others. Then there's Prince. I suspect that no one has ever gotten inside his head and figured him out. He was just VERY different. I often got the feeling that he saw everyone around him moving in slow motion, as he was living on a different plane than normal folks. The term "whirling dervish" comes to mind ! He definitely wasn't up for the typical promotional activities that most artists would partake in - if not happily, at least grudgingly to advance their careers. Artists understood, and continue to understand, the benefits and need to "get out there". Some actually quite enjoy that aspect of their careers and use it to greatly benefit their visibility. After the release of his second album, PRINCE, I took him to a magazine for a major interview. We considered this a very important step in exposing him to the people who would buy his records. It was clear from the moment I picked Prince up that he did not feel the same. He remained completely silent on the way, even though I tried to give him a bit of background on the magazine and the interviewer. He was somewhere else entirely. The interviewer, taken slightly aback by Prince's shortage of clothing, got right into it by asking, "where are you from". BIG mistake ! Anyone who had read Prince's bio knew the answer and that this would not endear the interviewer to Prince in any way. Of course, the interviewer was probably just trying to break the ice. In a way only he could deliver in that surprisingly deep voice of his, Prince answered, "Pluto". This stunned the interviewer into silence. I suspect that's exactly what Prince counted on. He then proceeded to tell the person all about the trip to Earth. He was so serious in his delivery that I was laughing like crazy (on the inside... I didn't dare even crack a smile). Without stopping, Prince turned the tables and started interviewing the interviewer, asking some pretty personal questions that I won't repeat. It was clear this interview was not a good idea and I had to get us out of there FAST. So many years later, I'm not sure exactly what I said, but we were up and out. On the way downstairs I asked him why he said what he said and then followed up with inappropriate questions. As I suspected, he hated what he felt were "stupid" questions (even though just an icebreaker from the interviewer). He wanted nothing to do with interviews and the "normal" way of promoting. Even then, just 18, he was declaring, "anyone who really LISTENS to my music doesn't have to ask questions. It's all there." "Besides," he added, "you thought it was funny too." What, so now he can get into my head ? I would learn he was very good at that as well. Okay, throw out the promotion handbook. Little did I know at that point how much he would rewrite the way things had conventionally been done in the music business. No wonder, many years later, he would lead the charge on artists' rights vis-à-vis record labels (another very sticky wicket for which there are very legitimate arguments on both sides).4171950610425500Apr 8002-04-1980 : Buffalo Memorial Auditorium* Advert. Start : 8:00PM 03-04-1980 : Rolling StonePRINCEWarner Bros.By Stephen HoldenNot only does Prince possess the most thrilling R&B falsetto since Smokey Robinson, but this nineteen-year-old. Minneapolis-bred Wunderkind is his own writer-producer and one-man band, playing synthesizer, guitar, drums and percussion. Whereas Prince's debut album (last year's For You) stressed his instrumental virtuosity, Prince teems with hooks that echo everyone from the Temptations to Jimi Hendrix to Todd Rundgren. But Smokey Robinson's classic Motown hits, in which the singer's falsetto signified his erotic thrall, are Prince's chief models. The biggest difference between Robinson and Prince is the latter's blatant sexuality. Prince sings exclusively in falsetto. Instead of narrative ballads that trace the progress of relationships, Prince's songs are erotic declarations issued on the dance floor or in bed, virtually interchangeable arenas here. These compositions begin and end in sexual heat. The garish, synthesized textures of such tunes as "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?" don't so much imitate a band backing a singer as enclose his voice in a feverish calliope of the mind, underscoring the urgency of lyrics like "I wanna be the only one you come for," "Sexy dancer, when you rub my body/...it gets me so hot" and "I want to come inside of you." The simplicity of Prince's words, hooks and rhythms are pure pop. With a trace more sophistication, he could become a solo Bee Gees of the libido. Charlotte PostPrince is a prodigy that has burst easily from a shellBy Teresa BurnsI Wanna Be Your Lover. How many times have you heard this line ? Probably a lot if you’ve been listening to the radio, and even more if you have the latest Prince album entitled Prince. And just think, you can hear I Wanna Be Your Lover live in the Charlotte Coliseum from the lips of the talented artist April 25. Prince is more than just someone’s lover : he is a prodigy that has burst easily from a shell into the entertainment field. At the age of 19 he has reached a popular peak that many wait decades to achieve. Many compare his musical ingenuity to Stevie Wonder’s talents. His second album, Prince, was produced, arranged and composed by Prince. The album is filled with variety. Even though Prince admits, “I don’t like categories at all, I’m not soul and I’m not jazz, but everyone wants to put one of those labels on me.” Let’s put a few labels on his pieces for understanding sake. The pieces are all like something, and then not quite. He is correct; it is hard to place labels on his music. Some mellow, some soul-like, jazz-like and hard rock-like. But all of the selections possess the sense of a young person still na?ve in the knowledge of the world, yet keen on emotions. If you compare his Prince album to Stevie Wonder’s Plants, there is no match. Wonder is the master. But then you have to take into consideration that Prince’s career, compared to Wonder’s career, is in the infant stage. Given time Prince has the potential to captivate the admiration and attention Wonder possesses. No doubt it’s condemning to compare anyone to Wonder. So let’s take a look at Prince alone. He turned down two record companies because they would not let him produce, arrange, compose and perform his own album. “I didn’t take either one of them,” Prince said, “because they wouldn’t let me produce myself. They had a lot of strange ideas… tubas and cellos and such. I knew I’d have to do it myself if it was going to come out right.” Then he took three songs to Warner Bros. He became the youngest person in the label’s history to produce his album, he received one of the largest salaries even for an unknown artist and played the synthesizer, guitar, percussions/drums and sung. He is capable of mastering 26 instruments. The next album, Prince, took only five weeks and again, this album was nurtured by Prince alone with the help of only one engineer. Producing and playing at the time is hard, Prince admits. “You really have to have two sets of ears.” To listen to Prince’s music you would never know he was a shy gentleman. His moods and emotions are reproduced through his music. If you miss Prince’s message April 25 you risk missing the next musical hero of the decade. If you do decide to attend the concert, beware of skin. In other words Prince detests clothes.Toledo Sports Arena-445135385635504-04-1980 : Saginaw Civic Center05-04-1980 : Indianapolis Market Square Arena* Advert. Start : 8:00PM06-04-1980 : St Louis Checkerdome07-04-1980 : Milwaukee Mecca* Advert. Start : 8:00PM(Opening act : Twennynine featuring Lenny White)Prince's long strange trip included stops in Milwaukee By Katie O'Connell – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2016)53778156478270April 7, 1980 :?Rick James and Prince hit the Milwaukee Arena in quite a double booking. Reviewer Bill Milkowski, in a review in the April 8 Milwaukee Journal, found their music a "curious blend." "It contains the defiant attitude and antiseptic influence of white punk rock, yet it occasionally sneaks in some of the rhythmic underpinnings of black funk music." A then 19-year-old Prince stripped down to a pair of bikini briefs and thigh-high leggings. "There wasn't much left for the imagination, or for an encore," Milkowski wrote.10-04-1980 : Savannah Civic Center* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:5011-04-1980 : Raleigh (rescheduled 15-03)Greensboro Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.00 / $7:00(Opening Act : Kleeer)12-04-1980 : The Afro AmericanPrince… coming your way !The album credits on Prince’s second LP for Warner Bros Records Prince tells the whole story : produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince it says. As the heir apparent to the title of music’s boy wizard Prince’s accomplishments are all the most impressive when considering that he is not yet 20. With two stunning albums and a smash single under his belt Prince is already a proven commodity; an artist with limitless creativity and a musical imagination that knows no bounds. Born and raised in Minneapolis Prince is the son of a jazz band leader. His mother also sang in the family’s band and it was on his dad’s piano that Prince picked out his first tunes at age seven – playing themes from popular television shows. At the age of 12 he was heading up his own band Champagne playing hotels and high school dances performing both original material written by Prince and the group’s bass player Andre Cymone and Top 40 material. When the group finally split after five years together, it was to move on to bigger and better things. “I figured if I was going to be serious about a music career,” Prince recalls, “I better start getting busy.” Needing a demo tape to showcase his writing and playing abilities but without a backing band, Prince went into a studio where an engineer friend of his worked. The engineer was also a lyricist and in exchange for studio time, Prince wrote music for his friend’s words. Without instrumental support, a producer or arranger, the task of creating a salable demo on his own was one that Prince met with flying colors. With the entirely self-made product in hand he went to New York returning to Minneapolis two months later with two concrete promises from major labels. “I didn’t take either of them,” Prince says, “because they wouldn’t let me produce myself. They had a lot of strange ideas. tubas and cellos and such. I knew I’d have to do it myself if it was coming to come out right.” Back in the studio, Prince cut another demo, three songs this time, which he took to Warner Bros. The resulting contract yielded an entirely solo debut album, For You and a smash hit single, Soft And Wet. For You, cut in Sausalito, Cal., features Prince on synthesizer, guitar, percussion, drums and vocals. It was a five month recording effort and one that catapulted Prince to national attention. After the LP’s release the young mastermind set about getting a touring group together and laying plans for his follow-up album. Returning to Minneapolis he hooked up with his friend from Champagne days Andre Cymone who he hired on as bass player. Auditioning other local musicians (“there’s a lot of undiscovered talent in Minneapolis,” he observes) Prince eventually formed a line-up that consisted of Andre, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman, keyboards, Matt Fink, keyboards and Bobby Z, another old friend on drums. “I chose these guys because they were all fresh, new and unknown,” he remarks. Prince, the second album from this explosive new talent was cut in just five weeks again completely on his own except for the help of an engineer. Nine new originals include I Wanna Be Your Lover, Sexy Dancer, With You, Bambi and It’s Gonna Be Lonely. “Producing and playing at 461772012700000the same time is hard,” Prince admits. “You really have to have two set of ears.”Record Mirror (UK)PRINCE : ‘Sexy Dancer’ (Warner Bros. K 17590T) (BNDA debut 11/10/79)By James HamiltonExtended 8:41 remixed 122bpm 12in of the great jaggedly jumping staccato smacker is now revealed as being basically instrumental and loses some of its powerful concision by being stretched out, but gains some brand new guitar bits.?Baltimore Civic Center(Opening Act : Kleeer)13-04-1980 : Baltimore (rescheduled 12-04)Springfield Civic Arena* Advert. Start : 7:30PM (Opening Act : Vaughan Mason)17-04-1980 : Birmingham Civic Center(Opening Act : Kleeer)18-04-1980 : Memphis Mid-South Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Attendance : 10.274 / Sold Out(Opening Act : Kleeer)19-04-1980 : Huntsville Von Braun Civic Center* Advert. Start : 8:00PM(Opening Act : Kleeer)Gayle Chapman – Stories From The Purple Underground“We had a tiff one day. I asked Prince why he and André would use the N-word with each other. He said it was none of my business. I got angry and asked why he’d hired me. ‘Because you have blonde hair and blue eyes. You fit the bill.’ I was hurt because I wondered what any of that had to do with my talent, but then he came back with ‘You’re the funkiest white chick I ever met.’ Our first big break was as the support act on the Rick James tour. Rick would get his crew together backstage with booze and joints and they would chant, ‘Shit, Goddamn ! Get off your ass and jam !’ I said, ‘We should have our own way of preparing.’ I suggested a prayer and Prince was OK with it. We’d hold hands and I’d say ‘Lord, thanks for keeping us focused. Let us go out and really stomp tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.’ Pretty soon, Prince started leading the prayer. He was going on stage and singing about oral sex but he was acknowledging Jesus too. I think we were in Alabama and Prince had given us the set list. The way the whole thing was modelled was like putting a dick down the audience’s throat. He wanted to say, ‘OK America ! We’re black, white, men and women, gender and race don’t matter !’ He was comfortable in high-heel boots and bikini briefs. He was embracing the idea that you can love in an unconventional way. It doesn’t make you a bad person. He put me out front doing dance moves in everyone’s face. He would have me on my back on all fours and pretend to play keyboard off my stomach. He’d stick his tongue down my throat. We were doing stuff on stage to suggest interracial promiscuity. It was intentional. He was hypersexual. The audience was all black kids. They loved him, but they would boo me.” 20-04-1980 : Dayton University* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:50 (Opening Act : Kleeer)-4533908976360Andrea Foy – Prince And Me – His #1 Fan (2016)First time with Prince occurred when I heard in 1980 the original ‘Superfreak’ himself Rick James was coming to Dayton. Prince was his opening act. I found myself in the nosebleed section of the University of Dayton Arena on April 20th anxiously awaiting concert’s opening act, which doesn’t happen too often. Finally, the lights went down, and the smoke poured all over the stage. Bright lights blinked on and off from the state. The crowd let out a cheer befitting an opening act. One-by-one, without announcement the band strolled on stage. I knew something wild was about to happen in this new decade of the 80s when the band came out; black members, white members, men, and women. They were dressed like the European bands : jeans, leather, headbands, bright colors, and wild hair. This was going to be different, I could feel it, and at least they weren’t doing the tired spaceman act of the soul acts of the 70s. One of the white guitarists got my attention right off the bat. He was wearing leg warmers, high-heeled boots, and what looked like black underwear ! He was short, had long straight hair. “He’s trying to look like Prince,” I thought unimpressed. I thought maybe he was his brother or cousin or something. He had wanted all of the attention before Prince came on stage. (You see in the 70s and before, was customary for soul and R&B bands, to come out and warm up the crowd before the main act. The star would then stroll, out after an introduction.) This white guy was running all over the stage, jumping and running up and down stairs and speakers, not singing yet, playing these rock – tinged song. He was working my last nerve (Where was Prince ?) But I was so over the whole thing. How dare he try and steal Prince’s thunder. “Show off” I was about to get up and go to the bathroom or somewhere when white boy strolled to the microphone… And began, singing. He WAS Prince ! I sat up straight in my seat ! I could not believe it; he had been on the stage the whole time ! I’m mean, I knew the guy looked just like him, and I knew he was light-skinned, but I never had a clue. I still was waiting for Prince be introduced and stroll on stage in a three-piece suit, what did I know. My only prior concert experience had been Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and the Jackson Five. I thought people were introduced ! Besides being even lighter-skinned than all of the 46437552168525pictures I’ve ever seen of him, this Prince was, in a word, tiny (I mean just no bigger than a minute.) Not just short, petite. I couldn’t believe it. Even from the back of the arena, he was… tiny. I didn’t even know what to think. It’s too much at one time, sensory overload. Prince was on a mission : He sang, he played, he ran, jumped, and he was all over the place. I thought he was trying to kill his guitar; he kept playing these long-long solos, which they were hurting my ears. Before we knew it, Prince said an abrupt thank you and left. The audience, still in shock, didn’t know what to think. They applauded which brought Prince back on stage to play, I Wanna Be Your Lover. He left again to cheers and then we waited for Rick James. Rick James came on the stage cussing like a crazy person. I couldn’t figure out what his problem was, but I bet it was the positive reaction to Prince. My mom was not having any of the cussing, and we had to leave. I had no choice but to follow. I wasn’t enjoying it either. My mother supervised every Prince concert I went to until Lovesexy. Yes, I know… But for someone who was an opening act with one song so far Prince sure had a lot of bravado. Not only did he get great reviews from the critics on the tour, but rumor also had it he stole Denise Matthews away from Rick James himself after meeting her at an awards show and renamed her Vanity.24-04-1980 : Richmond Coliseum* Advert. Start : 8:00PM / Tick. Price : $8.50 / $7:5025-04-1980 : Charlotte Coliseum* Tick. Price : $7:50(Opening Act : Kleeer)33343858164830285758127365Attended a Rick James concert in Charlotte, NC. Prince was the opening act - Blew EVERYONE away ! Rick James could not compare when he followed Prince’s act. In fact, about 20 minutes into Rick’s set, people in the audience started walking out. It wasn’t that Rick James performed poorly, it was just that after seeing Prince - there was nowhere else to go ! Prince wore everybody out ! I feel like I was a part of history that night. May Rick James be resting peacefully. His entire set was about 45 minutes or so of complete mayhem and frenzy ! When you first entered the Coliseum, there was no curtain and everything was setup at the front edge of the stage : mic-stands, keyboards, and very few other props. The drum set was in the middle of the stage placed up on a little riser with an oval-shaped sign over it (which was first covered in canvas) that had “PRINCE” spelled out in lights, as in the logo on his 1979 “Prince” album. Everybody was just standing around, jamming to the pre-concert music that they play over the system, smoking joints, grooving, and basically waiting for Rick James. No one really knew who Prince was yet. In fact, I thought we were about to see a band called “Prince For You” (the title of his first album). I didn’t know yet that Prince was an individual and not just the name of a band. I thought certainly that no one would be actually named “Prince”. Then… BAMM ! The lights went out, and you could make out 3 shadowy figures move onto the stage, and then stood with their backs to the audience. The rest of the band took their place, and all you could hear over the sound system was someone speaking in a low, sort of foreboding tone : “Charlotte, are you ready for me ?” The drum roll hit, the stage lights came up, and Andre, Prince, and Dez turned and all charged about 4 or 5 steps toward the audience – and everybody freaked the Hell out ! These guys looked scary as shit ! The one in the middle (who I soon learned was Prince) had this spiky hairdo, full make-up, a pink leather motorcycle jacket, panties, black stockings, and pumps ! The audience reaction was pure fright ! Then Prince reached around to his back, pulled his guitar around to the front, then the whole band started jamming “Sexy Dancer”, and the crowd quickly got over their fright and started rocking to the music and jamming along - all hands were in the air. By the end of that first song, everybody was like : “Oh shit ! This guy AIN’T playing !” The party was ON full blast ! Their play list consisted of songs from his first two albums, but the song they did that most sticks out in my mind is when they played “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad ?”, because Prince was ad-libbing a lot. Like : Why you wanna treat me so bad ? Is it the clothes I wear ? Why you wanna treat me so mean ? Is it the style of my hair ? But what completely blew people away was when they played their encore : “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. Prince went mad, threw off that cool ass pink leather jacket, peeled off his stockings, threw them at the audience, and was running around the stage jamming to the beat with nothing but his guitar, bikini underwear, and high-heeled boots (with little stars on the side). And then once he was done jacking-off the microphone (as if he were giving it head - Prince was a real whore on stage back then), tossed his guitar to the side, reached his hand down into his panties to cover his dick, and pulled his panties all the way down to his knees, gyrating toward the audience with only his hand covering his dick ! WTF !!! The audience was going crazy ! At the end of his set, Prince said “Damn Charlotte, we’re gonna have to come back here again soon !” And that was it ! I was a stoned-cold Prince fan ! I started telling people about Prince the next day ! At that point, everybody was standing around like they had completely forgot about Rick James. But the roadies came out and moved all of Prince’s stuff off stage, the sign over the drums came apart into two pieces and they removed that. But what really tripped me out was once all of Prince’s equipment was off stage, they removed the backdrop that was behind Prince’s set, and you could see that the stage was actually HUGE and that Prince had only been setup right up at the front. There was a giant curtain hanging behind all of that. After several more moments of getting everything set up, the lights dimmed again, the music started, the curtain opened up, and there you could see that this stage was about a mile wide and a mile deep ! This was Rick James’s stage ! Rick came out, and The King of Punk Funk reminded you of what you came here for ! His show was awesome, but I’ll save it for another thread. But it was interesting to note that many people in the audience started moving out, because at least initially, Rick was no comparison to what we had all just seen out there ! Don’t get me wrong, Rick tore the roof off that sucker, but it was hard to stop thinking about what we had just seen Prince do out there. Rick’s show was about 2 hours long, and the Stoned City Band succeeded in funking us to death ! The show was actually exhausting ! I remember thinking “How in the Hell can they do this every night, and from town to town ?” Ahh, the memories !37604705713730James was right; Prince was copying his moves. But, as Hahn and Tiebert suggest, it seems much more likely that the goal was “not to emulate but to embarrass” (Hahn 2017). The diminutive frontman?was notoriously averse to direct confrontation, especially with other men; but it would certainly not have been above him to engage in a little passive-aggressive sabotage of his rival’s set, especially if it made his own performance look better by comparison. And a confrontation had been brewing between the two acts since day one of the tour, when James – a “habitual line-stepper,” in the immortal words of comedian Charlie Murphy – pointed his prop “Love Gun” at Cymone backstage. The prank didn’t go over well : “Where I come from,” Cymone told Michael Dean, “if you pull a gun on somebody, you better use it” (Dean 2014). James, in turn, found the openers standoffish and arrogant, particularly Cymone and Prince. “My band was a bunch of friendly down-home brothas loved by everyone,” he recalled. “His band was a bunch of snobs who never bothered to acknowledge my guys” (James 2014 209). The clash between the Rick James and Prince camps, Hahn and Tiebert write, was “as much cultural as it was musical” (Hahn 2017). As Gayle Chapman recalled, “Rick would get his crew together backstage with booze and joints and they would chant, ‘Shit, Goddamn! Get off your ass and jam !'” (Azhar 19). Prince’s band, by way of contrast, would join hands in prayer. The innate tensions between the groups only deepened after James made “unwanted advances” toward Chapman, according to Hahn and Tiebert : “Prince’s response to the threat, oddly, was to insist that Chapman’s stage attire - which to date had consisted of an Olga brand nightgown – become even sexier” (Hahn 2017). It appears to have been around this time – mid-April of 1980 – when “Head” was introduced into the set, seemingly as a deliberate provocation to both James and the audience. “I think we were in Alabama and Prince had given us the set list,” Chapman told journalist Mobeen Azhar. “The way the whole thing was modeled was like putting a dick down the audience’s throat… He put me out front doing dance moves in everyone’s face. He would have me [facing up with my arms and legs on the ground in crab pose] on my back on all fours and pretend to play keyboard off my stomach. He’d stick his tongue down my throat. We were doing stuff on stage to suggest interracial promiscuity. It was intentional. He was hypersexual. The audience was all black kids. They loved him, but they would boo me” (Azhar 19). Chapman’s account is supported by a user’s report of the April 25 show at the Charlotte Coliseum, a week after the Alabama dates and just over a week before the conclusion of the tour. At the climax of the performance, the user wrote, “Prince went mad, threw off that cool ass pink leather jacket, peeled off his stockings, threw them at the audience, and was running around the stage jamming to the beat with nothing but his guitar, bikini underwear, and high-heeled boots (with little stars on the side). And then once he was done jacking-off the microphone (as if he were giving it head – Prince was a real whore on stage back then), tossed his guitar to the side, reached his hand down into his panties to cover his dick, and pulled his panties all the way down to his knees, gyrating toward the audience with only his hand covering his dick !” ( 2009). Presumably, none of these moves had been originated by Rick James. In the end, whatever the specifics of Prince’s fierce competition with James, the outcome was not in James’ favor. As early as the first month of the tour, Patricia Smith of the?Chicago Sun-Times wrote,?“Rick James fancies himself the king of an R&B music genre called punk funk… But he probably didn’t expect to be shown up by a mere Prince” (Nilsen 1999 65). “We started to kick Rick’s butt,” drummer Bobby Z recalled to Per?Nilsen of the?Uptown?fanzine. “We would play for 50 minutes. We were young and hungry. Rick played for like two hours and put people to sleep” (66). In an interview with biographer Dave Hill, Dez Dickerson concurred : “It was a rough period for Rick… But in terms of the way we went over it was good, if you can term someone else’s misfortune as good. We would go over like gangbusters, because the black audience was just dying for something new” (Hill 78-79). It’s important, however, not to overstate Prince’s victory in this first battle for the “punk funk” throne. The rave reviews of Prince’s opening act, coupled with the tepid commercial performance of James’ next album,?Garden of Love, are often viewed as a clear-cut case of the student overtaking the master – and James is only too easy to retrospectively caricature as an irrelevant dinosaur. At the time, however, nothing about either artist’s future was set in stone. Though James unquestionably fumbled?Garden of Love, and Prince’s own?Dirty Mind?was released later that year to critical acclaim, the respective fortunes of their follow-up records were reversed : James’ Street Songs was a breakout smash, while Prince’s Controversy only incrementally improved his commercial fortunes. And James got the last laugh in at least one way : “when ?I saw that Prince was stealing from me,” he wrote in his memoirs, “I stole from him.” During a break in the tour–most likely after the March 9 date in Sunrise, Florida – James “borrowed” the brand new Oberheim OB-X synthesizer from Prince’s band and took it to Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, where he began work on?Garden of Love. “When the tour continued,” he claimed, “I put the synth back on the truck. Prince never knew I’d taken it” (James 2014 211). What we can say, with no exaggeration, is that in 1980 Prince had the kind of momentum Rick James could only dream about. And he made good on that 466534536195momentum immediately after returning to Minnesota, where he began work on the project that would become his third album?in his new home studio in Wayzata, on the north shore of Lake Minnetonka. The sessions were rapid, even compared to Prince – started and completed within the space of a few weeks in May and June. But in his race to the next milestone, Prince left someone important behind : his first keyboardist, singer, and simulated onstage sex partner, Gayle Chapman. There has been a lot of speculation around Chapman’s departure after the Rick James tour – to her vocal displeasure. The most common explanation seems to have originated in a comment from Bobby Z :?“Gayle had to make out with Prince at the end of ‘Head,'” he recalled to Per Nilsen. “They did this big, long, wet kiss for 30 seconds at the end of ‘Head’ and that probably pushed her over the edge a bit. But I think she had a God versus Devil war going on in her head. She definitely had a problem with the lyrics. It was against her religious beliefs” (Nilsen 1999 68). In fact, Chapman was an adherent of the Evangelical Christian sect The Way International, but she’s since denied that her beliefs had any impact on her decision : “It’s not like, ‘I served God here, now I serve Prince,'” she told biographer Matt Thorne. “I worked for this guy, I didn’t worship him” (Thorne 2016). It is clear, however, that Chapman wasn’t comfortable with the nature of her duties as a “worker” for Prince. “I did tell him that I did not want to sing that song,” she told K Nicola Dyes of the Beautiful Nights blog, referring to “Head” (Dyes August 2013). But her objection seems to have been rooted less in religious convictions than in the general disconnect between her authentic self and the character she was playing onstage : “Here I am, singing a song about giving head, and I wasn’t even having sex,” she explained in a video version of the Dyes interview. In the end, she said, “I left because I needed to grow, and I was an employee in somebody’s band, doing a job, trading my time for money. It didn’t matter who it was; I think, at that time…if I wasn’t growing the way I needed to, I would have -4667254502150left”?(Hautala 2013). 26-04-1980 : Macon Coliseum(Opening Act : Kleeer)27-04-1980 : Nashville Municipal Auditorium(Opening Act : Kleeer)Prince’s riders from his 1980 and 1982 gigs at Municipal Auditorium At the 1980 show, Prince had a one-sheet of modest requests - a half-case of Heineken, a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread, a deli tray “consisting of non-processed cold cuts and assorted cheeses,” stuff like that.04-1980 : SEXY DANCER Maxi-Single ReleaseSexy Dancer (Long Version) (8:53) / Bambi (4:21)Sexy Dancer is the 6th worldwide single commercially-released single by Prince, which was issued in UK and Japan only. It didn't chart in both countries, but charted in the US Billboard Disco 100 chart as an album cut, along with I Wanna Be Your Lover.Listen2Prince (2018) - Somewhen in April, independent of the tour, the next single was released abroad.?Though it was only made available in the United Kingdom and Japan, only the Japanese Fam were privy to getting any cover art.?The UK, though, got the first commercially released extended version of a song.?The 12" version of "Sexy Dancer" is a workout, with Prince testing out almost every conceivable variation on the groove, the beat, and different synth and guitar lines. Although it wasn't released as a single in the USA, "Sexy Dancer," in tandem with "I Wanna Be Your Lover," reached #3 on Billboard's Disco Top 100 chart.?The chart itself was based on club disc jockeys reporting that it was used. If a tune doesn't keep the bodies moving, it rarely gets a second chance.v – Nightchild Reviews – 12 Single – Sexy Dancer (2018) (0:04)May 8001-05-1980 : Landover (rescheduled 03-05)02-05-1980 : NY (canceled)03-05-1980 : NY (canceled)Landover Capital Centre* Advert. Start : 9:00PM / Tick. Price : $10.00 / $9:00(Opening Act : Kleeer)End of Rick James Tour-438150170180[Rick] James’s charisma was matched only by his audacity and Teena [Marie] was able to see these sides of the King of Punk Funk both onstage and off. In 1980, Prince opened for James on the Fire It Up tour. James complained that Prince stole his stage moves and according to Marie, Rick paid Prince back by stealing his gear. “Back then people weren’t really programming their own synthesizers,” says Teena. “Prince - you know – he’s a genius... he was one of the only ones who could really do that – probably him and Stevie [Wonder] were the only one’s really doing it…[Prince] was programming all his synthesizers and setting the presets with his own sound and …at the end of the tour [Rick] took [Prince’s] synthesizers.” Teena cannot help but chuckle as she recounts the story. “He took them to Sausalito and he actually used them on the Street Songs album and then he sent them back to [Prince] with a thank you card. He was a piece of work…and a brilliant genius, too !”In Dez's book, Dez stated openly that at first, there were no problems between P and Rick. Or between P's band and Rick's band. But that over time, shit did start to get bad. Of course Dez said nothing of P stealing from Rick's show. I had always heard about P going to Rick's shows, trying to upstage him on stage by having Chick carry P on his shoulders through the crowd. When I first heard that, I thought that was the freakiest sounding shit. I wasn't sure if I believed it untill I heard on the radio that P was carried up on stage at the James Brown concert out here in 83. The dj's on 1580 KDAY were talking about it the next day on the radio because 2 of the dj's went to the show. They were saying how cool it was that Michael got on stage and sung and danced. Then when P was coming to get on stage, Chick carried him up there. I was like "What the fuck is THAT shit? WHY on earth would P, who's a grown ass man, let another grown ass man carry him up on stage ?!" I didn't know what to make of it. Then it years later when I finally got to see the footage of the James Brown show. Sure enough, there it was on tape. I was like "Gawt damn !" So I have no reason to doubt what Rick was saying about that. I could tell that P had taken a few things from Rick in his stage show. P just kept escalating as a performer and pretty soon he had sailed on by Rick. Listen2Prince (2018) - Then along came Rick James.?Just as with politics, depending on where you get your history from, either star gets different amounts of blame.?Some books paint Rick James as a deluded, aging star on his way out - far from the case.?Others paint Prince as antagonizing Rick unprovoked, also not the case.?The tales are told in different ways, being oversimplified, embellished, or exaggerated depending on the article's purpose.?They are also often told out of order or without dates entirely in an effort to make it seem like matters were escalating fast in a very short amount of time. "It wasn't really Prince. It was more Rick than anything. In private, [he dug Prince's music] although he would never admit it."?- Teena Marie. In case you are unfamiliar with the cognac incident at Rick James' 32nd birthday party, here's the Cliff's Notes version.?Whether Prince and crew were invited or whether they crashed it depends on who does the telling.?As Rick James has told it, "I went over to his table, grabbed him by the back of his hair, and poured cognac down his throat.?He spit it out like a little bitch, I laughed and walked away.?I loved fucking with him like that."?Nearly every book mentions the incident as an endcap to the discussion of Rick James & Prince, implying it was a culmination of everything.?The party is supposed to have happened on February 1, 1980, but by Rick's own admission the two hadn't actually met until they were on tour together weeks later 'down south.'?To quote Dave Chappelle, "Marijuana affects the memory."?To quote that famous line from Chappelle Show, "Cocaine is a helluva drug !"?Rick James was heavy into both. Of all the books I've researched for Prince/Rick James stories, refer to a mix of the Glow?autobiography, Matt Thorne's Prince : The Man And His Music, and Alex Hahn's The Rise Of Prince.?Everywhere else has either way oversimplified it, plays one of them up as the sole aggressor, or gets simple, easy to check facts wrong.?For instance, Ronin Ro's?Prince : Inside the Music and the Masks?says Rick's Garden Of Love?album was released on January 1, 1980 when it was actually released in mid-July.?One thing is clear, though, they were butting heads from the very first meeting.?In his autobiography, Rick James sets up his time around Prince by saying, "The eighties had arrived. I felt like I was racing a souped-up Ferrari with no one challenging my front position. But then I looked into my rearview mirror and saw this one sports car gaining on me. The driver was so small I could barely see his head above the steering wheel. Strange thing is that, on the advice of others, I had invited him to the race. He didn't catch me - and he wouldn't for a long time to come - but I never liked his fuckin' attitude. He called himself Prince." In truth, both sides are at fault.?Despite releasing their debut solo records within weeks of each other in April 1978,?James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. had?a career that stretched back over a decade - including a short-lived Canadian band called the Mynah Birds with Neil Young.?Rick James' Come Get It !?was certified Gold within 4 months, while For You has yet to hit that benchmark. His second album,?Bustin' Out of L Seven, was released at the top of 1979.?Though successful, it couldn't match the first.?I've seen many places where they make note of both albums hitting the platinum mark.?Because the RIAA's own online database is woefully incomplete, I can't easily find when they reached those sales.?Both would be more impressive if it happened prior to Street Songs?in '81. Fire It Up?was actually Rick James' third album, released on October 16, 1979 - three days ahead of Prince.?As far as sales were going, it was a slow burn outside of his already built-in audience.?And even there it was proving to be a slow mover.?For the tour, Rick needed an opening act that could help deliver that cross-over and younger audience.?His promoters had been saying that a young guy named Prince wanted to open for him, adding the ego-stroke that he and his Stone City Band's music had a big influence on him. At the time, James had no clue who Prince was.?He asked to see some film.?The kid moved a lot less, but did remind Rick James of himself.?It also didn't hurt that he could play guitar.?Agreeing that this would be a good move, the offer was officially extended to have Prince join the?Fire It Up?Tour as the opening act.?Promoters were eager to tag the tour as the 'Battle of Funk,' pitting a current, established star against a rising one. "There was a record burning up the airwaves called 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' by some cat named Prince. ...really enjoyed [the album], especially 'Sexy Dancer.' I thought the kid was pretty funky. ...why not help a young brother with such obvious talent ?"?- Rick James. Before the tour began, Prince's team booked six dates in February.?The Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis was a good place to start, a hometown show would start the tour on a confident note.?The band then went through Cincinnati, New Jersey, two dates in New York City, before closing the book on the Prince?Tour in Boston.?At least the Minneapolis show was billed as being rescheduled from the cancelled one in December.?I could not find whether or not that was true of the other dates.?Also of interest, a young up-and-coming comedian named?Keenan Ivory Wayans?opened at least a few of the shows.?Wayans was based in New York at the time, so at least those shows are plausible.?Setlists on PrinceVault suggest he was present at the others.?If anyone knows for certain, speak up ! It's hard to say what started it, but?both men kept it going?once it was on.?It seems the first time they were in a room together was before a show 'down south,' placing it in either Texas or Louisiana.?If he's on the level, it started innocently.?Prince had yet to introduce himself to Rick James, which he thought was "strange, since I was the cat giving him a shot."?He'd heard the kid was shy, but didn't really care.?Rick James, who just wanted to see the 'competition' for himself, paid a visit to what was probably a soundcheck.?Prince was behind the drumkit, surrounded by an entourage, playing some "bullshit beat," smiling like "he'd come up with the beat of his life."?The Stone City Band's gear was set up as well, so Rick James took a seat at the throne. "I went out there and took an extended [drum] solo that incorporated about six thunderous grooves at once. If Prince wanted to fuck around on drums as my opening act, he'd better understand what was coming after him."?Whether it was just a friendly jab, showing up the newcomer, or if he'd decided Prince needed to understand what's what, is irrelevant.?Prince appeared to take it personally.?"[He] just got his little ass up and walked away," still without introducing himself. During one of the first few nights, Rick James watched the opening act from the wings (for those unfamiliar, it just means the side of the stage usually behind the curtain).?"I felt sorry for him. Here's this little dude in high heels and a trenchcoat standing in one spot on stage while playing New Wave.?At the end of his set he'd take off his trenchcoat and he'd be wearing little girl's bloomers. I just died. The guys in the audience just booed the poor thing to death."?In Glow, Rick James makes an observation that he didn't think the New Wave was going over well with the hardcore funk fans in the audience.?On the few bootlegs in circulation from the beginning weeks of the tour, there's not much in the way of overwhelming excitement in the crowd noise.?Tit for tat, he saw Prince watching the Stone City Band from the wings.?Every night.?On one occasion, Rick James strutted to the side of the stage, grabbed his crotch and flipped the bird, pointing his bass in Prince's face before returning centerstage.?On opening night, Rick James pointed the Love Gun, a prop for the song of the same name, at André.?Because they didn't know each other like that, Cymone took it personally and Prince had to talk him out of throwing down. If Rick assumed he was going to be the clear winner of the 'Battle Of Funk,' he had another thing coming.?The boys from Minneapolis cut their teeth as musicians playing battle of the bands style contests routinely.?It was on.?In semi-recent interviews, André?acknowledges that he and Rick James didn't start off on the best footing. As happens on every tour, a daily routine forms and people tend to go about their business.?It seems this is what Rick James did, he calmed down and let it go after a little while.?But Prince's band hadn't, their act improved nightly.?The jeers they were met with at the beginning of the jam intro to "Soft And Wet" turned to cheers by the time "Sexy Dancer" came around.?The Stone City Band had stopped paying attention to Prince and his crew, they never partied with them anyway.?Bobby Z. remembers it as,?"We were young and hungry and we started kicking his ass." "The freshness of Prince's sound, the fact that he was being touted by the black teen mags as the next matinee idol, the sheer energy and flamboyance of the band and the show ... all just added up to us destroying the audience every night, while Rick would struggle."?– Dez. Prince kept watching Rick from the side, coming up with ways to keep improving.?During "Bustin' Out," Rick re-entered the stage in a black-and-white jailbird outfit.?One night, Matt Fink, whose stage attire at the time was also a black-and-white jailbird outfit, was asked to find a new costume. Even though the headliner wasn't even wearing it for a full song, the two were too similar for the boss' liking.?One of Matt's original concepts involved O.R. scrubs, Prince liked the idea and added his own touch - a surgical mask and big glasses.?The problem with the additional headwear was the mask heated up quickly, fogging up the glasses early in the set, making it difficult to even see his keyboard.?After some convincing, Matt got the boss to let him take the mask off after a song or two.?The Doctor was in for good. There's a well told story about 'one of Prince's girlfriends' visiting Gayle's hotel room, then dumping a bag of lingerie on the bed with the message "Prince says wear this or you're fired."?That's where most books start and end the story, using it as a set up for Chapman's imminent departure.?But the story continues with Gayle noticing that none of the dumped intimate wear was the right size.?She then tells the messenger girl that she'll go shopping in the morning.?He could wait at least that long before firing her.?The scenario also wasn't without context.?It's been implied that this was an odd response to Rick James making unwanted advances on Gayle, whose new costume was a black corset.?Wait for it. It wasn't a 'she's asking for it' response, it was a 'not only can you not have her, she's now going to be even hotter.'?There it is.?Not a normal response, but at least it is possibly not as out of the blue as most places make it seem.?I'm still not clear on when this took place during the tour, but it happened.?My guess is that it would have been in the last month of the tour, but I have nothing concrete to base that on. The?Fire It Up?Tour renditions of "Head" were covered thoroughly?under the?Dirty Mind?entry. Not every story from the tour involves Rick.?Gayle Chapman shares an experience from the March 7, 1980 gig in Jacksonville, FL in Matt Thorne's book.?"[It was my] first experience with racial inequality and racial tension. People were quite upset with me for doing some of the things I was doing with Prince onstage, although it was all choreographed and part of the show. They're screaming, 'White bitch, get away from him !' It's hard to ignore that when it's a few feet from the stage. At one point in the same show, the audience started to press forward and people were getting hurt, and Prince finally did the right thing and refused to play until they backed up." I'd be curious to know if there were similar responses to any of Rick James' stage shenanigans with his white back-up singers. Another involves the band crashing a?Sigma Pi spring formal?in North Carolina.?After the gig at Dorton Arena on March 15, they went back to their hotel and found the fraternity's NCSU chapter holding their gala in a downstairs ballroom.?The hired band took a break, and, sure enough, Prince and his band walked in asking if they could play. “I’ve talked to people throughout the years and they were like, ‘Yeah, right,’” said Colby Warren, a Sigma Pi brother who was there. “But it really happened.”?Only about 100 people were there to experience the short, impromptu set.?“I was like, ‘That’s the future of rock and roll,’” Colby Warren recalled. While on tour, Prince and the band played a number of Jackass style pranks.?Not uncommon to any tour.?Sometimes they were benign, like a drooling Prince sitting in a wheelchair, pretending to be some sort of vegetable his party left behind.?Others involved a little light theft.?Like one time in Jackson, MI where Prince and Fink were held for stealing the megaphone from an airplane. Fink told Prince that the stage show needed a bullhorn as a prop.?Soon after, the good doctor noticed one on an airplane.?Not having a carry-on bag of his own, Prince convinced Fink to put it in his.?A neighboring passenger saw it all, and snitched before they could take off. “The next thing we know, the pilot comes out and announces, 'It has come to our attention someone has removed some emergency equipment from the airplane, which is a federal offense.'” - Matt Fink. When it was found in Fink's bag, Prince fessed up that it was his idea and the pair were taken to jail. Jail turned into a meet and greet, though, and nothing serious came of the incident. In Alex Hahn's book, he suggests that Prince began emulating Rick James' moves with the intention of embarassing him.?Plausible.?"Prince was]?just staring and watching everything I did, like a kid in school.?He was remembering everything I did, like a computer."?The mic stand antics, Hulkamaniac style hand-to-ear gestures, and 'funk sign' were not exclusive to him, but grouped together they were obviously a part of his act.?Prince had begun to move around the stage a lot more, channeling the show that he had been watching nightly up til then.?"I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but because my act followed his, it looked like Rick James was copying Prince rather than vice versa."?Once the Stone City Band learned about it, they were ready to go to the matresses.?Rick shares an interesting reaction, "My band was a bunch of friendly down-home brothas loved by everyone. His band was a bunch of snobs who never bothered to acknowledge my guys. My band was ready to kick their asses - but I said no. Let's work this out like gentlemen."?Prince's tight, compact set was solid.?The main event meandered through different ideas, but never felt like a cohesive experience.?Prince, André, Bobby, Matt, Dez, and Gayle whooped up on Stone City Band nightly.?"Sometimes I actually felt bad for Rick that he had to go on after us," Dez recalls.?Ironically, The Time would do the same thing to Prince in a few short years. On April 2, 1980, tensions would come to a head.?This was Rick James' hometown stop in Buffalo, NY, and should have been a grand homecoming celebration.?Knowing that there would not be remnants of the rock'n'roll lifestyle in Prince's green room, James asked to use it to entertain the mayor, his mother, et cetera.?When they walked in, they were greeted by a chalk drawing of a freckly cartoon with dreads, spritzed with too much cologne and captioned in big block letters : RICK JAMES.?André?got the blame for the drawing, and he admits partial responsibility.?In an interview with the?Prince Podcast,?A.C. says he drew Howdy Doody and stopped.?Someone, he says one of the roadies trying to be trifling, went behind him and added the braids and caption.?He says the cologne was sprayed because Rick wore a whole lot of it. When a room full of people that Rick was trying to impress start laughing at a prank like that, in front of his mother, no less... it was time for a 'Come-To-Jesus' meeting. Rick James wanted the meeting to happen in his suite, but Prince insisted they come to him.?Most likely a misguided attempt at getting something like home court advantage.?Just as with their first meeting, Rick says he didn't plan to be antagonistic.?In Glow, he claims that he was going to be the mature one, and let Prince have his way. But old habits die hard. If those really were his intentions, they got lost the moment. "I went to his suite.?Prince, his manager, and his scrawny-looking band were on one side of the room.?My cats, looking like Masai warriors, surrounded me."?At every turn, Prince side-stepped a direct answer.?Rick James said, point blank, "You're stealing my shit."?Prince said he'd been developing his act for years.?"Your band acts like they're too good to say hello to us." Prince implied that they were just focused.?Through the course of the conversation, André finally realized that he got blamed for a lot of things because the Stone City Band thought he had an attitude problem.?James said he was tired of Prince copying his act; Prince deflected, taking it a step further to say that Rick had copped his stage persona from the likes of Jackie Wilson, James Brown, and George Clinton.?Conceding the point, Rick pointed out that many of those moves grouped together were very much Rick James.?"You're using them minutes before I get out onstage."?The uncomfortable meeting probably felt like it lasted longer than it did.?When it was over, they left without shaking hands.?Even though Prince agreed to tone it down, the band reported back that nothing had changed.?"He acted like a little bitch while his band and mine patched up their differences." From there, most sources gloss over the last half of the tour.?On May 3, the two camps parted ways and their paths only really crossed at social functions thereafter. If I had to make an educated guess, the Gayle wardrobe issue happened somewhen after the Buffalo gig, but I don't have much to base that theory on.?Rick James would outwardly harbor a resentment for Prince for decades, while Prince appeared to have forgotten about it entirely. Other assertions have been made about the tour that seem groundless or incomplete somehow.?In Brian Morton's book, he makes the claim that Vanity was originally with Rick James, saying 'at some point during the tour, Denise Matthews came over to Prince's bus and never left.'?I have seen a few places reference pre-Vanity Denise Matthews as being around Rick James, but it's usually as an off-hand remark.?She's referred to as 'the best known of Rick James groupies,' which could be taken in a number of directions, and it's been said that Prince met her at the American Music Awards when she was 'on the arm of Rick James.'?I'll research it further to see if I can find a real answer when I look at the Vanity 6 / Apollonia 6 albums soon.?Rick James' books barely acknowledge Vanity as anything other than the front of another idea Prince stole from Rick.?Again, it's plausible but feels like it is based on a whole lot of speculation without showing any work. There's an often told story of Rick James stealing Prince's synthesizers to record Street Songs, sending them back with a thank you note.?Prince was one of the only cats out there who spent the effort on programming his synths beyond the factory presets, and he is thought to be the first one to even have that model of Oberheim synth.?Rick James figured if Prince was going to steal from him, he would steal right back.?Teena Marie has confirmed this, but Rick James tells it differently in Glow.?He says that during a break in the tour, he took Prince's OB-X synth to Miami, where he started working on his next record.?He never name checks a specific album.?After the break, he put it back without the 'little?science fiction creep' ever knowing.?I'm more inclined to believe that the demos were intended for?Garden Of Love, which came out that summer, but may have had some hold over to the later album.?Of Street Songs, Rick James says nothing of Prince or using the OB-X in relation to it.?He does say that Lady T was super sick when she arrived to sing on "Fire and Desire," and that she only got out of bed upon hearing that local talent was being considered to replace her as the vocalist.?It's not hard to imagine a misunderstanding if Rick told her a variation of that story while she was under the weather. That's not to say that didn't happen, it's possible, but there was a lot of embellishment and re-tellings were prone to becoming fish stories. Funny enough, songs by both legends would be reworked on MC Hammer's?Please, Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em.?Prince's "Soft And Wet" and Rick James' "Super Freak," allegedly recorded on Prince's 'borrowed' synthesizers, were used almost in their entirety as the basis for songs that helped vault Hammer to his early '90's stardom, "She's Soft And Wet" and "U Can't Touch This".?Rick had to wage a lengthy law suit in order to get writing credit, and ironically earned him his only Grammy. After the tour wrapped, Prince was already on to the next set of ideas.?Two more singles would be released to promote Prince in select markets, but by and large he'd moved on to Dirty Mind completely.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)Riding a new waveWe had toured with Rick James for nearly three months, and had covered most of the US. Prince had hit the top of the Billboard R&B chart with I Wanna Be Your Lover. We had appeared on the two biggest music TV shows in the world. Now, at least for a few months, the ride was going to slow down. The break after the tour became my favorite time during my stay in the band. After all the hard work in preparation for the tour, and the steady grind of the tour itself, it was an incredible feeling to come home to family and loved ones. An added dimension (and a growing one), was the growing status the whole band was gaining as Hometown Heroes. The adjustment coming home was always difficult for the first week or so. It’s kind of like a diver coming up from the depths – if you do it too fast, you’ll get the bends. It would take Becki and I several days to adjust – her to me suddenly being back, and me to normal civilization. Sometimes, in an unconscious reflex, I’d reach for the phone at night to leave a wake-up call, before realizing, “wait a minute, you’re at home, not in a hotel?!” It was also an adjustment to move so quickly from being the objects of maniacal adulation to remembering to take out the trash. More than anything, the scope and magnitude of what I had experienced over the months that I was away seemed to put an odd distance between us – almost like I’d been on another planet, and Becki couldn’t comprehend it, nor could I articulate it. On the road, one of my favorite things was the ability to sample radio in so many different cities. The whole alternative/college radio thing was just gaining momentum (you know, when the word ‘alternative’ really actually did mean something?!), and there was a lot of exciting music being played. I was listening to things like Generation X (featuring a lead singer I would later tour with, Billy Idol), The Police, The Clash, The Pretenders, and many, many others. One of the promotional guys from Warner gave me an advanced cassette from a new band he was convinced would be huge – a then-unknown group of young Irishmen who called themselves U2. I felt like Prince respected me both musically and personally, so I was aggressive in sharing the music I was hearing with him. He, too, was fascinated by much of what was being called New Wave. Unlike many artists, who would have an ‘if-it-ain’t-broke, don’t-fix-it’ attitude about their music, Prince seemed eager to infuse these new elements into his music. The earliest indication of this brewing amalgam was a song that actually emerged in soundchecks during the Rick James tour. It was a power pop tune called When You Were Mine. It was a perfect marriage of the eighth-note guitar driven New Wave music of the day, and Prince’s soulful roots. I was determined to enjoy my time off, because the inevitable rehearsal phase was ever looming. I was excited about the next record – our fresh road successes, combined with Prince’s turn toward the kind of music I loved most, bode well for the future. I just didn’t relish another 5 months in a warehouse… Success had brought some tangible changes. We were given a raise, and Becki and I moved into a nicer apartment. It was partly practical – we moved into a bigger, nicer place, closer to her mom and step dad, with my touring absences in mind. I was also able to ditch the Sebring. I bought my dream car of the day (I do have a fondness for cars – my dream car cycles last a year or two before I adopt a new dream…), a Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition. It was black, with gold accents – most notably that big, beautiful Trans Am eagle on the hood. It was real muscle car, at last – a testosterone fest on wheels?! Prince had made some changes, as well. He had moved from the house on France Avenue in Edina into a place on the lake near Lake Minnetonka, a very upscale suburb of Minneapolis. It was considerably larger than his old place, but not ostentatious by any means. The big deal with the new crib, though, was the 16-track studio gear he would have installed in the basement. He had recorded Prince in a nice facility that was in the basement of a house, and that had made an impression on him. It really was a perfect set-up for him, considering his ‘one man band’ M.O. – he could work as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted. It gave him the unrestricted ability to experiment. Matt Fink – Vulture (2017)“Prince’s sense of humor was legendary. He was funny, but he also loved for other people to make him laugh. I used to do this thing - it was on one of the first tours we ever did, warming up for Rick James in 1979 and 1980 - where I would fake throwing up. I’d pretend to be really, really ill and blow lunch. Prince thought that was hilarious. We were on a flight one day, and Prince leaned over and said, ‘Hey Matt, when the stewardess walks by, take the barf bag from your seat pretend to throw up in it.’ I said, ‘Well, why would I do that ?’ And he goes, ‘It’ll be hilarious. Please do it ! Please !’ He was begging me. So sure enough, when the stewardess comes over to ask if we’d like anything to drink, I started pretending to throw up. She believed it was real, panics, and runs away to get another barf bag for me. Meanwhile, Prince is cracking up. When the stewardess realized I was faking … she was not amused. The fake throw-up became a running joke for a while. Prince just loved to have us as his court jesters : ‘Matt, do the throw up !’ And you’d do it. It was so much fun. Actually, this reminds me : Prince did a thing once where he got into a wheelchair at an airport and André Cymone, who was our bass player at the time, was rolling him around while Prince pretended to be disabled. It was in poor taste, of course, and you wouldn’t do anything like that now - but he was just an extremely funny person.”Morris Day – On Time (2019)41141657255510It was a mighty moment - Prince opening for Rick James. A torch was being passed. But the handoff was messy. Funny, but it was the same kind of mess Rick talked about when he got the torch handed off from the funk master before him, George Clinton. Clinton was seven years older than Rick, who felt George’s resentment. Rick was ten years older than Prince, who felt Rick’s resentment. In 1979, when they met up, Rick was 31, Prince 21, and yours truly, Prince’s trusty videographer, 22. Prince agreed to open for Rick’s Fire It Up Tour. Rick was blazing hot. His Fire It Up album was burning up the charts with smashes like “Love Gun.” Rick was at his peak, the cover photo showing him standing tall in tight thigh-high leather boots. Blowing smoke from a big blunt and sporting a white cowboy hat, he came on as King Rick. With Rick commanding the mountaintop and Prince on the rise, it should have been the perfect pairing. It was anything but. The competition was nasty and the generation gap wide. First off, Rick was the ultimate stoner. He brandished his onstage joint the way Luke Skywalker brandished his lightsaber. Prince was straight-up sober. Not only did he not get high, he hated anyone getting high around him. I kept my weed away from the boss. Rick blew the shit in Prince’s face. He used dope as his fuel while Prince was driven by pure energy. The tour wound its way across the country for over three months, selling out the Omni in Atlanta and the Cobo Arena in Detroit. Started out great. I set up my JVC videocassette recorder on a tripod placed in the soundboard to get the best view of the stage. Prince came out smokin’ - not literally but figuratively. “Soft and Wet” was usually the opener. He’d also go into “I Feel for You,” a song off his second album that, a few years later, Chaka Khan would turn into a smash cover. (It was beautiful to see an artist who Prince had covered so frequently in the Grand Central days actually singing his songs.) He’d squeeze “Head” somewhere into the set. Sexual innuendos flew from one side of the stage to the other. He began sporting his androgynous getup : the open trench coat revealing black leggings and bikini underwear. In 1979 that took balls. But Prince was Prince. He stepped on out and did what he wanted to do. The crowds went nuts. The press started saying that he was outstripping Rick. Rick resented that. Later he wrote that the crowd booed when they saw Prince in his “bloomers.” I didn’t hear any boos on that tour. Rick also wrote about a drum battle between him and Prince, when supposedly Rick kicked Prince’s ass. I knew nothing about that. I did know, though, that Rick started accusing Prince of stealing his licks and stage moves. I thought the accusation was silly. We all steal. The line of musical thieves is endless, from Chuck Berry to Little Richard to Ike Turner to Jackie Wilson to Ray Charles to Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson. If you don’t like the word steal, then let’s just say borrow. No matter how you look at it, though, every musical style is built on a previous style. Sure, there are innovators. All the artists I just mentioned are innovators. But innovations are based on shit that came before. That’s what makes the innovations of these geniuses so startling. All at once, they contain past, present, and future. Personality-wise, Rick and Prince were cut from similar cloth. They were hardly humble. Arrogant is a better word. They were musical visionaries, and they knew it. Rick had created a persona for himself - a larger-than-life character - and Prince was in the process of doing the same. Prince was looking for validation from Rick, and vice versa. Musically, the rivalry probably brought out the best in both men. Personally, they could have offered one another respect, but at least there was no bloodshed. The promoters cashed in on the conflict. As word of Prince’s prowess grew, they renamed the tour the Battle of Funk.Looking back, who would u name the winner of that battle ?There you go, tripping again. Do I gotta name you the winner ? Do I gotta give you a gold medal for besting Rick ? You got enough medals. Better to give Rick props. His contributions to funk were original. His roots in fusion and jazz were deep. Like you, Rick was a world-class writer, arranger, instrumentalist, and singer. Rick deserves recognition.If u say so.I do.The Confessions of Rick James : Memoirs of a Super FreakQuote taken from Rick James's autbiography... Bitter Rivals : In the 80's, Rick James asked Prince to open up the "Fire It Up Tour." James states in his book, "The Confessions Of Rick James, Memoirs Of A Super Freak," that he had yet to meet Prince. The only thing he had heard about him was that he was shy. James had hoped this was false because if he was shy, he had no business being out on the road with him. James said he walked through the backstage entrance, Prince was sitting on his group's drums playing some bullSHYT beat. James sat down and began playing some serious stuff. He said Prince looked over at him and got his little AZZ up and walked away. James adds, "Prince was just starting out and the first time I saw Prince and his band open for me, I felt sorry for him. Here's this little dude wearing high heels, standing there in a trench coat. Then at the end of the set, he'd take off his trench coat and he'd be wearing little girl's bloomers. The guys in the audience booed him to death." The following weeks of the tour weren't very different from the opening date. Whenever I was on stage I'd see Prince on the side of the stage just staring and watching everything I did, like a kid in school. One day I walked into the auditorium, getting ready to go on and I heard the crowd chanting loudly. I went to check it out. Here's Prince doing my chants. Not only was he stalking the stage like me, he was doing my trademark funk sign, flipping the microphone and everything. The boy had stolen my whole show. I was *!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*ed and so was my band. This went on night after night, every show I'd see more of my routine. It got to the point I couldn't do the stuff I had always done because Prince was doing it before I came on. It started to look like I was copying him. Everyone knew what was happening, his management, my management. The atmosphere backstage was not improved by the fact that Prince's band members were not on good terms with my band and my guys wanted to kick their !@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*es. Prince's musicians would stick their noses in the air and not even acknowledge the Stone City Band, even if they were all standing together, waiting for the elevator. Prince's group was a bunch of egotistical AZZholes who never even played on a record. The kid did it all, they were just hired players. One day, things blew up and management called a meeting. I told Prince's manager, that if Prince did any more of my show he was off the tour. Finally, we all met in Prince's room, Prince, me and our bands. Prince's band was afraid, very afraid. Prince sat on the bed and hardly said a word. He acted like a little BYTCH while his band and mine patched up our differences. Soon after this episode. There was a birthday party for me. Prince came, he was sitting at a table with some people not drinking. I walked up to him, grabbed him by the back of the hair and poured cognac down his throat. He spit it out like a little BYTCH and I laughed and walked away. I loved fukking with him like that. I always felt our competition was healthy, although I was jealous when he started getting big, more than jealous, I was *!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*ed, because here was this little short ego'd out fukker who I had a feeling didn't like people of his own race and wanted to be white and taller. While on the road, I never saw Prince hang out with black men or black women. In fact, his demeanor was like that of a short uppity white boy. A few years later when James was performing at the Universal Amphitheater. The second night of the show, Rod Stewart and his wife Alana came to the show. James decided to have them sit in front row seats that belonged to Prince. From the stage, I could see Prince's attempt to throw Rod and Alana out of the seats. Alana told Prince to kiss her *!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*. Then, during a performance with the Mary Jane Girls, James saw Prince being carried around the venue in his bodyguard's arms just to get attention. After the show, when Prince saw Rick and Rod backstage, he jumped over the stairs and fled. Allegedly, Rod told Rick, "I hate that little prikk." Rick was *!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*ed and called Prince all kinds of little *!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&**!@$%&*es. Rick said, "Had Prince not jumped over the stairs and ran, I swear I would have kicked his AZZ." James heard later that Prince went to see Michael Jackson's concert and tried to disrupt it. When Michael allegedly found out that Prince was in the house, he came out badder than ever and Prince left the show before it was over. lol..... Rick adds, "I always thought of Prince as a great player and a very innovative person but as far as himself as a person, he could use a good ghetto AZZ kicking."Paisley Park Confessions - Here is some info regarding Prince & his beef with Rick James that I got told. Prince hated how Rick treated women physically first of all, cause you already know his experiences of violence & abuse in his family. Second, Prince didn’t really sweat Rick. not musically. Prince used to be (& still is) real quiet around men, especially ones like Rick cause he would ALWAYS get the shit ripped outta him for being a shortie/feminine/weird like I said already & Rick took every opportunity to do that which made Prince hate him & avoid him. LOL Prince would come out in little bikini drawers & wiggle his ass & dick ! Also, people mistook the silence & withdrawal for Prince being arrogant (he was, but not like that haha), Rick used to drink & drug mainly & focus on the music second as well which bugged Prince so much that he vowed to outdo Rick in performances/success & he surely did. Rick said in interviews that Prince’s success really bothered him & this is a quote I found : “I always felt our competition was healthy, although I was jealous when he started getting big, more than jealous, I was pissed.. because I felt his songs & a lot of his stuff wasn’t real.” One time, Rick STOLE Prince’s synthesisers (which he all programmed himself, barely anyone could do it to that standard at the time) & recorded Street Songs with ‘em. Rick then sent ‘em back to Prince with a thank you note. Prince just shugged his shoulder & ignored it although he could have called Rick out for it. So, we think that he hated Prince cause he was trying to take his place & ignored him instead of confronting/responding & for trying to steal his show. Also, he hated that Prince was well liked, especially when Prince & Teena Marie became buddies & also when Jill Jones joined the purple camp too. Stealing Vanity & forming Vanity 6 was the last straw ! The Story Behind The Time Rick James Said He Made Prince CryBy Lorenzo Tanos – Grunge (2021)If you only know Rick James as the guy whose most recognizable pop hit was gratuitously sampled by MC Hammer on "U Can't Touch This" or as the funk legend whose younger self was memorably played by Dave Chappelle on his eponymous show, you're only scratching the surface of the man's legacy. Although it took him a while to break out as a star, James had quite the impressive resume; he was, after all, once in a band with a pre-fame Neil Young, and who knows how far they could have gone had James not been sent to prison for dodging the Vietnam War draft ? Then again, that also reminds fans of how James had always lived a rather colorful life, one that oftentimes held him back from living up to his full potential. With the documentary "Bitchin' : The Sound and Fury of Rick James" having recently aired on Showtime, viewers got to learn more about the iconic performer, from his humble beginnings in Buffalo, New York, to the various personal and legal troubles he faced before his untimely death in 2004. The film also took a look at James' contentious relationship with a younger performer from Minneapolis who would soon become one of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s. We are, of course, referring to Prince, and it's been well-documented through the years that James once made the would-be "Purple Rain" hitmaker cry. One would think that Rick James would have at least been flattered that a fast-rising young musician like Prince was taking a few pages from his playbook. But that was not the case at all when Prince was added as an opening act to James' "Fire it Up" tour in early 1980, supposedly because the "punk-funk" innovator wasn't bringing in as many fans as expected. As quoted by Pitchfork, James told Rolling Stone that he "can't believe people are gullible enough to buy Prince's jive records." He also called his supporting act a "mentally disturbed young man" whose sexually explicit songs couldn't be taken seriously and repeatedly accused him of stealing his stage moves. It was during that tour when Prince and his entourage attended James' 32nd birthday party, not aware that the headliner had something in store for the Purple One. Shortly before his death, James told Vibe's Keith Murphy (then writing for King Magazine) that he "walked up to [Prince], grabbed him by the back of the hair and poured cognac down his throat." He added that Prince spat out the liquor like a "little b****," which he found extremely hilarious. James also told the same story in his posthumously published memoir, "Glow : The Autobiography of Rick James," where he claimed that Prince was "crying like a baby" after the cognac prank. But that wasn't the last time the two men would get testy with each other during their long-running feud. Rick James and Prince's rivalry continued after the "Fire it Up" tour ended, as the former allegedly stole the latter's programmed synthesizers and used them on his 1981 album "Street Songs" (via Pitchfork). In apparent response, Prince asked James' date to that year's American Music Awards, an up-and-coming model named Denise Matthews, to join the all-girl group he was forming. (Matthews was later renamed Vanity to match the group's eventual name, Vanity 6.) During an after-party for the following year's AMAs, the two beefing musicians met again. Ideally, it should have been a triumphant night for James, as "Street Songs" won in the Favorite Album - Soul/R&B category. But as he recalled in his autobiography, he was unhappy that Prince refused to give an autograph to his mother (via Consequence), and that nearly led to fisticuffs. Thanks to a timely intervention from James' manager, Prince apologized for the snub, and that was enough to prevent James from potentially making him cry for a second time. However, James admitted that he was "a little disappointed" with how the crisis was averted because, as he put it, he "really did wanna kick his a**." He was a weird guy, the kind who might take home your mother. But he'd never let your spirits down because he was often high. Rick James was pretty wild now, Rick James the Super Freak, the kind of guy you read about, which is why you're reading about him now. James was like a roller coaster ride without restraints - full of ups, downs, danger, and an inevitable fall from the glorious heights he reached. But let's not forget that Rick James was also an amazing musician. An icon of funk and defier of convention, he blended different music styles seamlessly and produced numerous hits, adding his name to the list of Motown greats and cementing his legacy as the King of Punk-Funk. At times an enemy of his own success, James ravaged his health and career with drugs. But he also engaged in madcap antics, left a huge impression on a number of people's faces, and nearly came to blows with Prince. For better and worse, he lived life on his own terms - even when it resulted in prison terms. Here's the unbelievable life story of Rick James. The now-iconic catchphrase "I'm James, b*tch !" is so culturally ubiquitous that a Lego store in Australia officially goes by the name I'm Rick James Bricks. But if it weren't for the Vietnam War and Stevie Wonder, that store might be called I'm James Johnson Bricks. Born James Ambrose Johnson Jr., Rick James dreaded the idea of getting drafted to fight in Vietnam. So around age 15 he lied his way into the Naval Reserve. Before long James dodged the Reserves, too. He told Buffalo News that he couldn't take the "regimentation and conformity." Instead, he spent much of his time drumming for jazz groups and doing drugs. In 1964 he was placed on active duty, but as Vibe described, James "defiantly told the military draft board to kiss his ashy black a** and promptly fled to Toronto, Canada." In Toronto, James chilled with Joni Mitchell and Neil Young and formed a band called the Mynah Birds, which Young joined. The Mynah Birds got signed to Motown, where James met Stevie Wonder and performed for him. Impressed, Wonder wanted to know his name. James gave the alias Ricky James Matthews, and Wonder suggested that he shorten it to Rick James. Still a fugitive, James ended up serving time in a military prison, which effectively ended the Mynah Birds. But Rick James was just getting started. Chappelle's Show fans fondly remember the Charlie Murphy "True Hollywood Story" segment in which Rick James - portrayed by Dave Chappelle - tried his hand at slapstick comedy : "What did the five fingers say to the face ? Slap !" Of course, the punchline was that he actually slapped Murphy. According to Mike Tyson, James' five fingers also spoke to Alfonso Ribeiro, aka Carlton Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. As recounted in his memoir, Undisputed Truth, Tyson was drinking with an underage Ribeiro and his Silver Spoons co-star Ricky Schroder in a hotel lobby on Sunset Boulevard when James showed up in a Rolls-Royce. Tyson estimated Schroder was about 17 and Ribeiro about 16, which would place the encounter around 1987. Anyway, James "came over and slapped [Tyson] five and then he looked at Alfonso." He asked Ribeiro, "Aren't you an actor ?" and "then, boom, he hit him." James then grabbed Ribeiro's beer and drank it. Tyson objected to James hitting "a kid" which is a little weird since kids also can't legally drink alcohol. "Iron Mike" might have been the baddest man on the planet, but Rick James may have had the baddest hand. Rick James said it best : "Cocaine is a hell of a drug." It's also a hellfire of a drug in that Richard Pryor set himself on fire while freebasing the stuff in 1980, and 10 years later James went up in flames during a freak crack accident. The latter incident happened shortly after an MC Hammer concert. James had recently ended a beef with Hammer, who infamously ripped off "Super Freak" to make "U Can't Touch This." Rather than rip the rapper, James got on stage with him, a gesture made even more generous when you consider that Hammer likely took up most of the stage with his parachute pants. One feel-good moment deserves another, and James thought it would feel good to smoke rocks. As described by his drug supplier Rayce Newman, things went awry when James set a plate ablaze in an attempt to burn smokable crack pipe residues. While walking with the flaming plate he dropped it and his robe caught on fire. The flames raced up his robe, spreading to his sleeves. Newman extinguished them with a bedspread and James, "still smoldering, picked up the plate as if nothing had happened and took it into his room." Rick James and Jim Morrison are music royalty, and both wear ironic crowns. James, the King of Punk-Funk, created his crowning musical achievement, "Super Freak," as "just a joke." Morrison, the self-proclaimed Lizard King, gave himself that title "ironically ... half tongue-in-cheek." But when these ironic monarchs crossed paths in the late 1960s, it was unintentionally hilarious. As James described in his autobiography, while staying at the Los Angeles home of Hall of Fame rocker Stephen Stills, he awakened to find "a young dude sitting on the floor in the lotus position." That marked "the start of the extreme strangeness." That strange man turned out to be Morrison, and blood was dripping from his wrist. The Lizard King just marveled at it, remarking, "Isn't the blood beautiful ? Isn't that the deepest red you've ever seen ?" James alerted Stills, who stemmed the bleeding and introduced the musicians. Morrison picked James' brain about Motown and read a poem about "the dead angels of history returning as groupies." James appreciated his trippy poetry but considered Morrison a terrible singer. They attempted a group trip to Disneyland but were denied entry. However, James went on a different trip when Morrison tricked him into taking LSD by passing it off as mint. Along the way James learned something valuable from the Lizard King : a singer's persona is just as important as their voice. Thanks to Dave Chappelle, it's almost impossible to hear Rick James' hit song "Cold Blooded" without picturing James (as played by Chappelle) punching Charlie Murphy in the face and melodically calling the hit "cold-blooded." Of course, the song isn't about punching Charlie Murphy. James supposedly wrote "Cold Blooded" about Exorcist star Linda Blair, whom he dated during the 1980s. But the word "cold-blooded" is meaningful to James on a different level as well. Cold-blooded is what he allegedly couldn't be during his brief stint as a pimp. As detailed in Glow : The Autobiography of Rick James, during his early days in Motown James worked as a staff writer and wanted to augment his income. Enter singer Jimmy Ruffin, the brother of former Temptations lead vocalist David Ruffin. Jimmy proposed getting into the pimping business and using their respective girlfriends as employees. Someone with a normal moral compass would have rejected that suggestion outright. But James' compass pointed north to Canada, where he and Jimmy embarked on their shady endeavor. According to James, he didn't have the heart to be good at the job, or rather, he had too much of a heart. He didn't force women to work when they were tired. He loaned them money and beat up violent johns. Ultimately, he let them go because he "lacked the hard-edged discipline and cold-blooded attitude" the (awful) job required. It's hard to picture Rick James punching Prince, mostly because it's easy to picture them both as Dave Chappelle. However, that epic altercation nearly happened. Prince used to open for James, and James used to pick on Prince. While celebrating his own birthday on tour James said he "grabbed [Prince] by the back of the hair and poured cognac down his throat" and laughed at him. But he wasn't amused when Prince opened for his 1980 "Fire It Up" tour and stole the show. James accused Prince of stealing much more than his thunder : "Prince was emulating my mic moves like a motherf***er. He was calling out my funk chants and even flashing my funk sign." James allegedly got revenge while opening for Prince. Per Pitchfork, he supposedly stole Prince's synthesizers, used them on the 1981 album Street Songs, and then returned the synthesizers with a "thank you" note. Violence nearly erupted after the American Music Awards when James' mother - an avid Prince fan - asked for Prince's autograph and got snubbed. An enraged James chased after Prince, or as James called him "that little turd." Prince's manager intervened, and Prince apologized for disrespecting James' mom. However, he also stole James' date, model Denise Matthews, started dating her himself, and launched her music career (as Vanity). Cold-blooded !Inside Rick James’s Legendary Feud With PrinceThe two artists reportedly almost came to blowsBy Bonnie Stiernberg – Inside Hook (2021)Besides both being the subjects of two of the most memorable Chappelle’s Show sketches, Rick James and Prince had a shared history. The Purple One opened for the “Super Freak” singer on his 1980 Fire It Up tour, and as a new documentary highlights, they had a bit of a rivalry. The new documentary Bitchin’ : The Sound and Fury of Rick James, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival recently and will air on Showtime later this year, includes several revelations about how James reportedly felt threatened by a young Prince. As The Daily Beast points out, that jealousy created a rift between the two legendary performers. “Rick definitely had an attitude with Prince,” Bootsy Collins explains in the doc. “They just was competin’ with one another.” “Rick got mad when Prince would watch us onstage and do the same goddamn shit,” Levi Ruffin Jr., James’s bassist, adds. “Prince was like, what, 21, 22 ? We couldn’t do what a 21- or 22-year-old dude could do anymore. We tried ! But we had a lot of B-12 shots and shit that we used to have to take.” James allegedly was irritated by the similarity between the two acts, believing that Prince was copying him. “Rick would go?ooh-ooh !, and his audience would go crazy every time he would do that, and Prince would start doing the?ooh-ooh ! before Rick would come out,” James’s former manager Kerry Gordy explains in the film. “Rick was like, ‘Man, you can’t do that?ooh-ooh !?stuff, that’s what I do !’ And Prince was like, ‘Dude, you don’t have a monopoly on?ooh-ooh !? I can do what the fuck I wanna do !’” According to The Daily Beast, it reportedly got so tense between the two that they almost got physical. “I remember being on shows with Rick and Prince, and they would pull plugs on each other, gettin’ ready to go to blows,” Collins recalls. Eventually, however, Nile Rodgers would step in to serve as peacemaker. “I used to always say to Rick, ‘We all are just doing our own kind of thing. Prince is Prince, you’re you - we all have our own identity when it comes to the world of funk,’” Rodgers remembers.Dirty Minds Think Alike : The Forgotten Rivalry of Prince and Rick James – PopMatters (2012)Purple Hippies and Michael Maniacs are still in a dance floor dispute. They battle at “Michael vs. Prince” parties, trying to settle a score in an argument that endured since the mid ’80s. In fact, Michal Jackson and Prince themselves came close to an actual face off in 1987. The taunting title track of Bad, Jackson’s anticipated follow-up to Thriller, was designed by visionary producer Quincy Jones as a duet for Jackson and Prince. He arranged for the two to meet but it didn’t amount to anything past expressing mutual respect. And so fans were forever left to provide their own take on “Who’s Bad ?” The feud remained vivid even in the mindset of mass audiences as comedian Chris Rock addressed it in his 2004 Never Scared show. He proclaimed Prince won over Jackson - at least, in terms of one’s sanity. Perhaps so, but this ongoing debate overshadows Prince’s initial effort to overcome a different musical foe : Rick James. Like Prince, James issued his debut album in April of 1978. But he was the first to enjoy chart success and position himself as the next prominent figure in funk. James wrote, arranged and produced Come Get It ! as a satisfying blend of hedonism and romance. It included thrusting grooves such as “You and I”, soul searching ballads like “Hollywood” and reeked of sex and drugs with “Sexy Lady” and “Mary Jane”. James dominated on bass while sporting a healthy horn section and relied on bright female backup vocals. His own singing was teasing and raw, but never too emotional to completely tarnish the party vibes. James’ presented his cheeky style as “Punk Funk”, a clever marketing tool made to distance his blasting tunes from disco. That reputation further emphasized his fresh and unapologetic approach, shielding him from any risk of looking outdated. That was a key sentiment sought by James’ label, Motown. The prestigious label was an empire in decline during the late ’70s. Its recent film endeavors flopped and many of Motown’s classic acts were gone, and resident genius Stevie Wonder was losing his edge with a concept album exploring the life of plants. So Rick James’ street smarts and appeal were in desperate need, bursting through with perfect timing. James’ punk attitude and labeling also hinted a sacred bond with the disenfranchised, intriguing fans overseas. In a 1979 Blues and Soul interview, he pointed out the similarities shared by UK punks and his own rough experiences : “To me, a punk is someone who says what’s on his mind and doesn’t take no shit. Punk… is relatable [to funk] because punk rock was poor, white British kids whose only vehicle to get away from their suppression and economic stress was through their music… Now, I was born in the ghetto and everyone in my band has starved and we’ve all been through the rats and roaches syndrome. We’re from the streets and we’ve been through the gang trip, too.” Rick James was 30 years old then, enjoying his big break after roaming around since the late ’60s. Previously, he served some jail time for minor felonies, played with numerous bands and tried his luck in Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. Meanwhile, Prince was barely 20 years old. He still boasted his high school afro and lived in his somewhat remote hometown of Minneapolis. Despite those odd circumstances, the young Prince secured a three-album record deal with Warner Brothers. His 1978 debut, For You, consisted mostly of bashful love songs that didn’t quite excite as much as James’ entry onto the scene. It was a rather moody album - even its lead single, “Soft and Wet”, wasn’t so daring. Despite acting as a one man R&B band - writing, arranging, producing and performing - Prince was still far from being in full swing. His wider musical spectrum rarely shined, only glimpsed through rocking tunes like “I’m Yours”. Vocally, he maintained a high pitch, which proved a bit tiring due to excessive overdubbing. The uneven effort and modest sales further increased Prince’s fears that he might be mismanaged by Warner’s industry-standard “Black Music Department”. He would soon pen more risqué tunes than before and establish a distinct image to avoid any kind of labeling. Almost effortlessly, Rick James was on a roll with his subsequent releases. Bustin’ Out of L Seven (1978) and Fire It Up (1979) quickly went gold, keeping intact James’ devious tradition of featuring himself with at least one girl on the cover. He also continued to avoid the strong social commentary funk was known for earlier in the decade, and showed no interest in creating a sci-fi alter-ego like George Clinton and his adventurous space cadets band, Parliament. Instead, he composed his funk tunes as a marching band for freaks - one of his most commonly used adjectives. In many of his songs, James presented himself as the natural go-to-guy for any kind of action. Resting his case in “Come into My Life”, he sweetens the deal by promising to “bring my private stash if you come”. James had a knack for pounding beats and didn’t permit long improvised solos. Still, he enjoyed shout outs, like “Horns Blow !”, cueing his group to step up. At times, James appeared as strict as James Brown was when he bossed around the J.B’s. But often enough, James led his parade at ease, demanding satisfaction and promising liberation for all the dancers, hustlers, and druggies to come his way. Prince went on to record his self-titled second album in 1979, carrying a more reserved, mystical persona. He gave rare and awkwardly brief interviews which didn’t quite complement his newfound musical aggressiveness. “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad” and “Bambi” soared with crushing sexual frustration; ballads such as “It’s Gonna Be Lonely” and “When We’re Dancing Close and Slow”, were now eerily erotic instead of hopelessly romantic. He generated profound intimacy by sparse instrumentation, soft voice and confessional lyrics, such as “sex related fantasies is all that my mind can see/ baby, that’s honestly the way I feel”. The looming theme of obsession was mostly sugar coated, for the time being, in the up tempos of “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “I Feel for You”. Thus, Prince’s sophomore release was catchy enough to earn him his first immediate commercial success, including a national TV performance on American Bandstand. Prince and Rick James were turning heads as the new men of funk. Each was a bluntly sexually driven figure who was exciting to follow as he groomed a musical talent about to manifest in its entirety. Yet to fully crossover, both continued to depend upon the same fan base of young black Americans. In 1979, James had begun hearing about Prince without giving him a second thought. However, concert promoters regarded them as two of a kind and a guaranteed attraction if billed together. Soon, Prince was slated as James’ opening act for the Fire It Up tour. An inevitable clash was on its way. James’ baffling first impression is duly noted in his autobiography The Confessions of Rick James : Memoirs of a Super Freak (2007) : “The first time I saw Prince and his band I felt sorry for him. Here’s this little dude wearing hi-heels, playing this New Wave Rock & Roll, not moving or anything on stage, just standing there wearing this trench coat. Then at the end of his set he’d take off his trench coat and he’d be wearing little girl’s bloomers. I just died. The guys in the audience just booed the poor thing to death.” Other accounts suggest Prince made a point in upstaging James. Either way, tensions were running high throughout the tour. Backstage shenanigans of stealing instruments, physical confrontation and general intolerance were served cold by each artist. Long after parting ways, Prince and James never resolved their resentment and remained touchy when comparisons were drawn between them. For both, the ’80s marked the beginning of trying times and notable turning points. Prince released Dirty Mind in 1980, which gained him the most notorious reputation he could have ever hoped for. His sexual frustration was slowly graduating into sheer confidence. Prince’s sensitivity in “When You Were Mine” and “Sister” had led to a challenging moral and sexual ambiguity. His desire was no longer confined to a traditional adult relationship. He also started to represent a collective thought, similar to Rick James upon backing those in need of “Bustin’ Out”. Prince’s “Uptown” and “Partyup” were also songs that projected the dance floor as the vital sphere in which a new breed will arise, free of any hang ups. He further crystallized this progressive idea with his own multi-racial and gender-bender backing group, soon to be dubbed The Revolution. Prince adapted wholeheartedly the New Wave sound on Dirty Mind, and his subsequent albums also included plenty of synthesizer-based tunes, ditching the traditional funk gear and sound. He eschewed a “Punk Funk” tag to his current musical direction, but he did dress the part. He performed nearly in the nude with a new borderline spiky haircut, while attaching a “Rude Boy” pin to his coat, embracing the calling card of Ska-heads. He was also pleased to preach to NME straight out of the punk manifesto in 1981 : “All the groups in America seem to do just exactly the same as each other - which is to get on the radio… Obviously, the new wave thing has brought back a lot of that greaser reality. There are so many of those groups that there is just no way many of them can make it in those vast commercial terms. So they have no choice but to write what’s inside of them. I think it’s all getting better, actually.” Prince’s days as a warm up act were about to end permanently as he briefly opened for the Rolling Stones in 1981. Their fans were shocked by his persona, ushering him off the stage moments after hearing the electro-rockabilly “Jerk U Off”. Prince’s sexual tones became too intense even for his own band mates. Guitarist Dez Dickerson lobbied for “Head” to be removed from Prince’s live set since this rowdy tale of oral bliss embarrassed and offended him. Having failed to change Prince’s mind, Dickerson eventually quit. At that time, Rick James suddenly went tropical. His vacation in the Caribbean Islands stirred him away from his usual antics. Garden of Love, released in 1980, was a short and laid back suite he recorded while still under the influence of basking in the sun. Songs like “Island Lady” were drowned in the sounds of nature. Only its opening track, “Big Time”, was a typical self-celebratory party anthem. This change of pace wasn’t greeted with a warm welcome by the listening public. Humbled by its commercial failure, James went for broke, following it an offering in the complete opposite direction. Street Songs, out in 1981, was James’ most powerful record, founded on his renowned merits : glorifying harsh realities, rejoicing in sleaze and playing a mean bass. “Give It to Me Baby” and “Ghetto Life” were thrilling bumpers and the unexpected smash “Super Freak” solidified the album’s success. James was good as ever at exploring urban vitality, catching up on Prince’s foray. Prince and James’s kinship was most apparent in their various side projects. Feeling in top form, James decided to produce albums for his accompanying Stone City Band. Writing and playing with them enabled him to embark on other musical genres, such as reggae, and spread more strutting freaks and drug songs. Prince set up The Time out of a group of musicians from the Minneapolis scene. In principal, the band was molded in Prince’s lighter and more humorous side. It mainly mixed funk and comedy while turning into a playful nemesis of Prince and the Revolution. The vast majority of Prince and James’ side-projects involved female artists. It was no coincidence as the ladies were tailored to enhance their own charged sexuality. Composing, playing, producing and sometimes adding vocals to their female protégés’ repertoire shaped Prince and James as men who could articulate women’s most intimate desires. It was also a way to channel more male fantasies than possible on their own albums. Within a few years time, Prince formed Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6, while later establishing the careers of Sheena Easton, Sheila E. and Jill Jones. Meanwhile, James put together The Mary Jane Girls and launched Teena Marie and Val Young. Prince and James each acted as a kind of musical pimp: flooding the market with their own signature sounds, dressing the girls provocatively in lingerie and other revealing outfits to match the luscious lyrics. The pimping analogy was never lost on either of them. Vanity 6 was originally called the Hookers and Prince argued that lead singer Denise Matthews should adapt the stage name, Vagina. James on his part wanted to have The Mary Jane Girls as The Colored Girls, insisting on a racially diverse ensemble of his own. Prince and James granted their female clones with the most explicit lyrics they wrote at the time. Evidently, the Parents Music Resource Center picked up on it in 1985, while campaigning for attaching Parental Advisory stickers on “objectionable” music albums. Impressively, Prince and James’ songs and related artists were accounted for nearly a third of the organization’s “Filthy Fifteen” list, which was the core of its claim to action. Prince’s protégés were also supplemented his own dominant themes, such as car fixation. As Prince was singing about riding with a “Lady Cab Driver” and the implications of a “Little Red Corvette”, Vanity 6 had a motor wordplay in “Drive Me Wild”, and Apollonia 6 were expecting their lover in a “Blue Limousine”. James’ most successful outlet was the Mary Jane Girls, scoring club classics such as “All Night Long” and “Candy Man” and pop hits like “In My House”. The Mary Jane Girls outlived Prince’s girl groups, recording two albums, and in some ways eclipsed their creator’s success, since James was continually struggling to have another hit on his own, past Street Songs. For better or worse, Rick James was tied to the old fashioned Motown legacy. He composed and produced the Temptations’ 1982 original line-up reunion single, Standing on the Top. It bore his instantly recognizable sound of bass and synth slaps, while James vocally backed the hoarse Temptations. A year later, James charted again on the strength of his mushy duet with Smokey Robinson, “Ebony Eyes”. The slow jam had the two out-singing one another in a friendly manner and they also shot an elaborate video together. Like others James made, he thought MTV was downplaying it in favor of Michael Jackson and Prince’s videos. Just a few months prior to the blockbuster success of Purple Rain, James was already utterly fed up with Prince. Talking then to NME, James couldn’t stand another comparison being pointed out and ranted : “…Prince deals with sex and sex only. You’ve got love with me, hope, the future. I write about shit the way it is.” Astonishingly quick, Prince proved him and other conservative critics wrong. He started to sing about God and the heavens frequently, while regulating his dwindling explicit songs to a B-side status. Prince’s spiritual journey soon resulted in 1988’s Lovesexy, a concept album of seeking divine guidance and positivity. By the time Quincy Jones invited him to record Jackson’s Bad, Prince was too old for name-calling. James later admitted to losing his own fight with Prince : “I always felt our competition was healthy, although I was jealous when he started getting big - more than jealous - I was pissed… because I felt his songs… and a lot of his stuff wasn’t real.” Jealousy still prevailed when James left Motown in the late ’80s. He hesitated in signing to Warner Brothers since Prince was one of their biggest stars. Eventually, James joined in but released just one album under the label. The drug addiction and further jail time derailed The King of Punk-Funk’s career for good. Clearly, contractual-wise, a duet between Prince and James was more feasible than one with Jackson. It may have also been a worthier match. Label them as you wish, Prince and James always knew there’s usually only one spot in the music business for a true super-freak and both aimed to rule it.v – Questlove Supreme – Kool & The Gang - Celebration (2021) (0:06)v – Nightchild Reviews – Looking At The Rick James Tour (2019) (0:05)v – The Purple Underground – Prince Vs Rick James – The Rivalry (2014) (0:15)4829175317182504-05-1980 : NY (canceled)07-05-1980 : Denver (canceled)09-05-1980 : Fresno (canceled)10-05-1980 : Oakland (canceled)11-05-1980 : LA (canceled)05-1980 : Lisa Coleman replaces Gayle Chapman Lisa Coleman replaces Gayle Chapman as keyboards player in Prince’s band. Gayle left the band because her religious beliefs were incompatible with Prince’s increasingly sexually explicit lyrics and daring stage show. Lisa Coleman, of Los Angeles, California, was the daughter of Los Angeles studio percussionist Gary Coleman. Lisa had no previous professional experience, although she had studied classical piano from a very early age. Her style of music was influenced by classical composers, and jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. Another influence is Mike Melvoin, the father of her best friend, Wendy Melvoin. Lisa was 19 and working as a shipping clerk when a friend who worked for Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli heard that Prince needed a new keyboards player. She sent a tape and was summoned to Minneapolis for an audition : “He wanted to meet me to see if I was nice, so he flew me to Minneapolis and took me downstairs to his studio and told me to start playing. I was kind of nervous since I knew he could hear me upstairs, but he came down and picked up a guitar and we started to jam. A week later I was living in Minneapolis !” It was obvious that Lisa was better suited to the band compared to Gayle, as good as gold either in terms of personality and music. Prince already greatly respected the talents of Lisa and they developed an intimate relationship. Lisa points to the "color" of music and begins to expose him to great composers like John Cage, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Domenico Scarlatti, and Paul Hindersmith. According to Lisa, the only knowledge of classical music Prince was limited to at the time was the "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel, whose presence is prominent in the soundtrack of Blake Edwards’ 10. The complexity of the emerging music of Prince in the coming years can thank, to some extent, the influence of Lisa.Lisa Coleman – MySpace (2009) When I first went to Minneapolis to meet Prince and stay for what I thought would be just a few months, Prince picked me up at the airport. I walked off the plane… it was June. It was warm and a little humid. Prince was waiting for me. I could see him talking on a payphone… remember those ? They were all over the place in the 80’s… in fact I think it was 1980. I found out later that he was on the phone with his girlfriend, Kim, telling her what I looked like and what I was wearing… anyway… he picked me up and drove me in his little FIAT to his house in Wayzata. He took the back roads and showed me the countryside. It was really beautiful, train tracks and long views. This was Minnesota alright ! I lit a cigarette, which I can’t believe now when I think of it because he hates smoking ! But he let me smoke in his car. He was very polite. We were both VERY QUIET and shy. It was pretty sweet actually. Lots of nervous smiles back and forth. We got to his house and he pointed to the piano at the bottom of the stairs. I went and played while he went to make us some tea. I knew he would hear me so I tried to act like I was casually playing the hardest Mozart piece I knew. Kim told me later that he was standing at the top of the stairs wide eyed and excited. “She’s better than I thought !”… ok so… that was my first day meeting him.-440055127000The end of this particular phase in Prince’s development was marked by the departure of Gayle Chapman from the band. Previous biographies have always stated that Chapman left for religious reasons and because she was troubled with a stage act that involved kissing Prince during ‘Head’ or by the provocative costumes with which he was presenting her, but Chapman told me, ‘That’s all hogwash. For years people would write that stuff in the books, and all I could say was, “They never asked me.” It’s not like, “I served God here, now I serve Prince.” I worked for this guy, I didn’t worship him. But maybe young egotistical males want that.’ Fink was shocked by Gayle’s departure, but even in the midst of his increased success and fame, Prince already seemed to be thinking way beyond the current moment, with a game plan that those around him sometimes found strange. Pepe Willie remembers a perplexing meeting with Prince at First Avenue shortly after the release of his second album. ‘I remember him telling me he wanted to get to a place where people couldn’t find him, and I just said, “Why ?”’ But Willie had witnessed Prince’s occasional discomfort with fans, and could see this was something that might grow stronger in future, and shape his later behaviour.Listen2Prince (2018) - Exit, Stage Left... There are several theories about why Gayle Chapman left Prince's band, the most common being that she left out of an inability to rationalize her own deeply-held religious and moral views against Prince's vulgar direction, citing her membership with a religious group called The Way International.?Then a story or two are shared that are meant to paint a picture of their relationship being adversarial or that she just couldn't hack it.?Neither of which seem to be true. Stories like the time when Prince, tired of the titilating-yet-unrevealing bedwear Gayle was choosing as her stage costume, sent an unidentified girlfriend to Gayle's hotel room with a bag of multi-colored underwear and the message, "Prince says wear this or you're fired." More famously, though, her blocking during the stage show is called out as the bridge too far.?During "Head," Gayle would leave her position behind the keyboard to do a suggestive back bend while the band vamped and the crowd chanted the song title. Sometimes Prince would feign playing the keys on her belly; other times she'd do the bend while kneeling before Prince playing his guitar.?The blocking culminated in the pair making out on at least two occasions.?Brian Morton's book stands alone in claiming that the make-out sessions took place during "I Wanna Be Your Lover."?Accompanied by quotes from André, Bobby Z., and Dez talking about the tension between her beliefs and "the simulation of some pretty vulgar things onstage," the story has become part of the lore.?Fink seems to have been the only one genuinely surprised by her departure. "That's all hogwash. For years people would write that stuff and all I could say was, 'They Never asked Me' ... [I left] for a number of reasons, the biggest of which was I needed more out of life than working as an employee in his band could offer at the time.?I worked for this guy, I didn't worship him."?- Gayle Chapman. But this was a woman who, upon first hearing Prince's music through her stereo, knew he would need a live band if he were to tour.?Gayle did what she could to find her way into being a part of it.?It seems tame by today's standards, but "Soft And Wet" had a hard time getting airplay because it was deemed too provocative.?She did have an issue with performing "Head," but it wasn't religious.?Gayle felt weird singing a song about giving head when she wasn't even having sex.?In an interview with Beautiful Nights, she said, "I left because I needed to grow, and I was an employee in somebody’s band, doing a job, trading my time for money. It didn’t matter who it was; I think, at that time…if I wasn’t growing the way I needed to, I would have left.”?It would not be the last time, not by a long shot, that someone left a Prince group for just that reason. Some places also like to say that Gayle left after an argument broke out when she wanted to go on a trip instead of attend some short notice (as in, booked on the spot) rehearsals.?From her own lips, though, she went to Prince's home to talk it out and left with their friendship in tact.?The story of a good, Christian girl leaving because the music was too much for her to handle does make for a better story in the mythology, though. Lisa Coleman learned about the vacancy through a friend that happened to work for Cavallo & Ruffalo's company.?She recorded a demo and presumably used that connection to help find its way to Prince.?He was 'struck by it,' asking his management to invite the young pianist to Minneapolis for an audition.?Prince picked her up from the airport himself, even letting her smoke in his Fiat.?When they arrived at his house, where she would be staying in the guest room for the weekend, he showed her to the piano while he went to change.?I'm unclear on whether it was the home in Edina or on North Arm where Dirty Mind was recorded.?In the few books that this is related in, events are shared out of order without clarification. Assuming that the audition had just begun and that he would be listening to her comp, Lisa began playing a concerto by Mozart she'd been working on.?When Prince returned, he picked up a guitar and they jammed.?For three hours. "From the first chord, we hit it off," she remembers fondly.?While Wendy is often credited with having a great impact on broadening Prince's musical horizons, no one musician had as profound an impact on Prince's way of thinking while writing and arranging as Lisa Coleman did.?The voicings she chose for her chords made them huge and unique.?Lisa's chops had a foundation in classical and jazz, and what's more she instinctively knew how to apply those methods to the music Prince was creating.?To paraphrase the poet Apollo Creed, 'Gayle may have played great, but Lisa was a great player.'?It didn't hurt that she was also into Joni. By the end of the weekend, Prince knew he wanted her in his band.?The offer was accepted, giving her about a week to relocate from L.A. to Minneapolis. It may be entirely coincidental, especially because the stage presence of the band was changing, but it should be noted that not once did the blocking between Lisa and Prince during "Head" ever come close to Gayle's.?Lisa's first appearance with the band on stage was while filming the music videos for "Dirty Mind" and "Uptown" in October, ahead of the December 4 tour opener in Buffalo, NY. Speaking of ... "Lisa" was submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright at the beginning of August 1980.?Don't interpret that as 'he was going to release it.'?There are many thoughts on why Prince chose not to release it, ranging from it being little more than an initiation for their newest member to over analyzing the stereotypical disco drone of similar tunes as the culprit.?Songs don't always have to reflect the truth.?In the end, it's just not on par with even some of his weaker released works. A shorter edit floats around the web, and has led to speculation that it may have been considered as a b-side for an undetermined single.?As far as I could find, though, that speculation is based solely on its existence and the copyright.?Lisa Coleman, for whom many have assumed it was named, said the band recorded it during a rehearsal.?Whether she is referencing the recording we know, one of the few circulating jammed out takes, or another version that we don't, is hard to say.?While it points to it having been played by the band at least once (supporting the initiation theory), there's no record of it ever appearing again.?She doesn't feel that "Lisa" is necessarily about her, going on to say, "It was just a girl's name used in a song; there are other girls named Lisa."?Add to that the lack of content in the song, her name could have been just the right one at the right time.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)There was another significant change that took place that summer. Keyboardist Gayle Chapman, who was, at the time, a member of a religious sect called the Way, had a conflict with Prince over a Way-related trip she had planned and scheduled, when Prince suddenly informed her she was needed in rehearsal. There had been some tension between her beliefs and what she was being called upon to do in our live show. There was a developing role that she was given that involved the simulation of some pretty vulgar things on stage. Really, the conflict over Gayle’s travel plans wasn’t the issue. Just as is the case in a marriage, people don’t really divorce over burnt toast, or toothpaste being squeezed in the wrong place, but it’s an accumulation of things. More than anything, it’s the thoughts that we think about the other person leading up to a confrontation that are the real culprit – the confrontation is just an excuse to vent the fruit of negative thoughts we have indulged in. Much has been made over the years of the picture of Prince as controlling tyrant. Whenever the combination of vision and drive is present, one has to work consciously to avoid becoming controlling in some ways – it’s inevitable. In the end, all these dynamics were in place in the situation that was about to transpire with Gayle. For her, it appeared to me that it was just something that was very important to her, and she had told Prince well in advance that she would be going. For Prince, the urgency of the mission dictated changes of plan from time to time (over the years, changes became more urgent, and more frequent). In the end, neither would budge, and Prince made the ultimate ‘upper hand’ move – he fired her. Prince replaced Gayle with Californian Lisa Coleman. She came from a music business family (her dad was a studio player in L.A.), and she had grown up in the Hollywood scene. Lisa was a different kind of musician than Gayle – classically trained, and a bit broader in her musical tastes and background. With Gayle, her strong suit had been her singing, while Lisa brought more to the table musically. She was very young (19 – this pattern of replacing folks with younger players would continue in the future, I believe, at least in part, due to the fact that younger folks were more pliable). With Lisa in place, the scene was set for the musical transition to become complete. We launched into what was probably the most creative season of my time in the band. The slick, R&B focused grooves gave way to a new kind of stripped-down, New Wave funk. If folks had been shocked and surprised that the silky R&B crooner that they had expected from I Wanna Be Your Lover showed up in bikini underwear with the guitars turned up on the Fire It Up tour, they were REALLY going to be blown away by the next transformation. Prince seemed determined to push the envelope in every conceivable way – the sound, the look, the message. Everything was calculated to be taken beyond what had been done before. Lyrics were crafted for shock value, and the new sound was a vehicle for some decidedly un-pop themes. Ultimately the title track would say it all – Dirty Mind. As we delved further into what would become the new record, the look also became even more radical than before. Prince had seen Sting in the movie Quadrophenia (based on the rock opera by the Who), and been imprinted by the trenchcoated look of his character. He would incorporate that theme into the band’s new look, with the frontline threesome of Prince, Andre, and myself clad in trenchcoats. Eventually, he would let us design our own subtle variations on the garment. Prince, himself, would combine the new signature with his previous one, and wear his bikinis under the trenchcoat, with the tried and true legwarmers from his original Capri-era look. With a new visual trademark in place, we entered into the studio with Al Beaulieu once again, and shot hundreds of photos for the packaging of the album. Not surprisingly, there was some resistance at the label to this radical new record. Prince was emphatic about the home sessions being the record, and not just demos. Though some label folks were strongly opposed, Prince won out. He agreed to remix the record in L.A. The rehearsals for the tour to come had more focus than our prior tour – we had an experimental knowledge of the road upon which to base our preparation. Prince had a clearer vision for who he was as a performer, and where he was trying to go. But, some things never change – his approach was still heavy on jamming and experimentation. This time, though, the results of the group’s creative output in rehearsal would often find its way onto tape in Prince’s one-man sessions. He would tape our jams in the warehouse on a boombox, and take them home as work reference tapes. As a result, the line between who actually came up with ideas and who got credit became blurred. This issue would come back to haunt in the future. The title track, Dirty Mind actually came from a synth riff Matt came up with in rehearsal. Uptown was built on a bass groove that Andre played in rehearsal. The most clear-cut ‘borrowing,’ though, came in the form of the song Partyup. That song was originally written by Prince’s friend (ever-present in the summer of ’80 rehearsals) Morris Day. Morris had written the tune. Prince heard it, and loved it. He cooked up a deal – give me the song, let me rework it as my own, and I’ll get you a record deal. That had to be appealing to Morris, who had basically been acting during that summer as a runner for us (“Hey, Morris, I’d like a Quarter Pounder with cheese, and…”) Morris had been a drummer in Prince’s early band, Grand Central, and the two had remained good friends. After a time, the excitement of the impending new album wore thin, and I was once again weighed down with our incessant rehearsing. On the one hand, I believed in being prepared and polished – on the other hand, I felt that there was something to be said for freshness and spontaneity. From my perspective, we over-rehearsed to the point that it just became drudgery. One positive thing that emerged from the long season of recording/rehearsing that followed the Prince tour, was the increased role Prince gave me as a kind of de facto bandleader. At times, while he was working on the record and rehearsing at the same time, he would leave, but expect us to continue working. He entrusted me with running the group through its paces in his absence. He also allowed me to speak my mind on musical issues to a degree that perhaps went beyond some others in the group. As the weeks blurred into months, that same old feeling started to come back, that sense of ‘are we EVER going to get out of here and back on the road??’ I had no idea the gamut of emotions we would experience as we moved into the Dirty Mind era…Later, when Fink took a wowing and zapping solo on Dirty Mind’s “Head,” he’d play the ARP Omni 2. Fink joined soon after Prince had hired Gayle Chapman to play piano. “She also was a guitar player - she could play rhythm guitar pretty well,” Fink recalls. “He didn’t utilize her for that - he only utilized her for keyboard work at that time, and vocals.” When Chapman left in 1980, Prince told her of her replacement : “She’s amazing, she can play her ass off, but she can’t sing like you.” That replacement was the classically trained Lisa Coleman, daughter of Gary L. Coleman, a top L.A. session musician percussionist. Her audition for Prince lasted some three hours - she’d opened with some Mozart. They were instantly simpatico. “There was something about Lisa’s sound as a keyboard player, particularly on acoustic piano, that Prince was very fond of and found hard to duplicate himself,” tour manager and Paisley Park Records president Alan Leeds says in Alex Hahn’s Possessed. The Coleman-Fink tandem would work out their own parts, helped along by tapes of songs with the keyboard parts mixed up. “We would sit down and divvy things up,” says Fink. “We’d come to him if there was a bit of a issue with anything - ‘Hey, can you show us the part ?’”The Revolution’s Matt ‘Dr.’ Fink deconstructs Prince’s pioneering use of synthesizersBy Michaelangelo Matos – The Current (2018)Dez Dickerson believes that in spite of Lisa Coleman having much broader abilities as a musician than Gayle Chapman, Prince’s decision to draft her into the band was also due to her being younger : ‘This pattern of replacing folks with younger players would continue in the future, I believe, at least in part, due to the fact that younger folks were more pliable.’ Prince’s interest in young collaborators has remained constant throughout his career: from 1981, when he recorded an unreleased song called ‘She’s Just a Baby’, which may have been inspired by his relationship with sixteen-year-old Susan Moonsie, to 2011, when he was out on the road with a new young female independent musician named Andy Allo. It’s easy to see the darker side of such relationships, but it seems that Prince is attracted to talent as much as beauty, and if the two are combined, so much the better. What must it have been like to have a woman with the incredible musical breadth and ability of nineteen-year-old Lisa Coleman come into your life at twenty-one ? The Prince myth is such that we think of everyone who worked with him as being lucky to have that opportunity, and it’s true that many of Prince’s early records are one-man shows. But still, Coleman is arguably his most important collaborator, and clearly facilitated his musical growth from 1980 until 1986, most notably in the way she opened him up to classical music and piano-based jazz, giving him a breadth of sound that none of his competitors could rival. When I met Coleman, a charming and self-effacing woman, in Los Angeles, she went out of her way to play down her influence on Prince, admitting that she ‘kind of’ introduced him to classical music but being wary of taking full credit for this, semiseriously suggesting that it was her car that he truly coveted. ‘He considered me a source for that [sort of music], and sometimes he would ask me to bring some records around. I had a great car, my pink Mercury, which had a really cool sound system in it. He’d take rides in my car and borrow it. I always had classical-music tapes, Dionne Warwick and stuff, and yeah, we turned each other on. To impress him I’d play some Mozart on the piano when he “wasn’t listening”. I turned him on to lots of different composers – Vaughan Williams, Mahler, Hindemith, Bill Evans and Claus Ogerman. Symbiosis. He was blown away.’Dez Dickerson (The Nashville Scene – 2014)Having been around during Gayle Chapman's alienation (and later, departure) from Prince's band due to nastiness in the material, did that affect you in your own religious awakening and reaction to the sexual theatre that comprised much of the Dirty Mind, Controversy and 1999 tours ? After having been "raised in the church" but opting out at age 16, I had a profound salvation experience on the Christmas break from the Dirty Mind tour in 1980. Unlike the classic "come to Jesus" testimony of the fallen rocker who finds himself in the gutter, drug-addled and penniless, and surrenders his or her life to Christ, mine was a mountaintop epiphany. I was doing everything I ever wanted to do, but found it hollow and unfulfilling. On Dec. 22, 1980, in the living room of my house on Castle Ave. in North St. Paul, Minn., at about 11:30 p.m., I had what I can only describe as a divine encounter, and, in a moment of time, recognized that it was the relationship with the living God, from Whom I had bolted, that I really needed, not attempting to become a guitar-playing god myself. After that, I went back out on the road with a radically changed perspective, although I remained in the group for almost three more years. Eventually, it was the realization that the incongruity of who I needed to be and who I had to be as "the guy with the kamikaze headband" was changing me in ways that made me difficult to live with. Ultimately, when you know it's time to turn the page, nothing else matters but going out and doing what you are, as opposed to continuing to do what you've always done, what makes you famous, etc.“Gotta Tell the Truth Y'all” - Interview with Gayle Chapman By Erica Thompson – A Purple Day In December (2010)2381254676775I successfully secured my first interview for my book last Thursday ! I spoke via telephone to Gayle Chapman, the original keyboard player for Prince’s band which would later become The Revolution. Originally from Duluth, Minnesota, Chapman moved to Minneapolis and played with Prince for two years. I knew that Chapman would be a significant person to interview because there is an age-old story that she quit the band for religious reasons. According to numerous sources, Chapman, a Christian, grew uncomfortable with Prince’s lewd musical content. Chapman said that this story is false. “All these books that are written are based on conjecture, other people’s opinions,” Chapman said. “Nobody bothered to ask me.” There is also a popular story that Chapman disliked kissing Prince during the band’s performance of the racy song, “Head.” Chapman similarly denied this tale. “It was work. I had no problem doing the work.” Chapman shared the real reason for her departure and responded to my questions about Prince’s religion or spirituality during her time with him. We also had a fascinating conversation about spiritual light and spiritual darkness - concepts that I will definitely explore even more in my book as a result of our discussion. Additionally, I asked Chapman if she was surprised that Prince converted to the Jehovah’s Witness faith. “No,” she said, and offered an intriguing explanation. One of the major highlights of the interview was Chapman’s description of the event that led her to Prince. “The strangest thing happened that moved me forward in working for him,” she said. “It was a spiritual experience.” Honestly, I can’t say that I am surprised at this occurrence. Based on my research, I have found that Prince’s life and career are filled with spiritual events, visions and transformations. Prince worked with many people who were Christians or who later became Christians. There are interesting patterns in Prince’s journey, whether you call it God’s will, fate or a series of coincidences. Chapman dismissed the latter possibility. “I don’t believe in coincidences at all,” she said. “I would like to think that God’s influence in somebody’s life is so powerful, it will affect them for generations.” “I think the real truth is that’s how powerful spiritual light is,” she continued. “God knows what He’s doing.” With regard to my interview with her, she said, “I believe that my conversation will affect you for a long time.” I think she may be right. I really enjoyed speaking to her, and she gave me a lot to think about even outside of my Prince-related research. I will discuss the interview in more detail in my book. Now that I’ve talked to Chapman, I hope that band members Dez Dickerson and Matt Fink will speak with me about their time with Prince.The Rest of My Life : Gayle Chapman Talks About Events After Prince – Beautiful Nights (2013)? : Do you remember the moment when you decided to leave Prince's band ?GC : Do I remember the moment ? No, I don't. What was I thinking ? God only knows ! I realized that I wasn't growing and I needed more. That's about the sum of it...I was in Prince's world and if I stayed, that's where my growth and energies would be and I wanted more.?(People) always ask me “Did you leave, because, of Dirty Mind ?” I'd like to roll my eyes and say “No, it wasn't my Dirty Mind, it was his.” Yes, I did tell him that I did not want to sing that song (“Head”) but, I sang “You.” So, what ? (Singing lyrics) “You get so hard I don't know what to do.” How stupid was I ? “Take your pants off !” (Laughs). No, I really digress... I don't know if it was the mother instinct, because, it didn't feel like that. But, I wasn't growing. I was in a band, touring and it was the most fun I had in a long time... But, I needed more and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I just knew I had to go. I look back now and I probably would have been wise to stay another couple of years. I could have hung in there. But, I needed to grow. So, I left. And now I wax poetic...? : How did you tell Prince that you were leaving ?GC : We met at his house. He lived on Orono Bay on Lake Minnetonka. I told him I needed to talk to him, because, I was thinking about leaving (the band). I asked if would he have time to sit down with me. He said yes. I lived about a mile and a half down the road from him in a cabin on a resort. ?I went over and we sat and talked. He wasn't happy that this white chick was leaving. The last thing he ever said to me was “Gayle, if you ever need my help, you just let me know.”?? : When you decided to move on was it a tough decision for you ? GC : It was a very difficult decision to leave. It was a job. If I was going to have “jobs” the rest of my life, there were jobs where I could make a lot more money. I just happened to like that one a lot. That's why it was such a tough decision. The perks were amazing.?The perks of working with Prince were that you were paid, whether you performed or not, because, you had to be kept on the payroll. You would continue to practice and rehearse. When Prince got back from L.A. and said “We're rehearsing,” you would rehearse. That would be it. I flew (on an airplane) every time I traveled and had my own hotel room. There were drivers that would pick me up and take me wherever I needed to go... It was the beginning of what I thought stardom was like. It was work, yeah, but, it was fun. It was attention getting. How many people would show up to a record store to do an interview dressed in their rock-and-roll gear and hop out of a limo. That was me. It's like that to this day. Maybe they show up in minivans, I don't know. There was notoriety. There was flamboyance. There were perks. You could go out and eat wherever you wanted, because, there was always money to do that if you wanted to. It wasn't a lot of money, but, it what was you needed to get by. They would have a microwave in my hotel room and instead of spending my money that way, I would go to a grocery store and buy a frozen dinner or something. Two hundred fifty dollars was more than I had (previously) made in a week. But, it wasn't a lot of money. I just saw that if that was the (salary) cap on what I was doing... I knew that I needed the opportunity to do more and make more (money) if I was going to live the way I wanted to. I have learned, over the years, that it doesn't matter how much money you make, if you have bad habits, you're never going to have any (money). So, you learn to change your habits with what you do with money. You can make $55,000 or $100,000 a year, (but), if you manage your own money wrong, shame on you !? : When you quit, did you leave the band right away ?GC : I offered to stay on for a while, (because), he had to take time to go find somebody. He said to me, when he found Lisa, “She's amazing, she can play her ass off, but, she can't sing like you.” I think there was a tug of war there. But, it was what it was. I can't say that I have any regrets, about being there or leaving. I just knew it was time to go.?-4430337383145 Beautiful Nights – Gayle Chapman (2013)(0:15)Gayle Chapman on being an “employed” musician : I think people romanticize how much (money) rock stars make. It's a business like anything else. Unless you're the “star,” you're not going to make as much money. That's the way it is. They're going to pay you a wage and take care of you, because, you signed on willingly for what you're getting to be there. So, to complain about it is stupid. When you agree to take a job and they offer you a wage, if you're not happy with it, you have say so up front. Otherwise, you're stuck getting that ... If you're not happy, you shouldn't stay. In the negotiation process, some people really aren't happy, but, they stay anyway. I was happy, because, I didn't have to be a maid in a hotel or a waitress in a cafe. That just wasn't in the cards for me. I had to work with a rock star or look like one.v – The Prince Podcast – Gayle Chapman (2018)(1:01)3757930-445135 Prince’s Friend – Gayle Chapman (2018)(0:41)-314325562610 Truth In Rhythm – Gayle Chapman (2022)(2:02)Bloomington rehearsalsA new rehearsal place for the band is found in a Bloomington warehouse, the location of a concert sound and lighting company called Naked Zoo.Dez Dickerson – My Life With Prince (2003)We also got a change of rehearsal venue. There was a local guy named Dave Fish who owned a successful concert sound and lighting company called Naked Zoo. I remember Naked Zoo from my State Fair days – they had handled a lot of the production for the stages in Young America on the fairgrounds. Dave’s company was located in an office/warehouse park in Bloomington, and we moved into his warehouse and set up shop for rehearsals. It was a good move – they had all the gear we could possibly need, and we could even have them set up full production for dress rehearsals just prior to going back out on the road. With this new set-up, Prince was able to schedule rehearsals during the recording of the album, and in that process, another pattern emerged that would continue in the future. He would work out songs, using the band as a kind of live tape recorder, then take those ideas into his home studio and record them. Spring 1980 : Prince moves to Lake Minnetonka -448945420116048348903866515Prince keyboardist Matt ‘Dr.’ Fink recalled that Prince drew some of the album’s (Dirty Mind) musical influences from the “stacks and stacks of records in his house that he got free from Warner Bros…He was listening to just about everything.” Fink, who collaborated with Prince on the album’s hit title track over the course of the album’s recording between the summer of 1979 and 1980, further recalled of the house and its fully equipped home studio that “was in a house he was renting on the North Arm of Lake Minnetonka, on the Northwestern side, and the studio was comprised of a 16-Track Ampex 2-inch analog deck, just plunked down in the basement, but not really built into the house. The mixing console for tracking purposes was a 16-channel AMEC board, a very heavy-duty board, very high quality and big for a 16-channel board. As far as outboard gear, he had some compressors like an 1176, a couple LA2A teletronics, an Eventide harmonizer, a couple of basic outboard reverbs - like the Lexicons PCM-60s. As far as vocal mics, in those days he was using a U-47 or a Telephunkin, but primarily the Neumann U-47, coupled with GML micpre’s. He had the drums pre-miced in a separate booth, and the drums were already miced up.” Maintenance tech Don Batts further recalled of Prince’s home studio that “the kitchen was right there and then you went into his living room and that’s where the studio started. The console was rammed up against a table. The Ampex MM1100 tape machine was held together with baling wire and patches…I ‘automated’ Prince’s home studio so it would function without me. It was all preset so it didn’t have to be changed for a session.”-4470407639050Le Cygne Noir – Alexis Tain (FR – 2017)His first two albums, For You and Prince, were still mostly in the R&B vein, with already, some big deviations (the "Joni Mitchellian" "So Blue" on the first, the "guitar heavy" "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" and "Bambi" on the second). At the turn of the new decade, Prince shapes with Dirty Mind this crossover which stretches the bridge between black funk and white rock, and whose aesthetic trait is, in the end, to resemble only its author. Summer 1980. Prince had a 16-track console installed in the basement of the house he was renting in Lake Minnetonka. The decor is rather spartan. The creation encroaches largely on life. A block away from the kitchen, the living room is transformed into a studio, where Prince spends most of his time. Day and night, he throws out ideas, jams with his band, records on tape whatever comes to mind. And as there are already several of them in there, the aesthetic quickly takes shape. Direct, raw, recorded on instinct, in a handful of takes, alone or almost, in the studio. With the exception, on Head, of choirs and a synthesizer solo, every note played or word sung is the work of its author. Already his own producer last year on his eponymous second album, Prince left the comfort of West Coast studios, burning the DIY flame at home, the "Do It Yourself" promoted by the nascent post-punk movement. Punk, Dirty Mind is it in its flayed production, in its way of playing everything alone, and in its texts, odes to sex in all its forms, incest ("Sister", the famous New York stay), fellatio ("Head"), 33 positions in one night ("Do It All Night"), what counts is to get laid. Anyhow and, unlike laughing, with anyone. On the flip side of the album, "Head" oozes funk. A demo exists, dated July 1979, recorded during a twelve-day collective session held in Colorado. The ten or so tracks produced could have been used to assemble an album, entitled The Rebels, after the name of the group. A first "side project", prefiguring Vanity 6, The Time and the others. Tired of not playing a note on their employer's albums, childhood friend and bassist André, and guitarist Dez Dickerson, have maneuvered well enough for Prince to concede a microplot of community land by agreeing to record songs with the band that he didn't even sign. Does he intend to push the project with Warner Bros ? Nothing is less sure. In 1979, Prince was not yet the star he had imagined himself to be at the start of his career. For You was expensive ($170,000 out of the $180,000 Warner gave him to produce three albums) and not very successful (150,000 records and a lowly 21st place on the R&B charts). His successor, Prince, was less sophisticated and more spontaneous. The shadow of disco hovers over the eight tracks that make up this second album. Some melodies are unstoppable. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "I Feel For You" are two of the most powerful hits. Prince submitted them to Patrice Rushen, a jazz fusion pianist who was then in the midst of his R&B career. Patrice had helped out with the keyboard parts of For You, the first album. The pianist politely declined. -445135193611547085252078990RR Auctions (2018) - Prince’s Linn LM-1 Electronic Drum Computer Info PacketCirca 1980 brochure for the Linn LM-1 Drum Computer given to Prince, consisting of the cover letter signed by Roger Linn, price list, flexidisc record of the LM-1 sounds, double-sided brochure page, and envelope marked “Prince.” The cover letter describes the LM-1 as a “revolutionary new ‘electronic drummer’ featuring digital recordings (in computer memory) of actual drums and percussion,” and lists artists who have purchased one, including Stevie Wonder, Barry Gibb, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Supertramp, Frank Zappa, Herbie Hancock, Barry White, and others. In fine condition. From the collection of an early Prince insider. The Linn LM-1 was the first drum machine to use digital samples of acoustic drums, and Prince indeed utilized it to help create his signature sound - ’1999,’ ‘Little Red Corvette,’ ‘When Doves Cry,’ and ‘Purple Rain’ are among the classic tracks to feature the machine. From the collection of an early Prince insider. Starting Bid $200v – The Prince Podcast – Switch The Style Up Ep 1 – Early Prince (2022)(0:55) ................
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