“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 there’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 get 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 re-cording 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 master-mind 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, ar. ranged 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 two albums together, I didn’t have a band The ideal situation would have been to have a band back me but I 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 what they thought.”
But that “phase” mushroomed into a spiraling recording career more astronomi-cal 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 I want to do. Sometimes I think it is ... other times I 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 I listen to other people’s stuff I think of how I 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 of nine of the 20 tunes he wrote for the project. His stage act is quite dynamic.
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 about anything,” he shrugs.
Actually, one can’t imagine Prince being involved in anything but his music. But one thing is certain and that is, 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...