SEX ON A STICK"
This summer Prince plays 19 nights at Wembley Arena, releases anew album and puts the finishing touches to his new film
Graffiti Bridge. Over the next five pages: What people think about Prince, what Prince thinks about Prince –
in fact everything you’ll ever need to know about Prince. Keep bustin’.

Prince was sent up in a Spitt!ng Image parody in  which his microphone stand burst  into his bedroom to find him in bed  with another microphore stand.

"We’ve got what I call positive nuisance, and he is that poitive nuisance." GEOROE CLINTON

"We hired him in eighty-one, and he could only stay on stage for two or three songs, *cos the crowd threw things at him. He made great records, but he couldn’t perform on stage. He’s got it together now." BILL WYMAN'

Last year Prince’s older half-sister Lorna Nelson filed a lawsuit against him claiming that he had taken some lyrics for the song ll Cot The Look from an unpub!ished song she had written called What’s Cooking In This Book. A judge threw the lawsuit out af court.

"Nobody has to walk around their home town with a nine-foot bodyguard, but Prince has dogged so many people, rippedoff so many ideas, that he knows he's gonna get his ass kicked." JESSE JOHNSON

"He never said much, but he was an emotional volcano that could erupt at any moment. The fury showed itself when schoolfriends teased him about his height because he loved basketball and you need to be tall for it. They were very cruel. Prince would get into huge fights about that."BERNADETTE ANDERSON (MOTHER OF ANDRE CYMONE, PRINCE’S BES T FRIEND AT SCHOOL)

Prince protege, Apollonia was arrested and charged with possess! on of marijuana in Los Angeles and had her Mercedes eon%seated. Her unlikely explanation was that she was "getting into the role" for her new film.

"Prince can’t just be cool with you, every time he talks to you there’s some motive, which is terrible. When Prince has success he doesn’t get thankful, it’s Just s power thing. He was such an asshole after Purple Rain. That guy s the worst! I’ve had to change my phone number to stop him calllng me. He’d just say 'Jesse, your album sucks’, and hang up." JESSE JOHNSON

"He’s the Duke Ellington of his generation." MILES DAVIS.

Prince was the only artist to have three albums in Rolfiag Stone’s 100 best albums of the 80s.

"If you like kiddy funk, then Prince is great, but the asshole lives in a fantasy world. If I want to listen to other people's music I listen to rap because it’s real. Prince don’t live on the street, and his records don’t mean fuck. It’s interplanetary Sesame Street music." RICK JAMES

Prince’s older sister is called Sharon.

"Prince was totally absorbed with his music. He always has been. There’s nothing else that goes on in his life. Though he was still in his teens xvhen E met him, he was amazing. He knew exactly the sound he wanted. That’s why we felt it was essentia E that he produce his own records." OWEN HUSNEY (PRINCE’S MANAGER AT THE TIME OF THE WARNERS SIGNING)

An article about Prince's earlylife reprinted in a fanzine carries a foatnote warning that the diminutive songster, "tended to lean towards fantasy a little when relating tales of his early private lite".

"When I first savu him, I thought he was gay – he wasn’t." VANITY

An embarrassed Paisley Park engineer discreetly retired from the studio when Kim Basinger and Prince arrived to record the "pillow talk" for The Scandalous Sex Suite single. They knew it was time to leave when the sex dwarf produced a jar of honey. They returned the next morning to begin a day’s work scraping the stuff off the sound desk. Craig%ice, the facility director of Paisley Park was later heard to comment: "Kim Basinger is a sore subject around here."

"Prince sticks his neck out. He’s done things I didn’t have the guts to do."JOHN COUGAR.

"I loved his show. It was great. He’s got c lot of Elvis in him, a real physicalness. He oozes that physicality." BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

"Prince has done far more revealing things than me and he’s just called sexy, whereas I’d be accused of using It because I’m a woman. Some people may find me sexy and others don’t. But I resent the fact that Prince can get away with thrusting his hips and I can’t." WENDY JAMES

"We just received a memo yesterday that we’re not supposed to talk to anybody without clearing It through the production manager first. I have dreams of Prince firing me himself." TECHNICIAN ON THE FILM SET OF PURPLE RAIN

In an early interview – Prince   was just. 19 – he arranged to meet the journalist, hid from her, then jumped out and seized her by the vocal chards. He then spent most of the interview peeling the bark off nearby trees.

"He does smell good! I’m really aware of people’s smells. I love fragrances and perfumes. Ever since I’ve known Prince, I’ve attached a smell to him, which Is lavender. He reeks of It." MADONNA

"If he came from Wigan he’d be dead by now." MORRISSEY

Prince was so desperate to  appear in the video for Mavis Staples' song, Time Waits For No 0ne, that he spent two weeks growing a beard for his cameo role. Prince can be seen looking dishevelled in old clothes, leaning under a lamppost playing a guitar. When snow started falling during shooting, he had to dash between the set and his car to keep warm

"He's my favourite freak." PRINCE'S MUM

"Prince has kept black music alive. I’ve met him, and he’s one of the few people who look up to me. Mainly because he has to, he’s got no choice." MICK Jagger

"The alcohol demands were very moderate, but the bill for flowers backstage was more than $1,600 a night. We were shopping for seven days before he arrived." KEN SUROESS (CONCERT PROMOTER, SOUTH CAROLINA 1084)

The next film project to come  from the Paisley Park Film Division should be about the legendary blues singer and guitarist Robert Johnson. He died at the age of 26 under mysterious circumstances  ither he was stabbed to death by a jealous husband, stabbed by a woman, or he was poisoned.

"He’s not overly original, but I like his music. It’s a bit naive, but he has a charm." JOHN LYDON

"Kissing Prince was warm and wet. the Intensity of his eyes would have burned a hole in your heart." APOLLONIA

Prince is one of the few composers who have had two ar more number-one soundtracks, with his Batman and Parple Rain albums. The others are: Rogers and Hammerstein (4), The Beatles (3) and Henry Mancini (2).

"I’m not saying they’ve sold out, but Prince and Michael Jackson have groomed their tnusic for the White audience." BOBBY WOMACK

Prince gave one of his last  interviews to the Los Angeles Times in 1983. He said: "One, my real name is Prince. Two, I'm not gay. Three, I’m not Jamie Starr."

I can relate to him. He has a chip on his shoulder. He’s competltlve, from the Midwest, a screwed-up home, and he has something to prove." MADONNA.

Prince always used to show up at the studio with a chocolate shake in his hand sipping out of a straw. He looked pretty tame. Then he’d pick up an instrument and that was it. It was all over." CHRIS MOON (OWNER OF MOON SOUND THE STUDIO WHERE PRINCE LEARNED TO REC0RD IN 1976)

"He's crap" – PETE WATERMAN

In 1981 Prince was asked by Mick Jagger to open two of the Rolling Stones’ concerts; three numbers into the first one   paper cups were thrown' on stage and he stormed off after just 20 minutes. Before he played a note the next night, chicken parts were thrown on stage.

"I’ve never liked Prince.Everyone alse does and everyone calls mean arsehole for not liking him. I think he's an overrated midget. He didn't call himself Prince for nothing. Yon walk into his place end he’s setting on a podlum so ho can look down on you. I think he has a problem."KEITH RICHARDS.

"He's sex on a stick." KYLIE MINOGUE

During Prince’s 1988 UK tour, a Sunday tabloid carried an article about Prince visiting cemeteries at the dead of night to eat bees.

"Prince is such an asshole. He's so scared of people rising to his level that he always tries to keep you down, don’t never let you do nothing. He played so many mind trips on us – which we had to take or be fired – that the stage was our only release. that’s why we (The Time) were such a treacherous band. When we hit the stage we had a serious mental grudge. Some nights we’d knock on his dresslng room door and say ‘We’re gonna slaughter you!’"JESSE JOHNSON (1986)

"I first met Prince at a party. He sauntered over to me, smiled wickedly and said: ‘Will you come to the bathroom with me? I want to by on your coat.’It turned out he had nothing on under his own leopard-skin coat. He was very bizarre and exciting." VANITY

"Like most weirdos and perverts, I’ve heard that underneath Prince is just an all-round American boy. Really I can’t stand him. He annoys the face mme, but I can’t help loving whet he does." GAVIN FRIDAY

"You never seem to get a middle ground with this guy. There’s no one I’ve ever met that can Just say he's OK. You either hate him or you love him." ERIC CLAPTON

The room was almost empty and there, in a white coat aad bellbottoms, like a Puerto Rican at a prom, all by himself, was Prince. lie came over to each and every person and shook their hand. What manners! We were just sbaking, it was sa exciting. And Silly Idol was there and you know seeing these two glamour bays, it’s like boys are the new Ilollywood glamour girls, like llarlow and Marilyn. So weird."
Andy Warhol - from his diary, Saturday, August 2, 1986

"I consider Prince to be totally superficial  He's riding a wave, Just like The Monkees used to. He Juggles very skilfully with the media, but his music is kids’ stuff. I don’t think spiritual subjects can be brought to people In an Interesting way like rock and roll. You need some  kind of Amadeus for that." KEITH RICHARDS

"He’s the weirdest guy I’ve ever met. He feeh he’s a second Mouzrt." CHICK HUNTSBERRY (BODYGUARD)

Barry Manilow spent a week in Paisley Park Studios rehearsing his Broadway show.

"It was through him that I think I gained my own sense of what people say. Forget what the record company says you must do to be successful. Do what that voice  In your head tells you to do, and If you trust In that and believe that, everything will be OK."TERENCE TRENT D’ARDY

The message at tbe end of  the video to Prince’s Partyman single includes  a cryptic reference to Janet Jackson’s latest album: Can I play with U?/Don’t buy the Black Album/This ain’t over yet/ 1814/With six you get egg roll.

Try playing a Prince song on the piano – In terms of melody they're pure shit. Then play Marvin Gaye's Midnight Lady by way of comparison It sounds like Mozart. DIETER DOHLEM (GERMAN PRODUCER)

In a 1981 interview in Rolling Stone, Prince claimed to be one of nine children who had survived malnutrition by living on a diet of Quaker Oats.

"He's a pretty maladjusted guy. He operates In a cocoon and Is real uncomfortable with outsiders. He records and plays all the time, that s his whole life. He's a little crispy round the edges." BANGLES BASSIST MICHAEL

"I think Prince is five years in front of everybody. He’s the only entertainer in the world I’d switch places with." EDDIE MURPHY

"I love Prince. He was the Bowie of the elghtles. He’s a musical genius and a fantastic performer-male and female at the same time, that makes him so horny, It’s the Ideal quallflcatlon for the pop business. If he were all man, It would all leave a macho aftertaste. But this way you kind of get the Impression that the guy Is fucking himself." GARY KEMP

Prince bought a house for his  minder Chick Huntsberry and is sail to still hold the deed on condition tbat lluntsberry kept quiet about Priace’s private life until at least 1985. Huntsberry died earlier this year.

"With Prince, it’s sink or swim. He doesn’t have time to waste on stupid shit. If you’ve got to stay up for three nights because there’s  something that needs your concentration, then you do it." BRENDA BENNETT (OF VANITY 6)

During an interview Prince  said he would call back the next day with a message for the purple people. Wendy called the following day with the message "Evolsidog" ("God Is Love" backwards).

Prince is cool, but Prince baby I was drivin’ round In a purple Cadillac before you were born." LITTLE RICHARD

Inscribed on the back of Prince’s plectrums are the words, "Love God
 

"No one really knows Prince that well People think they do, but none of us does." Jill Jones

Prince’s father John L Nelson is a jazz pianist and can be heard on Prince's Father’s Song – the song  played by Prince’s father in film Purple Rain. He can also be rd on Around The World In A Day, Ladder, Christopher Tracy’s Parade , The Cherry Moon and Scandalou.

I see more of Little Richard than myself in Prince. He moves like Little Richard. I guess he wants to be like me – But you see, I don’t do  anything vulgar on stage."
JAMES BROWN

'White people don’t understand that Prince can't hear Ravell when he wants to make love to his woman, he hears drums and shit" MILES DAVIS

I get an extra thrill from any art that documents the time. When I heard Sign 0’– he Times, I jumped up and wn. Not only has Prince got the year, he’s got the fucking week in the song! It’s all there and still there’s time  romance." JIM KERR

Prince’s phallic-shaped guitar is called The Blue Angel.

The happiest times I’ve had _ my life are when  I am with Prince. He is the only man who has given me everything I need – friendship,understanding, creative stimulation and, most of all, love " SHEENA EASTON

Prince is  Just fine." BOBBY BROWN

He’s not selling records like Def Leppard, but it’s just lucky   break that he’s around.people oughta notice him a bit more, but people get put off by his persona. You know he’s so remote and doesn’t appear to be a friendly fella,always so serious, though his music has great humour.You can tell he can’t be a bad guy." RANDY NEWMAN

'What Is most worrying about Prince Is that so many people relate to him as a true – representative of black America. Prince Is a mentally disturbed young man. He’s out to lunch. You can’t take his i music seriously. He sings songs about giving head and incest. And he doesn’t want to be black. My job la to keep reality over this little science fiction creep. And If he doesn’t like what I’m saying he can kiss my ass." RICK JAMES

A Nevada radio station was fined $2,000 for playing the Prince song Erotic City. The radio station claimed: "We did not hear any objectionable language. We thougbt he [Prince] was saying ‘funk’."

"He’s so skinny. The bot should really eat!" Lisa

"I was his smile when he didn’t want to be." WENDY

He’ll wear you out. My brother used to be his drummer. Prince’ll wring your soul out. He spits out two singles a day and mixes them." DAVID Z

The album Sign O’ The Times  featured the unknown "Camille" singing many of the dirtier tracks and sounding very much like a harmonised Prince. Other Prince alter-egos include Joey Coco, and Jamie Starr.

In the basement flat we shared, Prince and I made music and entertained various local girls-we screwed them, shared them and tied them up. But when I first met Prince he was a nice respectable be, he didn’t even cuss. I was the renegade." ANDRE CYMONE

The National Enquirer claimed that Prince used ESP to communicate with Michael Jackson's chimpanzee Bubbles to  make him misbehave and disobey Michael.

"The weirdest thing I’ve heard about Prince is that he’s heterosexual and that he wears high heels to make himself higher." BOY GEORGE

"As a lover, Prince Is the best. I've spoken to many women who have been to bed with him and they all say the same thing. Prince la something different, something special. He’s not like any other man on earth. He’s totally uninhibited and wild, In and out at bed, but he can also be Incredibly tender. Love to him is pure Instinct and he’s got the most amazing Inner contldence. He can get away with the craziest, most bizarre things that other people wouldn’t dream of doing." VANITY

"He’s incredible to watch. I’ve never before been in awe of anyone, but God! He dreams music. He*s married to his music. No woman can compete with that." APOLLONIA

Tabloid reports claimed that  Prince converted one of the roams in his house into a bat cave in which he regularly hung upside down from the ceiling like a bat.