Prince

February 29th, 1980 in Chicago. I went to photograph Rick James, who was starting to become a big deal. I saw a bunch of photographers in the lobby when the opening act came on, but I was the only one who went inside. Good decision on my part!!

December 5th, 1981 in Chicago. A year later, Prince was a big deal, and was selling out 2000 seat venues. Now everyone wanted to photograph him!

December 9th, 1982 in Chicago. A year later, a publicist from Warner Brothers offered me a photo pass to Prince’s show. I arrived thinking that I would be told that I can shoot the first three songs and would then have to leave. There was a note with my pass asking me to come backstage. When I got there, my pass was taken away from me and I was handed a new one with the words WHOLE SHOW written. This was the first of many mysteries around Prince in my life. I shot the whole show and man it was worth it.

June 7th, 1984 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. June of 1984. Got a call from a publicist asking me if I wanted to go to Minneapolis to photograph Prince’s birthday party. Purple Rain (the record) had just come out and the movie was coming out that week. I was told that Prince was going to perform songs from the film for the first time. I had to weigh the cost of the plane ticket and hotel against having to fight off 100 photographers at the private event. The event won, and I boarded a plane to Minneapolis. When I landed I got in a taxi and directed the driver to take me to First Avenue, the club that the movie was filmed in. When I arrived I went to the front door and said that I was on the photographers list. That is when I found out that I was the only name on the photographers list! I went inside and camped out in front of the stage until Prince came out and played about 3 feet in front of me, posing all night long. After that night he didn’t appear in public until November, and I was the only person in the world that had new pictures of him. Best $100 plane ticket I ever bought.

September 9th, 1984 in New York City. I was sitting in a publicist’s office at Warner Brothers when Sheila E. walked in. I was introduced as a guy that had photographed Prince a lot. Sheila looked at me and said, “Well, I guess you will have to come to my show at the Ritz tonight. Somebody special will be there. I could take a hint!!!

November, 1984 in Detroit, Michigan. Prince opened his world tour with 6 nights at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. I went to all 6 shows- an embarrassment of riches. Many costume changes, great lights and many special effects!

December, 1984 in Rosemont, Illinois. He repeated his 6 night stand with another 6 night stand. Once again I went to all of them, and the pictures were even better!

April 1st, 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The last time I photographed Prince was in April of 1990 at a benefit he held for the family of his late bodyguard. He played in almost total darkness for the whole night, except for strobe lights constantly going off. This photograph was all luck!