Fans and Friends talk Prince Experiences

Keith Lowers (longtime fan): Once the lights turned on [after a Paisley Park event in September 2015], I left quick because I'm super claustrophobic and can't take the cattle-exit style of most rock shows. So I'm walking real fast in the parking lot, trying to get to my car quick when—zoooom!—I see this dude on a bike ripping around the parking lot coming at me. I was ignoring him, trying not to engage, when he circled me and slyly said, "Where you goin'? The party's just getting started." WTF. It's Prince...on a white mountain bike, wearing his full rock-star outfit—white, to match the bike, of course, with a multicolor print on it. So I returned to the doorman at the advice of Prince—only to be schooled that Prince plays this joke often and that the party was indeed over.

Carmen Electra: I don't know one beautiful woman who didn't want to be with him. But it did hurt me. It hurt me really bad. And I was too young to really communicate with him, so I just kind of pulled away. And during that time I went out with a guy—I hadn't slept with this person—and Prince found out. He said, "I wrote this song about you," and then he played "I Hate U." It was hard to hear. And it was even harder to hear the parts of the song that said it could have been a completely different way. Then to say, "I hate you because I love you"—I literally cried in front of him. I think he just wanted me to hear it and know that he was really upset. Then he flew me back to Los Angeles.

Bobby Z: I don't know what Michael was thinking, but he just didn't know the fierceness of Prince. I know that he didn't want any part of that. You don't come to Prince with a song like, "Who's bad in this song—Prince or Michael?" It's gonna be Prince. It's not gonna be Michael. He loved Michael Jackson. He was just at a level now where he was competing. He was a fierce competitor—he wasn't going to do anything that looked like they were buddies. He was gonna win. And he won with the movie. He won with Purple Rain.

Bobby Shriver (philanthropist; was executive producer of the Special Olympics broadcast when Prince played at the 1991 opening ceremony): The party [afterward] at Paisley, that was quite a scene. When he came out of the elevator that night, I happened to be standing with the great Warren Beatty. He came over and Warren said, "I love your music," and he said, "I love your movies," and then Warren says, "Here we are! At your house! It's great!" And Prince goes, "Yeah. Yeah, it is. But I'm still short." It wasn't really a joke. It was kind of poignant. He didn't laugh—he just observed the fact of the matter. He happened to be talking to relatively tall fellas—I'm six-one, I think Warren is six-two. Having a nice conversation. And despite all that, and despite playing at the Special Olympics, and despite his own brilliance, and despite whatever, he still, standing with us, experienced what he must've experienced his whole life. I said, "Oh, come on, man." I tried to make it into a little joke—I think he laughed a little bit, but it was obviously a serious thing for him. I thought, "Wow."

Dez Dickerson (guitarist and former member of The Revolution): Early on, there were some experiences with interviews that were very unpleasant for him. He was very disappointed that people weren't faithfully reproducing what he was saying. So he just didn't want to talk anymore.

Karlen: Wendy and Lisa talked to him and said he should talk to me because I was a Minneapolis guy. My parents went to the same junior high as he did. He [told] Rolling Stone, "I'll only talk to him." I remember my mother saying, "Some guy named The Prince called, and I hung up because I was talking to your aunt Cheryl." He thought it was hilarious: "Your mother hung up on me!" It was just us driving around for three days. At his house, he said, "You know how easy it would've been to just change 'Let's Go Crazy' a note and make a new song and it would be a hit?" I said, "Oh really? Show me." So he sat me down at the piano, took "Let's Go Crazy" and came up with this great song. After, I got a letter: "Thanks for telling the truth."

A few years later, Prince resumed giving occasional press interviews, though until the end of his life he insisted that these not be recorded and for many years forbade even the taking of notes.