Prince jabbed a few buttons and hidden speakers burst into life with my preview. The walls were a vibrant reddish purple, flickering candles lined every ledge and the smell of incense filled the air. This is where the genius behind classics such as Purple Rain, When Doves Cry, 1999 and Let's Go Crazy created his great music. Wow! I had finally arrived at the epicentre of Prince's world - the scene of fabled all-night recording sessions in which he apparently played up to 27 instruments. Prince's recording studio, as pictured in 2014 Then he led me to his recording studio in the complex and invited me to sit in his leather swivel chair at the enormous mixing desk. "They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you." Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.
I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. He said: "The internet's completely over. Unlike most other rock stars, he had banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and had even closed down his own official website.
He no longer trusted the record industry and there would be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his battles against internet abuses. He explained that he decided the album would be released in CD format only in the Mirror in the UK. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music."
#Burly men at sea platinum free#
It's great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. "You must come and listen to the album," he said. "Hi," he said, "I'm so glad you could come." His voice was deeper than I expected, he was certainly small (5ft 2in at most), looked almost half his age, and was dressed immaculately, if oddly, in white silk trousers, flouncy green silk shirt, an ivory tunic and white pumps (which, I suspect, were stacked). Where was the superstar entourage - burly security, manic PRs and personal assistants? There was no-one else around. Shelby showed me into the lobby, kitted out in the style of a 1950's American diner and, before I had chance to sit down, Prince strode in, beaming, with hand outstretched. Prince's mansion looked VERY different on the inside It looked like the last place you would expect to find Prince's studios, a concert hall and even his own private nightclub. I had envisaged a gothic purple palace at the end of a winding lane, but it turned out to be a huge white 70,000 square foot building, resembling an industrial complex, on a busy main road. "Īfter a transatlantic dash, I was met by one of his backing singers, Shelby Johnson, waiting to drive me to Paisley Park - an address that was as synonymous with Prince as Neverland was with Michael Jackson. The manager then added firmly: "DON'T bring a camera, mobile phone or tape recorder - or it's all off.
Then I was suddenly phoned one afternoon by his manager in London and told he would see me as long as I could get to his fun factory, near Minneapolis.
Our interview, in July 2010, had been on and off for weeks. The rock legend showed me around his famous studio, treated me to a private performance, invited me to jam on stage in his private concert hall and threw a "party" just for me in his private nightclub. I was privileged to be given a rare insight into his secretive world, and his first interview with a British newspaper for a decade, because the Daily Mirror was exclusively releasing his album 20TEN as a free CD giveaway to every reader. No experience in my life is ever going to be as bizarre as the day I spent with Prince at his Paisley Park retreat where he was found dead today.