Publication: Portland Oregonian [US]
Date: September 26, 1997
Section:
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Interviewed By:

[Note: If someone can confirm if this is the entire article, I would appreciate it. In addition, I do not have the title or author of this piece.]

Fax Interview:

Q) Is the New Power Generation still your touring band, and what musical qualities led you to pick those particular players?

A) Their acceptance 2 become vegetarian if they were not already. I usually alter a player's style radically when they join the NPG. It's a natural occurrence that we all accept wholeheartedly.

Q) You've worked with such great artists as George Clinton, Chaka Khan, and, indirectly, Miles Davis. Are there any musicians or other artists you consider personal heroes or would like to collaborate with?

A) Larry Graham and Ani DiFranco.

Q) Your affiliation with Warner Bros. provided a way for you to foster the careers of friends, proteges, etc., such as The Time, Mavis Staples, Vanity, Carmen Electra, and others. Do you forsee your new business strategy affording you similar opportunities to promote talent?

A) Yes. The future is bountiful.

Q) USA Today quoted you, from an e-mail exchange, as saying "When I changed my name 2 an unpronounceable symbol, I became immune to manipulation." How does removing your name---and in some sense, perhaps, your identity---from the realm of language give you such protection and freedom?

A) Many Black Americans were given slave names like Clay or Little. They could not even say their own names without programming their minds 4 failure. When one becomes enlightened, one is not affected by another's words. Changing my name opened my eyes!

Q) If fans---who can't employ computer graphic software in casual conversation--- use then name Prince to refer to you, do you consider that a sign of disrespect?

A) Only past-dwellers and people who dis use the name Prince. U know---video channels and whiskey companies. People of color tend 2 respect my choice. Everybody on-line knows how 2 type my new name. Whether they choose 2 or not is none of my concern.

Q) You once said "Sexuality is all you'll ever need." Having married, fathered a child, lived and created much more over the years, do you stand by that statement or would you care to add to the list?

A) I stand by everything I've ever said. Within the context of sexuality is a multitude of ideas and emotions.

Here is a list of the writer's "best Prince songs of all time":

1) Ballad of Dorothy Parker
2) Anna Stesia
3) Sign O the Times
4) Housequake
5) The Beautiful Ones
6) Joy in Repetition
7) Now
8) Uptown
9) We Can Funk
10) Kiss
11) Letitgo
12) I Rock, Therefore I am