Prince said he would never work with James Brown: “He did not like me”
When Prince died in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose, the whole world mourned together; you could practically feel the collective grief like a tremor splitting apart the tectonic plates of the earth, if only for a second.
Of course, the kind words soon started pouring in, as seemingly the entire industry took it upon themselves to pay tribute to his timeless music with their own rendition of ‘Purple Rain’. Notably, Bruce Springsteen knocked it out of the park with his own performance of the classic hit at a performance at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn. At the time, he told the crowd in a choked voice, “There was no one better. I’m going to miss him. I’m going to miss him”.
The kind words kept on coming and coming, begetting the question, was there anyone who didn’t like Prince, or, at least, vice versa? Turns out, there was. In an interview conducted in 1998, Prince was asked whether there were any musicians he desired to play with live. First, he gestured towards Jimi Hendrix, as his friend Larry Graham had told him wild tales of playing alongside the iconic American guitarist, including one notable moment when he leapt on stage, and then, word for word, “his pants cracked”.
We can put that mortifying moment down to the inevitabilities of the rock and roll lifestyle, despite the fact that it seems like one of those turn-up-to-school-naked nightmares come true. Prince had the same reaction, musing at first to himself, “What a great experience it would have been to play with such a legend!”
Yet, Graham flipped the story on its head when he admitted to Prince that he “did not get along” with Hendrix: “Both were guitarists, and there was only room for one…”
By extension, Prince used that logic to explain one of his own more unfortunate stage experiences: “That’s what happened when I met James Brown,” he admitted candidly, unprovoked, but seemingly ready to share his grievances, “He did not like me. I don’t, I do not know why, probably a question of ego, so we could not work together.”
Their famous meeting has been discussed many times on music forums online, as it also involved global superstar Michael Jackson. In 1983, the ‘Thriller’ star invited Prince up onto the stage during a James Brown concert. At this time, Brown didn’t know of Prince and, therefore, likely underestimated the star, who was brought onto the stage via piggyback.
With sheer performance velocity, he twanged on the guitar, stripped off his guitar, and knocked over a stage light, and Prince, somewhat of a notorious control freak, allegedly found the whole ordeal wince-worthy.
After his deadpan comments on their meeting, the musician added, “If there is no respect for the other, all collaboration is impossible. You have to be open to the ideas and suggestions of your partners, and when you listen to James’ songs, it’s clear that this is only the vision of one man.”
Prince, of course, sat at the other end of this spectrum: his vision was the vision of the world, coming together as one.
