and ultimatley become a fan of PRINCE????? I'm sure this has been done b4, but I'm eager to hear other peoples stories.

I can remember the 1st time I ever even HEARD of Prince. I was probably in KG or 1st grade, and I was riding the bus home from school in my tiny lil' coal minin' town in PA. I had on my beloved Michael Jackson Thriller pin, when the boy who lived nxt. door to me (also my 1st kiss)came up and said "MJ SUCKS, PRINCE RULES!" Well, I didn't even know who Prince was at the time, but I wasn't havin' it. So me and like 1/2 the bus got in a WHO'S BETTER arguement. I kinda remember the guys diggin' Prince and the sweet lil' girlz we were likein' MJ.


Fast forward a couple o' years to about 5th grade. I was living in Riyadh Saudi Arabia at the time (still no knowledge of who Prince is), and we used to rent movies from the embassy cuz TV was only on a few hrs. a day there. One day we rented this movie in black and white and I remember putting it in and thinking Ohhhhh Man.....NOT BLACK AND WHITE!!!.....but since I had no other choice I watched. I remember LOVING this dudes voice and thinkin' he was CUTE....SWEET LIL' thing I was. Ya know, I haven't seen Under the Cherry Moon since then, but over the years it stayed in my mind. STRANGE! Plus I'm sure 1/2 the scenes were taken out, cuz they used to do that over there.....immigrations I guess?

So then we come to 1995ish (i'm not sure), I was in like 9th or 10th grade. I'm watching the MTV AWARDS (I think), I now know who Prince is cuzza GETT OFF and CREAM. I liked him, but wasn't really a fan yet. So anyways, I'm watching these awards and out strutts Prince in this OFF THE HOOK yellow lacey like number, and AHHHHH theres his ASS!!!!! WELL, I could NOT believe the performance he put on, I had NEVER seen anything so great in all my 15 years o' life. I watched the whole thing, mouth wide open, DahROOLING!!!!! Well, from that moment on I was HOOKED. I started out by borrowing THE HITS 1 & 2 (have yet to get my hands on the b sides ) from a gay friend of mine. I remember hearing PURPLE RAIN for the 1st time.....that voice WENT right through me.....OH MY GOODNESS.....what chills that mans voice can give me! I went on to hear songs like when doves cry, kiss, i would die 4 u.....and was like Hey wait a minute.....so THIS IS PRINCE, AHHHHH I KINDA REMEMBER THESE FORM THE 80'SSSSS. But not so much cuz I was a youngin', and moving around to countries w/no American radio.

And that's how it all began.....

I'm still missin' a lot of classics, but the journey has been amazing so far! Every time I get a new (old) album, I drink up and devoure every drop. It takes me some time to squeeze up every last lyric and I enjoy every album I get my hands on to the fullest b4, I can even begin my cruise into the next.....UGHHHHH, I LOVE IT!!!!!