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Prince (Singer)
Prince, singer, “Le Monde” (October 14, 2009) (archived) (translation) (archived translation)
“Le Monde”: At your concert at the Grand Palais, you've performed a song the Jackson 5 Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground). Was it a tribute?
Prince: My singer Elisa has the same timbre as Michael when he was young. And a good song is a good song.
“Le Monde”: How did you feel at the death of Michael Jackson?
Prince: (Prince, obviously reluctant, does not want to dwell on the subject.) It is always sad to lose someone you loved.
Early in 1986, Quincy Jones arranged a meeting in Los Angeles between Michael and Prince. According to one observer, it was a strange summit. “They’re so competitive with each other that neither would give anything up. They kind of sat there, checking each other out, but said very little. It was a fascinating stalemate between two very powerful dudes.”
“Star Tribune” (June 25, 2009) (archived)
Jackson showed up backstage at a couple Prince shows in 1984. The two icons, whose "Thriller" and "Purple Rain" defined the 1980s, never did work together. Later that decade, when both were recording at the same Los Angeles studio, Prince invited Jackson to play ping-pong. Michael, a star since age 8 who had lived a sheltered life, didn't know how.
"You want me to slam it?" Prince asked, according to engineer David Z, who was there. "Michael drops his paddle and holds his hands up in front of his face so the ball won't hit him. Michael walks out with his bodyguard, and Prince starts strutting around like a rooster. 'Did you see that? He played like Helen Keller.'"
But Bland insists the two icons got along fine: "They'd shoot hoops at Paisley Park," Prince's studio/home in Chanhassen. "We used to get packages from MJJ Productions [with] footage of Sly Stone performing in Europe. Prince would pop it in the VCR, and we'd watch it."
Jennifer Batten, Michael’s tour guitarist, “Maximum Jackson” (February 2010) (archived)
"Maximum Jackson": Somebody we know wanted us to ask you if you have ever met Prince.
Jennifer Batten: Yeah, I didn’t actually officially meet him. He came backstage at one of the Jackson shows on the Bad tour, he had Sheila E and Cat with him. I had some friends who were sitting behind him at the show, they said he went nuts when I did my solo on “Beat It”! [chuckles] But I never met him personally.
Cynthia Horner, “Right On!” magazine editor, “Vibe” (June 25, 2011) (archived)
I would give Michael copies of the magazines and he would see certain people in the book and ask me lots of questions about the artists he was interested in. And that’s how he was introduced to Prince. After that, I started to let Michael listen to some of the Prince music I had and he was intrigued. At that point, I realized that there was somewhat of a rivalry developing. Michael had been in the business longer, so naturally he didn’t want to get replaced by the newcomer.