THE RITUALISTIC LIFE and MURDER of PRINCE:
PT. 4 SEGMENT 1 "A History of the Contract Dispute; The First Contract and Album"
Released on Patreon 9/30/2017
Run Time: 1 HR 5 MIN
-"The Ritualistic Life and Murder of Prince" series is available to Patrons on the "Sign O' The Times" tier of support and higher on the Spooky Electric XPOSED Films Patreon channel.
In this Part 4 SEGMENT 1 episode, we begin to tell the story of Prince’s first “19” years in the music business.
Remember, Prince's 39-year career in the music business, is divided into 2 distinct "19" year cycles. Part 4 SEGMENTS 1-19, covers the time period 1977-1996
In this episode we begin to look at the history of the contract dispute between Prince and WB Records that culminated in Prince leaving the label after being under contract to them for “19” years.
Prince Heads West in search of a record deal
In this segment, we will see how Prince's first manager, Owen Husney got Prince signed to his first record deal with Warner Brothers Records in 1977 when Prince was “19”. Though for publicity purposes, Prince repeatedly said in the media that he was “17” years old at the time he signed to Warner Brothers.
But in looking for a record company to sign Prince, Husney felt it was best to capitalize upon Prince’s naturally shyness, and the fact that he was a “self contained artist”, could play all the instruments, and produce his own songs They knew that this is what made Prince unique in the music business.
Husney, Prince, and their lawyer headed to the west coast and took meetings with: Warner Brothers, CBS, RSO, ABC Dunhill, and A&M. RSO and ABC passed on Prince. CBS took time out at Village Recorders Studio to audition Prince. Prince also underwent a “recording "audition" with Warner Bros.
A&M offered Prince a 2-record deal. Warner Brothers and CBS both offered Prince 3-record deals, but they didn’t want Prince to produce himself. CBS offered Verdine White of Earth Wind and Fire to produce Prince’s record, which Prince flatly rejected. Warner Brothers initially only offered that Prince could co-produce his first album.
Why Prince wanted to sign to Warner Brothers
In the beginning, Prince was drawn to Warner Brothers Records because they had a reputation as a label that nurtured and honed artists' talent and were patient with their new artists. Warner Brothers was attracted to Prince because of his immense talent, but also because of his birth and name Gematria. Review Pt.1 “Warner Brothers Pictures, The Warners, and Prince” and Pt.2 “Prince, WB Records, and the Freemasonic SLAVE Contract” for more on why the energy of Prince’s Birth Gematria coding, was so attractive to the label.
But Prince and Husney favored signing with WB Records, because of Husney’s relationship with Russ Thyret, at the time Marketing Exec at the label. Thyret and Husney became friends when Husney got Al Jarreau signed to WB Records a few years earlier.
At the time that Prince signed to Warner Brothers Records, was a time of great excess in the music business. Labels would sign an artist and allow a few albums for the artist to creatively develop. This was part of the reason why Prince signed to Warner Brothers Records: their reputation as an artist centered company, and because of their reputation as more concerned with artists' creativity than money.
The other condition that Husney and Prince held out for was that Prince didn’t want to be classified as simply a “black” artist. At a time when the record business was extremely segregated, Prince did not want to be relegated to one genre or style of music.
So Prince signed with Warner Brothers Records on June 25, 1977 after a luncheon held in his honor for which Prince wrote and recorded an original song “We Can Work it Out”, which we hear in the episode.
Recording the first album "For You"
From the start, Chairman Mo Ostin and President Lenny Waronker had concerns about how to keep Prince reeled in and under control. There were several meetings between the label and Prince's manager Owen Husney about who would “Executive Produce” Prince's first album. The label suggested Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire, but Prince refused.
The label then assigned Tommy Vicari, a seasoned studio engineer as “Executive Producer” of the album. But Tommy Vicari soon found out he was a producer in name only.
Prince and Vicari butted heads while recording "For You", Prince’s debut album. But Prince just did what he had always done: he watched what Vicari did, and picked up technical info, so that he could surely do it all himself from that point forward.
Prince assembles his first Touring band
As all Prince "Fam" know, Prince albums are generally all Prince, with Prince writing, producing, arranging, and playing all the instruments on his records. However, Prince always has to assemble a band for touring purposes.
Prince and his best friend Andre Cymone (or Andre Anderson) had been bandmates and played music together since they were in Junior High School. Andre was present during the recording of "For You" in Sausalito, CA but he didn't contribute to the music. He was there to simply hang out with Prince as he worked.
Prince's first touring band was composed of Twin Cities musicians: Andre Cymone on bass, "Bobby Z" Rivkin on drums, Gayle Chapman on keyboards, Matt Fink on Keyboards, and Prince of course on guitar.
In the episode, we watch modern day interviews with each of the band members, and hear how they were first introduced to Prince and got into his first touring band. We will also look at the Gematria decoding of each band member and note the "Prince Numbers" revealed.
One note: as you watch these "early" episodes of "The Ritualistic Life and Murder of Prince" series, you may feel bombarded by slides of Gematria decoding. I know this can be a lot to take at first, but as we go through the series and Prince's 39 year career, you will notice repetitive numbers and be able to see and process the coded connections present throughout Prince's life. Actually, it is a handful of the same "Prince Numbers" again and again for a "ritualistic purpose".
*7 Unreleased Prince tracks from the episode posted for Patrons of the “Lovesexy” Tier of support and higher.
-STREAM EPISODES of “The Ritualistic Life and Murder of Prince” series ONLY available on The “Spooky Electric XPOSED Films” Patreon channel and the Patreon App
