Prince - Prince: a private view

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THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY WIFE, KERI, AND OUR
CHILDREN, YARA, SAYEED, AND EHSAN. YOUR UNWAVERING
SUPPORT AND ENTHUSIASM FOR ALL MY CRAZY IDEAS
REALLY MADE ME BELIEVE I COULD MAKE THIS BOOK!

THE BREEZE AT DAWN HAS SECRETS TO TELL YOU.

DONT GO BACK TO SLEEP!

RUMI

by

Prince

To describe Prince as an icon is completely expected, for it would be accurate. Truth be told, the word icon only scratches the surface of what Prince was and what he remains to me.

Prince was an innovator, a disruptor, an independent thinker, a revolutionary, a businessman, a masterful musician, a multi-instrumentalist, a singer, a songwriter, and my mentor.

He dared to fight for what was rightfully his: his freedom, wrapped up in words and music he created.

When he wrote slave on his face in 1993, eleven years before we would perform together, I became curious about the world behind the stage, the business of show. That single statement taught me a valuable lesson about ownership, entrepreneurship, and independence.

People think Im a crazy fool for writing slave on my face, he said in 1996, two years before the debut release of Destinys Child. But if I cant do what I want to do, what am I?

I was a huge Prince fan and admirer of his sense of style on and off stage long before the fall of 2003, right after my twenty-second birthday, when we said yes to performing together at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004.

We set our rehearsals together for one week before the show. Toward the end of January, I traveled to Los Angeles to settle in to a soundstage to prepare for our performance.

When Prince walked into the rehearsals, dressed impeccably from head to toe, he greeted everyone with a shy, almost mischievous smile and a commanding presence.

There were many teachable moments during those rehearsals and Prince proved to be a generous teacher. Most of the earned gems I will keep only in my heart, but I will say that preparing for that performance and taking it to the Grammy stage on February 8, 2004, will continue to be a highlight of my career.

Princes timing was genius and his sense of humor, spontaneous and unexpected. At the end of the Purple Rain/Lets Go Crazy/Crazy in Love medley, I had no idea he would say what he did. We did talk about making a face but when he blurted out, Dont hate us cause we fab, it took everything I had to keep my composure.

June 2017

It was 1993 when I first set foot inside Paisley Park. I was young, ambitious, and trying to break into the film business after graduating college and doing a short stint in Seattle shooting pool and taking odd jobs. Back in Minneapolis, where I grew up, I jumped at the opportunity to enter Paisley Park, Princes white palace, his self-designed sanctuary, his big, billowing musical cloud above the fray.

I will never forget the day I received the page (pretext messages!) that changed my personal and professional life. I was twenty-three and had recently moved back to Minneapolis, my childhood home, eager to get moving on my post-college life. I was sitting at home when my pager started buzzing. Since I didnt recognize the number, I called it right away hoping it was a work opportunity. The voice on the other lines said, Hey, we need a loader for a music video, do you know how to load film? Music video? Who is it for, I asked. Cant say. Do you know how to load or not? I didnt, but a challenge never deterred me plus I had a few days to learn I thought. So I said, Yeah, I can load film. Great, well need you out here as soon as you can get here, Wait, what? Today? Where? I panicked and thought I should cover my inexperience by telling her I was already working that night when she said: CHANHASSEN.

This was a defining moment for me. The second she said Chanhassen I knew who the music video was for. Not many people were doing music videos in Minnesota at the time and definitely not in Chanhassen. I didnt know how to load film, but what I did know was that I had to go. I knew that this opportunity was once in a lifetime. So I let her know I would be there as soon as possible.

When I arrived I found myself in the middle of a flurry of activity as the crew was getting ready for that night's shoot. I gathered myself, took a deep breath, and stepped inside Paisley Park. And at that moment I saw Prince. The man I encountered was painfully shy. Yes, he had sold millions of records, traveled the world, starred in a highly acclaimed feature film, and even won an Academy Award. He was maybe ten years older than me, and had the word slave artfully written, in black eyeliner, across his high cheekbones. He looked at me with a smirk and asked, Whats your name? I couldnt fathom then that this moment would be the beginning of a more than twenty-year professional and personal relationship with a man so unique, so unimaginably creative, and so passionate about the arts that he defied category, and instead created and occupied his own universe.

Ten of my twentysome-odd years within Princes universe were spent traveling, photographing, shooting, and directing a variety of projects for him. He became my mentor, business partner, travel companion, collaborator, andmost importantmy friend. He took it upon himself to encourage me, as he had so many others, to see the world as a place of opportunities, not limitations. He taught by example. I knew I had to grow as a photographer, both technically and artisticallyI had no choice. I was following in the footsteps of iconic photographers who had photographed Prince. My subject was, unequivocally, the most talented musician of our time. Our work relationship was casual and flowing, with much of the work organic and unplanned. I would think of an idea and call to describe it to him; many times, he would travel somewhere exotic and ask me to come along, no set plans, just inspiration. My decades of working with Prince were also a time of personal change and growth for myself. I found the love of my life, married, and had three amazing children, all of whom Prince knew well. I lost my biological father, moved to the West Coast, tackled the highs and lows of growing up and through it all, Princehis friendship and artistrywere right next to me.

Standing in Paisley Park that first time, I watched him perform live, so close to me that I could reach out and touch the stage. I was immediately taken back to the mid-eighties, when I was just an awkward Iranian teen, trying to fit in at my high school in Minneapolis. Minnesota, at the time, was not the most diverse place. Everyone was nice enough, but I always had the sense that I didnt belong; it was a far cry from my grandfathers fruit orchards in Iran, where I had spent my childhood on horseback. I tried to fit in by listening to classic rock or playing hockey (I couldnt really skate). But the more I tried to disappear, the more I stood out. It was during those awkward adolescent years that I discovered Princes music. His album, 1999, had just been released and the title track was on heavy radio rotation. I just assumed he was a local phenomenon since he was a kid from North Minneapolis. I had no idea the world was tuned in, too. That album and his music were such a departure from all that my young ears had heard, that it made me put the classic rock aside and delve deeper into what Prince had to offer. Controversy and Dirty Mind soon became my soundtracks, and Prince and Michael Jackson became daily discussions with my neighbor and friend Vince, who claimed both as his cousins. One day Vince and I had been kicked off the school bus for some now forgotten reason. Talking about music occupied our time and kept us warm as we walked to school through the snowy Minnesota winter. His music and sexually free lyrics were like nothing I had ever heard, and knowing that this enigma of a young man who was the mastermind grew up near my childhood neighborhood gave me hope and more courage to be my authentic self. I stopped trying to conform. I always knew a conventional career path was not for me. Prince and his music gave me that courage.