Want an idea of just how big Prince’s ego is? As told in Jason Draper’s new bio on the often reclusive musician, in an attempt to regain some of his former mojo a few years ago, Prince decided to finally reunite The Revolution – his most successful backing band. But only on the condition that Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, denounce their homosexuality. Apparently the newly converted Jehovah’s Witness, labeled throughout the 80’s as a pervert and deviant for his often overtly sexual music, thought nothing of asking his two former band mates to deny their own sexual orientation to satisfy his new, narrow-minded persona. Needless to say, the reunion never happened.
In Prince: Chaos, Disorder and Revolution, British rock journalist Jason Draper goes to great lengths to uncover Prince, from his childhood, up to his last few albums, through old articles and TV interviews culled from archives across Europe and the U.S. The result, though hardly exhaustive (how can it be when the Purple One has long ago stopped giving candid interviews) is still an interesting look into a talented, creative musician who managed to derail his career thanks to ego and lack of restraint (it’s amazing that he still claims to have vaults of unheard music when you realize how many unnecessary double and triple albums he has put out into the public).
Granted most of these stories have been told before over the years, like fights with his record labels, his need to control every musician (and romantic relationship) and his sabotage of just about every movie he has ever made. Regardless Draper does a good job of covering this talented, but clearly troubled musician.
Prince: Chaos, Disorder and Revolution by Jason Draper / 272 pages / Backbeat Books/ 2011