PROMOTING PRINCE’S “FOR YOU” ALBUM IN 1979: “I DON’T WORRY ABOUT SUCCESS TOO MUCH. WHAT IT BOILS DOWN TO IS LOVE.”
“For You” entered the top-200 album chart and also scored on the soul and disco charts. His single, “Soft and Wet,” was well received in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and the Carolinas.
To help promote his album, Prince attended autograph parties in some of the areas. “It was weird,” he recalled. “It was mostly kids from 11 to 20. They were relating to me being so young. There’s been ads in the teen magazines and my age has really come up. The kids would ask me if my real name is Prince, what “Soft and Wet” means, and did I really play all those instruments myself.”
At a recent autograph party and disco dance in North Carolina, however, Prince didn’t have a chance to talk to his fans. He said about 3,000 kids showed up and after about 20 minutes, the crowd rushed the stage. Amid the hysteria, Prince departed and Warner Brothers representatives just passed out posters of him.
Back home, the budding recording star is removed from that kind of commotion. He doesn’t have to listen to Warner Brothers’ overblown build-up, look at record store posters or read the write-ups in teen magazines and black publications.
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