"I first met Prince at Knut Koupee Music in Uptown Minneapolis around 1977.  A few years later he had offered me The Time gig but I was committed to another band at the time.  The timing just wasn’t quite right. 

The first time I played with Prince I was on stage with Dr. Mambo’s Combo at The Fine Line music cafe.  While playing onstage and looking the other way towards the band, someone tapped me on the shoulder.  I thought it was our guitar/sax player David Eiland but when I turned to find out what was up, there was Prince asking me if it was ok to play Batman’s guitar.  I said what a couple of times, as I didn’t know at the time that David Eiland’s nickname was Batman.  I finally said to Prince that he could play any guitar he wants and handed him mine. I was leaving the stage when the bandleader called me back to the stage to play.  As I got on stage Prince began to lead the rhythm section and build a killer groove by conducting and adding his own rhythm guitar in.  After a while he pointed to me for a solo.  Fifteen minutes later my solo finally ended and the club and the crowd loved it.  You gotta love Prince he can definitely groove.  It was a great jam, and I’m glad I got back on stage.

Prince in the early days was fan of the Doug Maynard Band and would hang out and listen to us at the Uptown Bar. I was hired to play on “The Gold Experience” LP for Prince on the song “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”.   I’ve done many sessions at Paisley Park for different artists and producers such as; David Rivkin, Tommy LaPuma, Ben Sidran, Rosie Gaines, MC Hammer, and Joe Sample to name a few."

-Jimi