The Prince story by 200 people who knew him - and John McKie

The Prince story by 200 people who knew him - and John McKie

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold October 1, 2025 Duration: 39:07

Prince’s commercial peak was Purple Rain but John McKie thinks Sign O’ The Times was his creative masterpiece and tracked down over 200 collaborators, girlfriends, “Prince whisperers”, assistants and admirers to piece together the story of its construction (without allowing himself to use the word “genius”). Which leads us up some colourful, spot-lit alleys, among them …

 

… “a man in suspenders playing funk”: why a disastrous support slot on the ‘81 Stones tour was pivotal moment  

 

… Mozart/Salieri levels of rivalry: he once told a Paisley Park engineer to stop singing Culture Club “as that’s the competition”

 

... battles with Warners president Lenny Waronker: “he believed he was right and the rest were wrong”

 

… “creative incontinence”: an autocrat in need of an editor

 

… bodyguard “Big Chick” Huntsberry, performative stunts and the BRITS moment that immortalised him

 

… the controlling, manipulative nature of anyone who can play 27 instruments

 

… “he changed his cars to match the colour of his album campaigns”

 

… artistic parallels with his hero Joni Mitchell

 

… why he loved comedians in the way he loved jazz musicians

 

… what we know about his “secret” wives Mayte Garcia and Manuela Testolini

 

… and the four acts with eternal mystery – Prince, Bowie, Dylan, Dolly Parton.

 

Order ‘Prince: A Sign O’ The Times here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/prince-a-sign-o-the-times/john-mckie/9781785121944


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
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