Buzzing lights and the mosquitoes bit
Thought for sure that he’d quit
Just as soon as the night time hit
Well he proved me wrong
But in 2015, despite being new to the
scene, Prince wasn’t a young kid; he was
29. He spent the last decade-and-a-half
refining his writing, and he’d lived a life
that was illuminated in gorgeously-sung
snapshots of beauty and hardship that
make up his debut album, Earthly Days,
and tunes like “The Carny,” “Eddy Boy,”
and the breakout hit “Breathless,” which
continues to find new international
audiences.
“I was just working on what I had
to contribute. It was really acceptance
of my voice and the songs I was writing
– the greatest songs in the world never
heard by anyone,” Prince says, giving a
sly smile, on why it took until 29-yearsold
for a talent like him to release an
album. “It was finally just time to capture
them. It’s not that I wasn’t trying; you
know, I actually thought I was going to
put out my first record when I was 20
and then life circumstances slowed that
plan down. Then there was a rejuvenation
when I was about 25 when I had it
in my sights again. It really just came
down to money.”
The plan in those intervening years
was to become Doctor Prince. He was a
smart kid who graduated high school a
year early before studying microbiology
at the University of Manitoba with his
eyes set on medical school. Throughout
his studies, though, Prince had the
feeling he was pursuing medicine for
the wrong reasons, and as is the case
on any gruelling journey, whether it’s
becoming a professional musician or
a doctor, if the passion isn’t there, the
fortitude to make it won’t be, either.
“It sounds great when you’re premed
and that’s a fun thing that people
starting university like to say, you
know. At the end of it, I loved the idea
of obtaining this thing where if I were
‘Doctor Prince,’ then it wouldn’t really be
up for debate if I was a knowledgeable,
respectable person, I guess,” he says.
“When you’re facing a stigma of sorts
being a First Nations man and coming
from a reserve and trying to change
the tide and, in a sense, be a good foot
forward and exemplify the things of
success — you know, a nice house and
wealth — you think that would just make
life easier and better. But the truth is,
in pursuit of it, I just wasn’t very happy.
Then it was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just go play
some music for a while so I feel better
and then I can study more.’ You know, I
was really fighting what I was naturally
feeling good about and that was being
awake all night writing some song
that no one will ever hear now, but 500
[songs] ago it was the thing I needed to
keep going forward.”
Growing up, Prince was very close
with dad and inherited his love for music
and songwriting at a young age. His
father was a pastor and singer who
released a couple gospel albums and a
Christmas album, and actually took his
young son on the road with him.
“It gave me a really cool look at
exactly what I’m doing now; it just was
in churches and summer jamborees and
funerals and all these things. So, it’s an
odd place to learn your love of music,
I guess, but that’s where it started,” the
artist explains. “I liked playing guitar
and always thought that maybe I’d
play guitar. Then, once I started putting
words together in my early teens, writing
poems and different things like that, my
musicality started to meet the word and
together I started making songs. I used
to write gospel songs for [my dad] and
different things. It took a while to really
settle into my own voice and sound.”
During Prince’s university days,
though, his father’s health was declining
and it weighed heavily on the family. His
mother and sister were home taking
care of him and encouraging Prince to
stay focused on his pursuits in medicine,
which only made it more difficult
to know in the back of his mind that it
wasn’t his real calling.
“Truthfully, man, the decision was
starting to be made for me. My grades
were starting to slip and I was not really
in the competitive range anymore and I
knew it. I felt it and I was starting to feel
a bit of exhaustion. It was a difficult path
to walk with my dad’s health constantly
declining and the strain it put on our
family. It was a very challenging time,
especially for my mom and sister,” he
remembers. “I just didn’t have what it
takes, or maybe I did; I was just drawn
more to music. I said ‘riches be damned’
and all those things I thought would be
security. It matters that I am happy. I
feel like I’d been living a bit of a different
life for somebody else.”
Taking His Time
to Do It His Way
BY MICHAEL RAINE
PHOTO: ALAN GREYEYES
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 35