Never-before-seen footage of 11-year-old Prince unearthed by Minneapolis TV

Virgin Radio

5 Apr 2022, 11:43

Very little is known about late superstar Prince in the years prior to his hugely successful music career, but now one Minneapolis TV station has just landed on an incredible discovery.

WCCO Minneapolis happened to stumble across a 52-year-old film reel while doing research into local landmarks, and a very familiar local face turned up. Prince lived in The Twin Cities for most of his life, and based his Paisley Park home there too.

There’s not much out there when it comes to Prince’s younger days, with the earliest photo appearing to be his junior high basketball snap. 

The newly unearthed footage appears to pre-date that photo, which shows the young superstar, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, taking part in an interview about a teachers strike in 1970.

After showing the incredible footage to one of the Purple Rain star’s childhood friends, Terrance Jackson, and backdating the footage to ensure the ages were correct, the TV team were able to confirm the young boy was indeed Prince.

According to Deadline, when Terrance saw the video, he exclaimed: “That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!”

It turns out Skipper was Prince’s nickname at only 11-years-old. How adorable!

In the video, a reporter asked Skipper: “Are most of the kids in favour of the picketing?”

The young Prince replied: “I think they should get some more money ’cause they work extra hours for us and all that stuff.”

Overwhelmed with emotions after hearing his late friend speak, Terrance continued: “I am like blown away. I’m totally blown away.

“He was already playing guitar and keys by then, phenomenally. Music became our sport. Because he was athletic, I was athletic, but we wanted to compete musically.”

What an amazing discovery!