For fans of late singer and songwriter Prince, photos and videos of his early years have proven to be few and far between. But there has been a recent discovery in the city where he grew up that shows a young Mr. Nelson speaking to a news reporter when he was just 11-years-old outside of his junior high school.
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The newly unearthed Prince clip was found by WCCO production manager Matt Liddy while scouring the Minneapolis television station’s archives for footage, in order to give the teacher’s strike that occurred in the city last month a bit of historical context. When 13 minutes of restored film from a 1970 teacher’s strike came across his desk, the surprise that was in store was just seconds away.
“I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people and saying, ‘I’m not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?’ And every single person [said] ‘Prince,’” Liddy explains.
In the video, a young student is seen being interviewed amid his friends about the Minneapolis teacher’s strike that was occurring in 1970. “I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff,” he says.
Unfortunately, “We did not get him saying ‘I’m Prince Nelson,’” Liddy admits, so, more digging would be needed. Professional historian and archeologist Kristen Zschomler was tapped for her expertise, and was visibly emotional when first shown the footage. “I think that’s him, definitely. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think that’s definitely Prince,” she said, adding, “this definitely looks like Lincoln Junior High School where he would have been attending school in April of 1970.”
Zschomler then helped facilitate a meeting with Terrance Jackson, one of Prince’s childhood friends and neighbors. “We go far back as kindergarten at John Hay Elementary in north Minneapolis,” Jackson tells WCCO. “Oh my God... That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!” he said excitedly when shown the clip, calling Prince by his first nickname, "Skipper." “I am like blown away. I’m totally blown away,”
“I think just seeing Prince as a young child in his neighborhood school, you know, it helps really ground him to that Minneapolis connection,” Zschomler concludes. “Even if they’re momentary glimpses into what Minneapolis meant to him, what he stood up for when he lived in Minneapolis, just helps understand that symbiotic connection he had to his hometown.”
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