The late music legend Prince made his voice heard as an 11-year-old, not just a budding artist.
Footage found by WCCO in Minneapolis shows him singing the praises of educators in 1970 at a teachers’ strike in the city. (See the segment below.)
“I think they need to get more money because they work extra hours for us and all that,” the young prince said.
Production manager Matt Lydie found the video while researching old footage to give perspective on a recent teachers’ strike. The station confirmed that the boy was indeed a prince – then Prince Rogers Nelson – through childhood friend Terence Jackson.
“I’m completely shocked,” Jackson said after watching the video, calling Prince by his childhood nickname Skipper.
Prince was already making music at that age, Jackson said. We now know that he spoke on important causes.
Prince, the iconic performer of hits such as “Purple Rain”, “When Doves Cry” and “1999”, died in 2016 from an overdose of fentanyl at the age of 57.
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