Prince Footage Discovered In 1970 Minneapolis News Clip
Prince footage featuring the musician at just 11-years old has been discovered in the archives of Minneapolis television station WCCO.
The clip, filmed during a teacher’s strike in April of that year, captures the young Prince speaking in support of the teachers, and jumping around with a typically mischievous grin on his face.
“I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money ‘cos they’re working extra hours for us and all that stuff,” he says.
WCCO restored the film as part of a story about an educators strike in the same district last month. Matt Liddy, the station’s production manager, was reviewing the footage when one child in particular caught his eye.
“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 said.
Despite their hunches, the boy in the film does not identify himself, so WCCO went to work researching the clip to confirm that it features the young Prince. They contacted Kristen Zschomler, a Minneapolis-based historian and archaeologist — and Prince fan who has documented his early years. Zscholmer said videos of Prince before his teenage years are almost non-existent but she shared the station’s hunch and introduced them to a man named Terrance Jackson, who attended school with Prince, beginning in kindergarten.
Jackson, who was later a member of Prince’s first band, Grand Central, was adamant that the child in the video was his old friend, exclaiming, ““That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!… I’m totally blown away.”
Jackson went on to share some memories of his childhood friend, “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.”