PR guru Alan Edwards landed his dream job to represent Prince – after the weirdest job interview ever.
The Outside Organisation boss tells the Mirror about his trip to Paisley Park, where he expected to meet the superstar himself.
Alan tells the Mirror: “I got a call from someone in LA who asked if I'd consider being Prince's UK PR. I said: 'Of course, yes.'
“I was flown out to Minneapolis – it was winter, pretty bleak – and there's a driver waiting there. He takes me, and it feels like the middle of nowhere, there's endless fir trees, then suddenly, out of the snowy landscape, up pops an extraordinary white, space age building – Paisley Park.
“It was like something out of E.T. or Star Wars. This was the 1980s, I'd never seen anything like it.
“I knocked on the door, someone answered and sent me up to a room upstairs where I sat down. But when I say a room, it wasn't a normal room. It was sort of suspended, and it had a glass floor. It was like being in a see through cage.
“Nobody had said anything to me yet. It wasn't even as if anyone brought me a cup of tea.
“Then a button was pushed and music starts coming out – and it's fantastic. It's Prince's album Diamonds and Pearls, which hadn't been released yet. So I'm just sitting there, completely on my own, in this see through room, listening to this album.”
But despite being in an clear, empty room, Alan wondered if he was being watched.
“I had a sensation that I was being observed,” he continues. “You get that feeling. I couldn't work out what it was, but I thought I better really put some energy into listening to the record.
“I was tapping my feet, moving my head, but I think I stopped short of getting up and playing air guitar.
“I was really getting into it, which wasn't hard because it was truly a lovely album and I still think one of his greatest and slightly overlooked albums.”
The entire album – all 65 minutes – were played without interruption as Alan sat by himself.
“Nobody had come in, nobody had said anything,” he continues. “Then it finished and someone says: 'Your car's outside.' And I leave.”Returning to the airport, he wondered if his Prince experience had come to an end, but was startled when his stretch limo driver struck up an unusual conversation.
“We're driving back through the pine trees and snowy landscape and he said: 'Well, what did you think of this song?' And: 'What did you think of the vocals there?' He really peppered me with questions – it was like a school exam.
“It dawned on me quickly that this was maybe not casual conversation. The driver was cross questioning me like a music journalist, forensically, about the album.
“It occurred to me very fast that in one way or another, maybe this was being relayed back to someone. For a minute I wondered who was under that cap!
“I was questioned all the way to the airport. It was a lot easier than my O Levels because I had a passion for it, and I'd just heard a great record. I didn't have to ham it up too much.”
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