Newly Discovered Video Shows Rare Footage Of Interview With Prince As A Child

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Employees at Minnesota’s CBS affiliate WCCO were recently surprised after discovering a young boy giving a reporter his thoughts on the 1970 Minneapolis teachers’ strike was none other than the legend the world came to know and love, Prince.

A Minneapolis native, 11-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson, smiled amongst his friends as he told a WCCO reporter in April 1970, that he supported the picketing teachers at his school.

“I think they should get some more money, ’cause they be working extra hours for us, and all that stuff,” Prince told the local news source.

Current WCCO production manager Matt Liddy stumbled across the 52-year-old footage of Prince as he looked for archival clips to add as context to coverage the news source was reporting on about a teachers’ strike last month.

“I grew up in Minneapolis, so all I cared about was looking at cool old buildings from the place I grew up. Did I recognize my old school? Did I recognize any landmarks?” Liddy said of his initial interest in the footage.

After being shocked at seeing a young Prince being interviewed by one of WCCO’s reporters, Liddy said, “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.'”

Despite the child going on to become one of the most recognizable musical artists ever, Liddy shared that after the video’s sound was extracted he realized the interview’s reporter left out a crucial aspect in their chat with the Purple Rain legend.

“We did not get him saying ‘I’m Prince Nelson,'” the production manager ironically detailed before explaining that the lapse set off an investigation to confirm the young man in the unearthed video was in fact Prince before his fame.

Professional historian, archeologist, Twin Cities landmark researcher and “dedicated” Prince fan Kristen Zschomler highlighted that footage of Prince in his pre-teen years in very rare.

“As far as video, I am not familiar with any. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist but I’m not familiar with any,” Zschomler explained.

After confirming she also thought the young boy in the clip was Prince, she mentioned, “This definitely looks like Lincoln Junior High School where he would have been attending school in April of 1970.”

“There’s so much in his mannerisms and his eyes and everything that it looks like him,” Zschomler added.

Prince’s childhood friend, former neighbor and previous bandmate Terrance Jackson watched the clip shared that the icon “was already playing guitar and keys by then, phenomenally.”

“Music became our sport because he was athletic [and] I was athletic, but we wanted to compete musically,” Jackson said.

If you’re interested in seeing the footage and learning more about its history and discovery, read more via WCCO.