Prince’s Engineer Says Singer ‘Tortured a Lot of People’ During His Music Career by Doing THIS

Prince
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Prince is considered as one of the most legendary musicians to date, but little did fans know that he was hard to work with when he was alive as revealed by his former engineer.

According to the iconic singer's longtime collaborator David "Z" Rivkin, who spoke to Sunset Sound Roundtable, the musician was in a trio along with Andre Cymone and Morris Day.

Initially, he didn't think that Prince was "anything special" as his "amazing talent" wasn't that obvious back then because everyone was "all amateur" at the time.

When the singer started going solo after the trio disbanded, manager Owen Husney arranged for him to record a demo at the Sound 80 Studio in Minneapolis.

Rivkin was present at the time and unsure if Prince wanted to pursue him as an engineer because he was "probably one of the only engineers that kne what was going on."

He later commended the singer for his talent as all of the songs he wrote and presented were "great." Recalling the "Purple Rain" hitmaker's work ethic, he noted that he was involved in every process like playing the instruments, playing beats, and humming the guitar part.

"He had planned it out and he was able to execute it all himself, which is really rare," he added. (via Ultimate Classic Rock)

Rivkin described him as someone who was "objective" as his music didn't sound like it was created by "one guy" because he was able to put different personalities in several instruments.

Prince Known to 'Torture People' With His Demanding Behavior

Prince later got massive success after the demo was presented to Warner Brothers. Rivkin later accompanied the legend to Amigo Studios in North Hollywood where many producers visited him to see if the singer could "actually [create music] by himself."

Throughout their partnership, the engineer said he'd never worked for Prince, but rather work with him.

He later revealed that the singer "tortured a lot of people" because he could be very hard on the people he worked with.

"He'd focus on one person that he didn't think was doing the job and he'd let 'em have it," he added.

Concluding his interview, he described the "U Got The Look" hitmaker as "a very tough boss," but Rivkin didn't submit to him, but instead only witness what he did to people.

Tags
Prince, Career, R&B, Pop, News, Music, Legend
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