July 15, 2004

PRINCE REVEALS WHAT IT'S LIKE MAKING MUSIC 25 YEARS LATER IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CBS NEWS' "THE EARLY SHOW"

Prince talks exclusively with CBS News' THE EARLY SHOW anchor René Syler in an interview to be broadcast on Tuesday, July 20 (7:00-9:00 AM, ET/PT). In this rare television interview, the unpredictable and sometimes controversial Prince speaks candidly about politics, racism, the war on terror, and the music industry as a whole.

Prince tells Syler that he embraces female performers and actually prefers working with them. "Female musicians tend to listen better, and they don't let their ego get in the way of music. I have a really great bass player -- Rhonda Smith. I notice that she doesn't think it's important for her to take solos and play too much and drown out the other instruments...she's a joy in the sense that she understands that her instrument, the bass, really is spelled B-A-S-E as opposed to B-A-S-S."

25 years later, Prince is still making music, but says his focus has shifted away from the sexually explicit lyrics from the past. At age 46 he now says, "The simple fact is that I'm not alone on the planet. There are others around me just by virtue of the children that come to our concerts and things like that. I have a responsibility to them to perform in a manner that I would like my children to be performed in front of. So, that said, I just want to be the best human being I can be...on stage and off."

THE EARLY SHOW is broadcast weekdays (7:00-9:00 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Michael Bass is the senior executive producer and Victor Neufeld is the executive producer.

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Press Contact: Leigh Farris 212/975-2856 farrisl@cbsnews.com