Up until then I had been a heavy Beatles fan and by the time I was about 14, I had all their albums and most of the solo stuff. There was something groundbreaking about the track Kiss – its sound and video were both so different to everything else around at that time, so I was hooked in. That was probably the turning point where I started going out and buying all the albums and singles I could find. “I remember being aware of Prince as a casual fan from the Purple Rain era, but became a bit obsessive when the album Parade was released in 1986. At the same time as following every new release, he expediently worked his way back through Prince’s back catalogue, acquiring everything released in the preceding decade. Stephen realised this in mid-1980s, perhaps a little later than some, but quickly made up for the lapse.
Prince seldom took a break from releasing music, and his voracious appetite for collaboration and experimentation meant that there was always plenty for a serious fan to get their teeth into. Boxes and storage containers of vinyl and other related ephemera surrounded us as we spent an afternoon reminiscing about Prince’s life and signs of the times.
We met with Prince superfan, Stephen Shipperlee, at his home in south Liverpool to explore his extensive Prince collection. When combined with multiple formats for different territories, bootlegs of innumerable live performances and albums that were never officially released, staying on top of the man’s prodigious output would have proved a challenge for the most committed of fans. Andrew Dineley peruses his collection…įrom his first album, For You in 1977 through to his final HITnRUN duo of albums in 2015, Prince was an artist who could never have been accused of starving his fans of material. But for committed fans, collecting helps forge a special connection with our musical heroes. Prince’s releases have become more valuable since his passing.
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