Rarely seen shots of Prince at the earliest stages of his iconic career are set to go on display this month at the Mr. Musichead Gallery in Los Angeles. The photos taken by fine-art photographer Robert Whitman were captured in Minneapolis over the course of three sessions in 1977 when both men were just beginning to make waves in their respective fields. Whitman was called to shoot the bubbling talent after he was discovered by music producer Owen Husney. Whitman recounted the experience of meeting Prince and shooting his press kit photos a few decades back:
"I didn't know anything about him and he was shy and I was nervous. I knew he was going to do something big when they played me his track Soft & Wet and he performed at his studio. I got goosebumps.
Whitman became inspired to display the photos after showing them to an agent friend:
"I had not even thought of them and then I started to think about what to do with my archive and I discovered this young agent, called Jesse Blatt, who came to the studio, took one look at these Prince shots and started talking about a touring exhibition. It's very exciting."
The collection of Prince photos will debut at Hollywood's Mr. Musichead Gallery on February 20th. The exhibition will run for one month. According to recent reports, there are also plans to include the photos in a retrospective of Whitman's work that he hopes to debut in March at the K Gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia. Check the U.S. gallery details below for contact information. Stay tuned for details as they emerge.
