‘Prince laughed like a kid as I painted “Free” on his stomach’: Steve Parke’s best photograph

2026-03-18 - 15:19

‘The art director wanted it to read “1999”. But Prince wasn’t having that. So the next thing I knew, I was writing “Free” on him with my fingers in cold paint’ I grew up loving Prince’s music and remember thinking: “I’m gonna work for that guy one day.” Through high school and college I photographed local bands. I’d say I worked for a newspaper but I didn’t tell them it was the high-school newspaper, so they’d give me passes to U2 or Boy George. Once, when I went to photograph Lionel Richie, Sheila E was supporting, who I knew had a Prince connection. I ended up talking to her guitar-player and told him I was a photographer and artist. He asked me to draw something, so I did a quick portrait of him on a napkin and he said we should stay in touch. Around the Sign o’ the Times album he called to say he was joining Prince’s band, and said: “I’m gonna take you with me.” He showed Prince some of my artwork, which he apparently liked. I was asked to paint a stage for him – that was the first job I did, and one day he asked: “Have you ever taken photos?” I was in the right place at the right time. I got a digital camera and became in-house art director at Paisley Park, taking photos from 1988 until 1996. Continue reading...