How can U just leave me standing? ...in search of Prince Rogers Nelson.

Born in Jackson Heights, New York, Alan Leeds is an American music industry legend, as a tour manager and production manager, he is best known for his work organising performances and concert tours for artists such as James Brown, Prince, KISS, Cameo, D'Angelo and Chris Rock. In addition to his career in artist management, he is recognised as an award-winning writer and music archivist, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1992 for his work on the James Brown compilation Star Time. Alan also penned the liner notes for the 1993 Prince box set The Hits/The B-Sides, and co-wrote The James Brown Reader with Nelson George. His music career began as a DJ, before he became involved with James Brown as his publicity director in 1969, and worked as Brown's tour manager from 1970 to 1973. Beginning in 1983, Alan managed tours for Prince during the peak of his commercial and artistic success, notably during the Purple Rain Tour. His work with Prince culminated in him being named as president of Prince's label Paisley Park Records in 1989. Alan's career as a tour manager continued with D'Angelo, managing the successful Voodoo Tour in 2000. This was followed by stints with a variety of other artists, including Raphael Saadiq and The Roots. He has also been involved in the curation of the James Brown: The Singles collections, and has spoken at events commemorating Brown's career and accomplishments. In his personal life Alan has a wife, Gwen, and a son, Tristan. His brother is saxophonist Eric Leeds. In 2020, Leeds released the biographical book, "There Was a Time: James Brown, The Chitlin' Circuit, and Me." And we are absolutely delighted to have him on the 50th episode of our show, Alan welcome...! Our thanks also to Paddy Fang for his help on this interview.

Born in Jackson Heights, New York, Alan Leeds is an American music industry legend, as a tour manager and production manager, he is best known for his work organising performances and concert tours for artists such as James Brown, Prince, KISS, Cameo, D'Angelo and Chris Rock. In addition to his career in artist management, he is recognised as an award-winning writer and music archivist, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1992 for his work on the James Brown compilation Star Time. Alan also penned the liner notes for the 1993 Prince box set The Hits/The B-Sides, and co-wrote The James Brown Reader with Nelson George. His music career began as a DJ, before he became involved with James Brown as his publicity director in 1969, and worked as Brown's tour manager from 1970 to 1973. Beginning in 1983, Alan managed tours for Prince during the peak of his commercial and artistic success, notably during the Purple Rain Tour. His work with Prince culminated in him being named as president of Prince's label Paisley Park Records in 1989. Alan's career as a tour manager continued with D'Angelo, managing the successful Voodoo Tour in 2000. This was followed by stints with a variety of other artists, including Raphael Saadiq and The Roots. He has also been involved in the curation of the James Brown: The Singles collections, and has spoken at events commemorating Brown's career and accomplishments. In his personal life Alan has a wife, Gwen, and a son, Tristan. His brother is saxophonist Eric Leeds. In 2020, Leeds released the biographical book, "There Was a Time: James Brown, The Chitlin' Circuit, and Me." We were delighted to welcome him as our guest, on the 50th episode of the show.

Mayte Garcia was born in Alabama to parents of Puerto Rican descent, growing up in various part of the United States, and in Germany (due to her father’s career in the military), and spent her summers in Puerto Rico with her extended family. A dancer from when she was basically out of the womb, Mayte began classical ballet and belly dancing at the age of just three years old. Inspired by her mother who was a professional, she became the world’s youngest professional belly dancer at the age of 8. She was even featured on the popular TV show, “That’s Incredible.” While still in Germany, Mayte went to a Prince concert with her family. Her mother told her to send Prince a tape of her belly dancing to his song, "Thieves in the Temple" to show him her talents. The tape eventually made it into Prince's hands via a band member from The New Power Generation. They kept in touch for 2 years, before she joined the NPG. In the 1990s as a featured dancer and background singer, she appeared in several music videos, as well as performing on tours, award shows, national and international television shows. In 2017 as the world was mourning the loss of Prince, Mayte released her memoirs of that time in her life - “The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince.” The heartfelt and touching autobiography which soared to the top of several best seller lists and has been translated into several languages. Since then she has become well known for her charity work, both with Mayte's Rescue and Live4LoveCharities, and recently took part in a TEDx talk on YouTube explaining how her many life experiences have shaped her. And we were delighted to have her on the show.

Jason Draper is a brand consultant and long-standing music journalist. As former Head of Curation at Universal Music Group and Reviews Editor of Record Collector magazine from 2006 to 2015, he now straddles both sides of the music industry, advising on content strategy and brand development for everyone from Warner Music Group to the audio-visual app jazzed. Author of the books Prince: Life and Times (2008; revised and updated in 2016) and A Brief History of Album Covers (2008), his work has also appeared in NME and Uncut, and as part of Royal Mail's prestigious stamp collections. He lives in London with his wife and Jack Russell terrier.

Hans-Martin Buff began his career as a recording engineer and music producer at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, USA, where he made excellent coffee and then proceeded to hone his studio chops by assisting on projects such as Live’s million seller "Throwing Copper". Buff worked his way through various Minnesota rock’n’roll factories, before he found a more permanent home at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, whose personal engineer he became and remained for four funky years. During this period, he wasn’t only responsible for His Purple Majesty’s recordings, but also for Prince’s collaborations with artists such as No Doubt, Chaka Khan and Larry Graham. Being a native of Germany, Buff relocated to Europe in 2001, where he has since recorded, mixed and/or produced a host of national and international talent, such as Mousse T., Joss Stone, Zucchero, Eric Burdon, Roachford, Maxi Priest and the Scorpions. Since 2018, Buff has explored the subject of 3D-Audio, especially for headphones. Buff is now considered an industry expert, and he is proud to help artists lift their immersive adventures to the next musical level. Buff is affiliated with msm-studios in Munich and Berlin, Germany, and with Real World Studios in Box, England, where he shaped the Dolby Atmos “In-Side” mixes of Peter Gabriel’s 2023 release i/o. https://buffwerk.com/ Instagram: buffwerk

Rooted in Texas Funk, Alabama Gospel, New Orleans Jazz, and Nashville Soul, Philip Lassiter is an 11-time Grammy award winning horn/string arranger, and former section leader/arranger of Prince and the New Power Generation. https://philthyfunk.com/ Currently based in Amsterdam., Philip has quickly garnered respect as the go to arranger and trumpet player for iconic artists such as: Prince, Kirk Franklin, Ariana Grande, Timbaland, Roberta Flack, Jill Scott, Rodney Darkchild Jerkins, Hamilton w/ Barack Obama, Cece Winans, Kelly Rowland, Fantasia, Anderson Paak, Yelawolf, Queen Latifah, Al Jarreau, Fred Hammond, The Isley Brothers, Marsha Ambrosia, Ledisi, Johnny Lang, Donald Lawrence, Anthony Hamilton, Richard Smallwood, Karen Clarke, Dorinda Clarke Cole, Bebe Winans, Ricky Dillard, Anita Wilson, Natalie Grant, James Fortune, John P Kee, Anthony Brown, Myron Butler & Levi, Regina Belle, Cory Henry, My Morning Jacket, Lee Ann Womack, Big & Rich, and more. Philip has performed on stages around the world such as the Essence Festival, Montreaux Jazz Fest, Jam Cruise 2020, United Center Chicago, North Sea Jazz Festival Curacao, Bonnaroo, Titan Stadium, The World Cafe in Philadelphia, Arsenio Hall, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon. He was crowned winner of the 2000 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Solo Competition and is endorsed by Cannonball Instruments. At age 6, he unwittingly met his first love – the piano – and began belting out Amazing Grace like no other kid in Mobile, Alabama. Being the son of a preacher – a man “who sweated every ounce until he was red in the face” – Philip learned how to captivate an audience and he’s taken that spirit on his own unique mission ever since. A stint in St Louis brought the beauty of big band noise and an ear for improvisation. College in Florida harnessed his gift on the trumpet, provided inroads into Salsa and Merengue, and refined his natural ability as a Jazz Pianist. Eight years in Dallas under the wing of some of the most talented musicians and producers in the world. Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Bernard Wright, Bobby Sparks, Snarky Puppy, Erykah Badu, and many others further expanded his notoriety in the gospel and funk industry. Several more years in Nashville further diversified Lassiter’s musical portfolio. While there, he worked with the legendary producer Tommy Sims and performed in numerous awards shows such as the Dove Awards and The Stellars. It was also in Nashville that he formed his 14 piece Soul/Funk band Philthy which is representative of his working relationships with the best players and performers in Nashville, New York, and L.A. including American Idol superstar Elliott Yamin and Dutch-Caribbean sensation, Josephine Rojer. Philthy has been imbued with the soul of a musical saviour and the manic energy of a deliciously decadent devil. With the humor and lyrical flow of Slim Shady before the music biz ate him up, Philthy could be the lovechild of Andre 3000 and Aretha Franklin, with James Brown laying down the blessing. It's a high energy live show that can't be missed. PhilLassiter.com - https://www.instagram.com/philiplassitermusic/

In part 3 of this exclusive interview, Prince and The Revolution band member Lisa Coleman tells Sam, 'I've been blessed, this life has been great to me...'. Ahead of her performance at November 2025s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (with Cyndi Lauper), they discuss a new album in the offing with Annie Lennox, working on music with MeShell NdegeOcello, activism, Carousel, the 21st April 1985 and saying goodbye to Prince...amongst other things. She also contemplates The Revolution playing again once more. Essential listening.

Growing up next door to Wendy Melvoin and her family in Los Angeles, Lisa Coleman joined her first group - Waldorf Salad - as a child. Falling in love with the music of Burt Bacharach via her father, and Bach from her piano teacher, she flew to Minneapolis at the age of 19 to join Prince's new wave band. As a founder member of Prince & The Revolution, she became a part of the sound of one of the most famous bands of the 20th century. She was with Prince from his Dirty Mind album and tour in 1980 to the Parade tour in 1986. As one half of the musical duo Wendy & Lisa, after leaving Prince's band, they continued to record and release music before going on to be Emmy award winning composers for film and TV. They've since gone on to work with other musical greats such as Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell and MeShell NdegeOcello. Lisa also released her own solo album, Collage, of instrumental piano pieces in 2019. This is part 1 of her musical life story, as told to Sam Bleazard.

John McKie is the former editor of Smash Hits and Q Magazine in the UK, with a background in journalism. Having first seen Prince live in 1990 on the Nude Tour, he wrote about the album Sign O The Times for the BBC, shortly after the artist passed away. Following a chance conversation with one of his peers during lockdown, he decided to write a biography about Prince. That was 5 years ago, and now, over 200 interviews later, he is due to publish Prince: A Sign Of The Times, in September 2025. Join us for part 1 of this exclusive interview, just days before John's book is published.

Landing in Paris, just hours before the superstar musician Prince, to prepare his Parisienne apartment - Sophie Roux was nervous but very excited. For the next ten years, she was responsible for his French residence in the heart of Paris, having to be ready at a moment's notice. From basketball courts, to fashion shows and video shoots Sophie had to arrange it. This is part 2 of her amazing story. Episode photo courtesy of Sophie Roux, our thanks to her.

Join us for a wide-ranging interview with Prince's former Art Director Steve Parke, as we discuss the first Paisley Park Celebration in 2000, magical moments and opportunities beyond his wildest dreams, but also a parting of the ways after 13 years. Steve shares unique insights and incredible memories of his time with one of popular music's most famous and iconic figures. Essential listening for Prince fans, and music fans alike.

Omar burst onto the UK and world music scene as a prodigious young teenage talent, and was signed to the Talkin' Loud label in the early 90s. Emerging from the London Acid Jazz scene alongside seminal groups like The Young Disciples, The Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai, he made waves with breakout soul ballad There's Nothing Like This, and early albums such as 1992s Music. Having never compromised his musical and artistic integrity to court mainstream success his eclectic output has won him the admiring ears of many of the industry's biggest names. He's collaborated with Erykah Badu, Angie Stone, Paul Weller, Leon Ware, Lamont Dozier and of course one of his biggest idols Stevie Wonder. In this candid conversation he discusses being compared to the likes of Prince and Stevie, but also how he's maintained his career over the last 30 years. 'Essensual' listening...

Charles 'Chazz' Smith is the founder, original drummer and lead vocalist of Grand Central - the band that spawned Morris Day (of The Time), Andre Cymone, and also featured his cousin Prince Rogers Nelson. Charles and Prince attended Lincoln Junior High School together, with several other young local musicians they collaborated with, and formed the roots of what was later described as 'The Minneapolis Sound'. Grand Central was one of the only black groups in MPLS to fuse both rock and funk. Their name was inspired by the group Grand Funk Railroad. They performed yearly at outdoor summer festivals, school dances, and talent shows. Later Charles was slated to be the drummer on Prince's first tour, but his cousin was told that he needed a more multi-racial band. Prince credited Charles influencing him on three things in his life - drums, basketball and girls, as cited in Dan Piepenbring's book The Beautiful Ones.