Prince

Prince enters the diaries through a pair of linked encounters in August 1986: a high-energy concert at Madison Square Garden and a more intimate gathering at the Palladium. The contrast is central to Warhol’s portrait of him. Onstage, Prince is a startling spectacle; afterward, he proves approachable, courteous, and alert to the people around him. The episode turns celebrity from an image observed at a distance into a personal exchange—and opens the possibility of bringing that image into Interview.

The concert and its spectacle

On August 2, Wilfredo obtained tickets, and he and Andy Warhol took a $3 cab to Madison Square Garden. Debbie Harry and Stephen Sprouse were also in the audience. Prince’s entrance, described as nearly naked, made an immediate impression, and Warhol judged the concert the greatest he had seen at the venue, emphasizing its energy and excitement. Prince departed in a limousine as soon as the show ended, reinforcing the scale and speed of the spectacle around him.

The concert also prompted Warhol to place Prince within a changing idea of glamour. Seeing him alongside Billy Idol, Warhol observed that boys seemed to be becoming the new Hollywood glamour girls, comparing their appeal to Harlow and Marilyn. Prince was not simply a performer in this account: he represented a new kind of male star image, one whose visual flamboyance could command the attention once associated with female screen icons.

The after-party and the private impression

Ron Delsener invited Warhol and Wilfredo to Prince’s party at the Palladium. In the Mike Todd Room, the reserved tables and nearly empty space made Prince’s solitary presence especially noticeable. He wore a white coat and pink bell-bottoms, an outfit Warhol described as unusual, but what most changed the impression was his conduct. Rather than remain apart behind the bodyguards Warhol associated with his public image, Prince came over to each guest, shook hands, and expressed happiness that they had come.

Prince danced with each of the women present and remembered Wilfredo’s name. Warhol was struck by this personal attention and praised Prince’s manners; Wilfredo, in turn, was elated. The scene quietly revises the concert’s distant spectacle: the star who had just commanded a huge arena now makes each guest feel individually recognized. Warhol also noted that Prince was not a particularly accomplished dancer, an observation that keeps the account grounded in the social encounter rather than treating every part of the star’s performance as flawless.

Interview and the making of a star image

At the party, Warhol and Wilfredo asked Prince about appearing on Interview’s December cover. Prince referred them to his manager, who had apparently directed them back to Prince; the two sides agreed to work it out. The exchange shows the magazine’s celebrity culture at work in a practical, reciprocal form: a striking public figure becomes a potential cover subject through a conversation among the star, his representatives, and the people seeking to feature him.

That prospect carried particular weight for Interview, which had become a glamorous magazine where celebrities wanted to appear. Its cover interviews and steady supply of fresh faces made the promise of magazine exposure a defining part of its appeal. Prince’s response does not confirm that the cover ultimately happened, but the discussion captures the negotiation between public image and access. The next day, Warhol saw Jimmy Swaggart preaching to an auditorium larger than Prince’s; set beside the previous night’s spectacle, that note places fame within a broader landscape of mass attention without diminishing the distinct impression Prince had made in person.