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Brian Coney
6 April 2022, 12:28

Rare archive footage of Prince, aged 11, at 1970 Minneapolis teachers’ strike emerges: Watch

It was recently discovered by a CBS News affiliate in Minnesota

prince_young

Rare archive footage of Prince aged 11 has emerged.

Recently discovered by WCCO, a CBS News affiliate based in Minnesota, the footage shows the young artist - who was born Prince Rogers Nelson, and was raised in the Minnesotan city - at a teachers' strike in April 1970.

WCCO production manager Matt Liddy stumbled across the footage of Prince being interviewed while preparing for a news piece to give context to a recent teachers' strike in Minneapolis.

“I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people, and saying, ‘I’m not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?’ And every single person said Prince,” said Liddy.

While Prince was not asked for his name in the interview, historian Kristen Zschomler confirmed Prince's identity via a photo of the artist at the time. A childhood friend of Prince, Terrance Jackson, also confirmed Prince's identity, referring to the late musician as 'Skipper'. “That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God," said Jackson.

Watch WCCO's report, featuring the original footage, below.

Last month, it was revealed that a previously unreleased Prince album from 1986 will soon get its first release via Third Man Records. Another unreleased album of Prince's, 'Welcome 2 America', also got its first-time release last year.