The Prince Estate has just released an intimate acoustic demo of the artist’s 1979 track, I Feel for You.
Discovered on one of the many tapes stored in Prince’s legendary vault, the recording has been released to celebrate the anniversary of Prince’s second self-titled album, which originally came out on October 19th, 1979.
A raw demo of I Feel For You by Prince has just been released, and features the artist at 20 years old with only his voice and an acoustic guitar.
The demo is thought to have been recorded in the winter of 1978-79 when he was preparing to make his solo debut at the Capri Theatre in North Minneapolis. In an accompanying statement released by the Prince Estate, it’s described as “captur[ing] a 20-year-old Prince in a raw, intimate moment.”
“I was blown away. Here is 20-year-old Prince thinking aloud, feeling his way through the song,” described Prince vault archivist Michael Howe who discovered the track.
“You hear his incredible talent shining through on acoustic guitar, which is not something he typically showcased, and his guide vocal is astonishingly great.”
The song later went on to become a hit a few years after its release, when Chaka Khan covered it on her studio album of the same name in 1984. The song became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and won two Grammys, including a Grammy Award for the Best R&B Song which honoured Prince as a songwriter.
The song is being released as a two-track single, with the demo on side A and the original studio recording on side B. You can buy the commemorative purple 7″ release exclusively at the Prince website for the next seven days.
Check out the demo below.
