Prince speaks on sexuality and celibacy in ‘lost’ interview

'Libido is energy. I go back and forth'

(2007 Getty Images)

Prince’s songs exude a freedom and sexuality that have seen him hailed in a number of tributes today as one of the most sex-positive singers of his era.

But the pioneering artist, famed for his sexually charged lyrics, insisted he was celibate two years before his death in a lost interview with Rolling Stone, which the magazine has published a day after he was found dead in his Minnesota home.

The subtle - but largely not-so-subtle - lyrics in songs such as “Head”, “Shockadelia”, “Gett Off” conveyed a sexuality reinforced visually by their music videos, a theme that ran throughout four decades of material.

Speaking about his outlook on sex in 2014, he told Rolling Stone: "Yeah, I'm celibate."

“Well, it's all physical; all of that then turns into other things. Libido is energy. I go back and forth. It's like fasting: it's a practice and you get better at it over time, you know, but no one is perfect … With fasting, after four days, you don't want food anymore. You've got this thing that says ‘feed me, feed me,“ and then when it realises it's not going to get fed, it goes away.”

He was known for the relationships he formed with the women he worked with. His explanation for this was altogether simpler.

“I just see beauty in everybody now. When you're a kid, you go, ‘She's the finest. I want to be with her only.’ And then you hook up with her and you realise that's not the case 'cause here comes, you know, Saturday. [laughs]”