Alicia Keys recalls career-making moment Prince gave his blessing to record cover aged 18

Musician visited Paisley Park to get his approval

Alicia Keys has recalled the moment that Prince gave her his blessing to record a cover of his 1982 track “How Come You Don’t Call Me”.

The singer opened up about the career-making occasion when speaking to Ebro Darden on Apple Music Hits.

“He takes me to Paisley Park and this place is like a dream. And he’s walking me through Paisley Park, I’m 18 years old. He has like 900 pianos,” said Keys.

Sharing a name with his 1985 song “Paisley Park”, Paisley Park was Prince’s recording complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota. It opened to the public as a museum and memorial to the artist following his death in 2016.

“[He says]: ‘This is the piano when I wrote ‘When Doves Cry’. This is the room that we sit on the floor with the purple things and we write songs.’ I could not believe it.”

The singer continued: “Then he says, ‘This is the stage. We want you to perform a little set for my closest people.’ He would invite them to Paisley Park whatever he did. He had his own universe going.”

Keys revealed, however, that Prince had a certain rule when in Paisley Park.

“He was like, ‘One thing. You can’t curse.’ And I was like, ‘Well he must not know me, because I curse.’”

Prince, who was famously hesitant to allow covers of his songs, eventually gave Keys his blessing to record a version of his song “How Come You Don’t Call Me” for her debut album Songs In a Minor.

The album, which debuted at No 1 in the US and the UK upon its release in June 2001, celebrates its 20th anniversary this month.