After music legend Prince's shocking death last week at the age of 57, former Bryant Junior High music teacher Jimmy Hamilton talked to People magazine about having the artist as a student in the early 1970s.
"He was at the band room door at 8 a.m. sharp every day waiting to be let in," Hamilton told the publication. "He was a seriously smart kid, and he just got music. He really understood it, what music was at the core. Even from that early age.
"He was an easy student, he was so eager to learn and it came naturally to him. He could play any instrument, but the song we worked on the most was 'Stairway to Heaven' on the piano. He loved that one!"
But as Hamilton notes, he had no idea that young boy would go on to become a world-renowned musical icon.
"I thought he would achieve success as a local musician, because he was a natural musician, he had the ear," Hamilton says. "But he was so shy, nothing like the persona he put on while on stage.
"It still baffles me thinking that the smart kid in my class would go on to become the Minnesota king of funk."
Read the entire article on People's website.
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