Prince rivalry with Jackson makes interesting reading (daily mirror website). Interesting how their careers mirrored one another and both were same age.
"The two enjoyed a fierce rivalry throughout their respective careers which some speculate was down to Prince's competitive nature.
Prince and Michael Jackson were both huge musical legends and both gone way before their time.
It was on Thursday that the world mourned as news broke that 57-year-old Prince had been pronounced dead after he was found collapsed in a lift on his Paisley Park estate.
The King of Pop died at his home back in 2009 and was later discovered his cause of death was a heart attack due to acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication.
Throughout their careers the two megastars enjoyed huge success but also endured a bitter rivalry, mysteriously feuding for many years.
Details of their feud are not well-known but it began back in the 80s when Michael was catapulted to stardom with his hit album Thriller.
Prince's comeback to that best-selling album of all time, was the equally epic Purple Rain soundtrack and the Oscar-winning film of the same name.
There were plenty of similarities between the two legends as they both dominated the charts with their own unique spin on music which have become the classics they are today.
Both stars were known for being reclusive and hiding away from the public eye, each had their own large estates they called home - MJ's Neverland Ranch and Prince's Paisley Park estate.
Prince turned down a role in Jacko's Bad video, claiming he didn't want to have the opening lyrics sang at him, the role instead was taken by actor Wesley Snipes.
In archive footage of an interview with Chris Rock, Prince is seen chatting about the rejection as he joked: "That Wesley Snipes character that would have been me... You run that video in your mind!
"The first line in that song is, 'your butt is mine', now who gonna sing that to whom? Because you sure ain't singing that to me. And I sure ain't singing that to you."
Many people have long speculated as to whether lyrics in Prince's song Life 'O' The Party referred to Jackson, the song featuring on the 2004 album Musicology had a lyric that went: "My voice is getting higher/And I ain’t never had my nose done/That's the other guy."
When the Purple Rain singer pulled out of charity song We Are The World, it was claimed to be because he did not want to appear alongside the King of Pop.
But Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am claimed to have put their fierce rivalry to bed by reuniting them at Prince Las Vegas residency back in 2006.
According to Will, who was playing on stage with Prince during the shows and was friends with both singers, he arranged for Michael to come as a guest to see the King of Pop perform.
"I called Prince and his folks and they arranged it (for Michael to come down), they have an infamous feud and I brought them together," he told the BBC.
But during the performance Michael was left offended when Prince reportedly played his bass right in MJ's face.
According to Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper who took on the task of writing MJ's biography, he said that Michael wasn't happy about the incident.
He told Esquire magazine: "There was a point during the show where Prince was playing bass and he came out into the audience with this giant bass—he knew where Michael was sitting—and he walked right up to Michael and started playing bass in Michael's face. Like aggressive slap bass.
"The next morning, Will went over to Michael's house for breakfast, and they're talking about Prince and the show. And then Michael goes, 'Will, why do you think Prince was playing bass in my face?'
"Michael was outraged. And then started going on. 'Prince has always been a meanie. He's always been not nice to me."
Others close to both singers insist that it was just friendly rivalry and that there was nothing but good competition between the two, who even used to play basketball together."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-n ... ut-7816137
It's a gorgeous cover, anyway.
