Prince’s staff were not allowed to make eye contact with him.
The ‘Little Red Corvette’ hitmaker – who tragically passed away at his Paisley Park home on Thursday (21.04.16) – refused to allow people who he employed at his estate to "look into his eyes", according to graphic designer Lizz Frey who worked with the music icon for a year in 1992.
Lizz says his death has brought back a "flood" of memories, including the strange set of rules he enforced when she knew him.
She revealed: "It brings back, always, a flood of memories of that time. He had a rule, and that was we were always to call him boss, and never to look into his eyes directly."
Despite the strict conventions Prince made his team abide by, Lizz – who was aged 24 at the time – says it was an honour and a "joy" to help him bring his ideas to life.
She said: "I’m still taking it in. He was so alive. I’m trying to remember him that way.
"I was in my early 20s and what a joy it was at that time… I was hired by him to help him make his ideas come to life."
During her time at Paisley Park, Lizz designed the ‘Purple Rain’ singer’s iconic glyph, which resembles the number 7 with a circle perched on the top, on a scrap of sketch paper.
Prince called it the "Love Symbol" and it became his official name from 1993 until 2000.
She recalled: "He said please make a beautiful seven. I drew it by hand. (When he saw it) he changed his mind and said we’ll use it for the entire album. Then he drew a circle with a cross over it, and said that’s what he wanted.
"He said to me, ‘You have to understand, this symbol is very important. He said, ‘The pronunciation exists on a different level of existence.’"
Prince told staff never ‘look into his eyes directly’
