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Rare original sealed promotional 12-inch bootleg single of ‘Gett Off’ by Prince and The New Power Generation, self-released in a limited edition of 1500 copies by Prince to celebrate his 33rd birthday on June 7, 1991. The song, entitled on the album sleeve as ‘Gett Off, approx: damn near 10 min.,’ was originally intended as a promotional one-off release delivered to radio and club DJs and not planned to be on the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. However, due to the single’s positive reaction, the song replaced the album’s seventh track, ‘Horny Pony,’ on the album as a new, edited 4:31 version and released as the lead-off single.
From the collection of Marylou Badeaux, a former executive at Warner Bros. Records who worked closely with Prince on a variety of projects, which included the secret organization and manufacture of the sought-after ‘Gett Off’ birthday bootleg at a small record pressing plant in Santa Monica, California. Because Prince wanted the single to be pressed ‘under the radar,’ and without any involvement of Warner Bros. Records, he turned to Badeaux to get the job done.
Of the covert operation, Badeaux recalls: ‘I arranged to have 1500 copies delivered to my home and put them in the garage to ‘await further instructions.’ Within a day, I received a call from Duane Nelson, Prince's half-brother, who was working as his bodyguard at the time. They (whoever ‘they’ were) would come by my home around midnight for the product. All I can say is that it was a good thing that the neighbors were asleep as a stretch black limo pulled up in front of the house around midnight and Duane jumped out of the car. He and I carried the boxes and loaded them into the trunk. If a neighbor had witnessed this, they probably would have called the police! At that point, I had no idea that Prince was also in the car as the dark windows were closed.
We were down to the last boxes when Duane said Prince told him to have me ‘keep a box for yourself. They will be worth a lot of money one day.’ At that point, the window rolled down, Prince looked out, and just smiled. They pulled off heading for the clubs so Prince could deliver his birthday 12˝ to all the hot spots. Ironically, as ‘weird’ as I felt about this little escapade, this 12˝ blew up in the clubs and, as a result, ‘GETT OFF’ (without the ‘Damn Near 10 minute’ version) was officially released as a 7˝ and 12˝ becoming a #1 US Billboard Hot Dance Club hit, a Top 10 on the R&B Chart, and a Top 25 on the Hot 100 chart!’
From the collection of Marylou Badeaux, a former Warner Bros. Records executive who spent 25 years in the label's R&B and jazz departments and served as Vice President of Special Projects. During her tenure, Badaeux developed a close working relationship with Prince, with whom she closely collaborated for nearly two decades.
