Long-time Seattle DJ reflects on 40 years of 'Purple Rain' and his friendship with Prince

How does one collect 100,000 albums?

If you're Kevin Cole, you spend 50 years in radio, and a lot of your childhood in the local record store.

"I'd go to the place called the Wax Museum in Minneapolis," Cole said. "I would take the bus there. It would take 40 minutes. I had this heightened level of anticipation, and if I saw a cover I liked, I bought it."

All of Cole’s albums, and the thousands more sitting in storage, have served Cole well as the afternoon drive time DJ for KEXP 90.3 FM.

RELATED: Prince's 'Purple Rain' turns 40

They've entertained hundreds of thousands of music lovers, of all kinds, all around the world and here in Seattle.

Now, Cole is giving his collection a little break. He's stepping down from his daily, on-air duties.

"I will still be doing a weekly show and special projects," he said.

"I'm in a reflective state as I'm leaving my show full time. I'm a music-lifer. I will never quit. I can't, but for me it was like, ‘Yeah, time for somebody else.’"

Painting with music

Cole came to Seattle in 1998 and has spent 25 years at KEXP.

He has served as the station’s senior programming advisor and was also the senior director of programming and chief content officer.

His fans, though, know Cole best for his seamless, creative and thoughtful musical mixes. Well, sort of …

"I don't plan anything for my show,” he clarified. “I just wing it and go wherever it takes me."

Cole got his start in radio when he was an undergrad at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. A professor encouraged him to see the airwaves like a blank canvas.

Cole was ready to paint.

"I got the overnight DJ spot and the show had zero listeners. It was a great opportunity to experiment," he said.

"When I finished college, I wasn't interested in radio if I couldn't play what I wanted."

Fortunately, in 1978, a club in downtown Minneapolis called Uncle Sam's was hiring and was transitioning from the golden era of disco.

That was good news for the aspiring young DJ who idolized Joey Ramone.

"I had long hair, ripped jeans, and a torn-up t-shirt,” Cole said. “That was my uniform."

After Cole was hired as an “agent of change” at Uncle Sam’s, he and a colleague booked singer in 1981 who would also shake things up — An up-and-coming local musician named Prince was starting to make a splash on the national music scene with songs like "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Soft and Wet."

“I had heard ‘Dirty Mind,’ but nothing could have prepared me for that show, which to this day was probably the most electric, exciting show I've ever seen,” Cole said.

As Prince grew more famous over the next two years, Uncle Sam's changed its name to First Avenue. In late 1983, Prince filmed the smash hit movie “Purple Rain” at the club.

The movie, which premiered six months later, launched Prince into instant, worldwide superstardom.

“Purple Rain” later went on to win the Academy Award for original song score in 1984. In 2019, the Library of Congress added the movie to the National Film Registry.

The album has sold at least 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Prince's prized album

Before the movie “Purple Rain” made Prince a household name, he and Cole got to know each other at First Avenue.

Cole got invited to DJ one of Prince’s private parties. That started a series of private party DJing for the budding superstar.

"Later on, we would be looking at records and he would hip-check me out of the way and giggle. He'd laugh,” Cole recalled. “Then he'd go through my albums and say, 'Play these!' They were always his records."

While Cole got the chance to debut a number of Prince's new songs, he also thought to have Prince autograph, and give him, a test album, of sorts, called an acetate.

"Acetates are what you use before a test pressing,” Cole explained. “It's only meant to be played a couple of times."

RELATED: KEXP's Kevin Cole retires and reflects on his friendship with Prince ahead of Purple Rain's 40th Anniversary

According to Cole, Prince was so inspired by seeing funk, superstar George Clinton perform at the First Avenue in October 1983, he went home that night and recorded, pressed, and hand-delivered a new song to Cole the next day.

"He's holding an acetate of ‘Irresistible Bitch’ and he's like, ‘Would you play my record?’ in his quiet tone," Cole recalled. "I got to play that and after everyone's gone, he said what do you think, and I said it was great. We talked for a couple of minutes and I was like, ‘Hey, will you sign this because I didn't know if he wanted it back.’"

Prince signed the acetate that's only been played once.

It's Cole's most prized album.

Purple Rain

The rendition of the hit song “Purple Rain” that was used in the movie was recorded live at the First Avenue, a year before "Purple Rain" debuted.

Kevin watched as a classic was born right in front of him. The packed dance floor suddenly became hypnotized.

"It's such a powerful moment,” he said. “We all knew we were hearing an instant classic. It’s emotional to think about being there, and just reliving the experience of that being the first time that was ever played. It was perfect."

A shocking death

As Prince grew more famous, and Cole moved to Seattle, the two friends only saw each other on rare occasions.

Prince went on to perform worldwide tours and release at least 39 studio albums.

He also had an enormous vault in his home (known as Paisley Park) that was filled with scores of unreleased recordings and lyrics he created over his more than 40-year-long career.

The news of Prince's death from a fentanyl overdose on April 21, 2016, stunned the world.

Cole was celebrating a friend's birthday with other friends who all worked on “Purple Rain” when he heard the news.

"We're getting these text messages from home that Prince had passed away, and we're like, ‘How?’ he said. “It was hard to believe because I knew Prince to be anti-drug. None of it made sense."

Prince reportedly battled hip pain for more than a decade after spending years performing strenuous dance moves, often in high heels.

Authorities later announced the music legend died in his home after taking what he thought was Vicodin. They eventually determined Prince took a counterfeit painkiller, laced with fentanyl.

"He was taking it for pain, not for pleasure," Cole said.

The last time Cole saw Prince was in 2013, when he traveled to Portland to see his friend perform at a local club.

"I don't know what happened, but the seas parted, and we were able to get right in front," Cole said. "I'm right in front and he sees me, and he gives me a head nod and he says, ‘Man it's good to see some friends in the audience,’ and that was it."