RICHMOND, Va. -- Prince was a prolific musician writing hundreds of songs and dozens of albums over his 37-year music career. But Prince was not a prolific tweeter. While he had 190,000 followers on Twitter, the 57-year-old music icon tweeted just 740 times.
One of Prince's last tweet, posted April 2, was about Richmond. Specifically it was about iconic Carytown record store Plan 9.
Plan 9 owner Jim Bland believed his record store got the princely shout out on social media because it worked with Minnesota-based record shop Electric Fetus to get Prince's latest record -- HITNRUN Phase Two -- on shelves in Richmond.
"We had just carried one of his last releases. Both of his Hit and Run records and one from his protégé Judith Hill," Bland said. "Prince would release his music [independently] through Paisley Park. They gave it to Electric Fetus and we worked with them to bring it to Richmond."
The child in the photo is 10-year-old Gabriel Solle of Mechanicsville. His mother Maria said she contacted Plan 9 in February and asked them to carry the CD, which was only available at Electric Fetus and at Prince concerts. The CDs arrived in Richmond in March. Maria and her son were able to pick up their copy April 2 during Gabe's Spring Break.
They decided to dress Gabe as Prince in order to get the superstar's attention. It worked! Maria said Prince retweeted the photo of Gabe almost immediately.
"I was excited to let Prince fans know that Plan 9 was carrying the CD," Solle, who has attended more than 20 Prince concerts said. "Prince was very active on Twitter."
"We thought it was cool that he - or someone from Paisley Park would retweet something from a fan shopping in an indie record store," Bland said. "[We are] very sad and surprised at his sudden passing."
He said Prince's music always sold well at his store.
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