But Prince himself was a client at the crack house and then a five-year resident in Jackson Penitentiary. As a matter of fact, Prince said that by the time he was sentenced to prison, he requested that the judge grant him his time because he was sick and tired of the drugs, the wayward friends and of disappointing his adoptive mother.

“When I got out, I showed her that I had changed,” he said of his mother, who died three years ago.

Every weekend Prince sets out to set somebody’s stage on fire. “Flood’s charges extra when I’m there,” Prince says.

Cristina Byrd, manager at Flood’s Bar and Grill, knows Prince and says that his act is “quite interesting and definitely an entertaining experience. He has the hair, costumes and the whole nine.” However, she said that the entry remains the same with or sans Prince.

In addition to club owners who want to benefit from his appearance, Prince said that last year at the Detroit Auto Show — where the cars are the stars — he was the only one shining. So much so, that security escorted him right to Jefferson Avenue and asked that he leave the premises.

Beverly Sommers, a friend who has known St. Paul for about four years, has seen his Prince in action and also has witnessed club owners show him the door. “I think he is too much for the places where he has been in Detroit and these venues are too small for what he can do,” she says. “I think he’s a big-time stage entertainer and he outshines most people. He did a show at MotorCity and the audience went crazy for him. He has a flair about him and it’s a natural thing for him.”

His plan is to take the Prince act all the way to Las Vegas. He has an agent and plenty of plans. “Nobody in Vegas can do it all like me,” Prince says. In February, he will perform in New York as Prince along with Michael Jackson and Barry White look-alikes.

“We are born with certain talents and we are lucky if we can find out what they are,” Sommers says. “He’s found his.”

Prince feels he is on the road to something humongous, whether it be Vegas or California. “You can’t stop what God has for me,” he said. “Prince St. Paul gave up drugs for His grace and mercy. I’m going to do what God meant for me to do — entertain the world, baby.”

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