DJ Michael Holtz’s Paisley Park experience dates back to 1994 when, at the age of 16, he visited the NPG Music Store in Uptown and was asked if he would like to be put on a list for parties and video shoots. Living in a small town 2 hours west of Paisley Park, Michael soon began to frequent the Love4OneAnother Dance parties that took place at 1:00 am.
In 1999, Michael made an unofficial debut DJing at Paisley Park when a sound engineer who knew he worked in radio asked if he could DJ the dance party that evening because the scheduled DJ hadn’t arrived. Michael played a full list of Prince grooves until 3:00 am, with Prince standing by his side and eventually handing Michael a CD with a new mix from Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic Album, Hot Wit U (Nasty Girl Remix).
Fast forward 10 years and Prince was releasing his 32nd studio album, Lotusflow3r/MPLSound. With Prince taking up a residency in LA during that time, there was nothing happening in Minneapolis for the release. Michael took it upon himself to rent out a venue and host an album release party. He was contacted by Prince’s assistant who asked about the details. Once approval was granted from Prince, his sister Tyka Nelson was one of the special guests to attend.
In 2014 Prince was getting ready to launch another era of Paisley Park parties called Paisley Park After Dark. On April Fools’ Day, 2014, Michael received a call at 1:00 am. “Michael, this is ------ and Prince is looking to start these parties and we are looking for DJ’s. Would you be available this weekend to audition?”. From April 5th, 2014 to January 23rd, 2016, Michael was DJ for the Paisley Park After Dark parties, as well as private gatherings that Prince held for artists and media representatives who visited Paisley Park.
Michael’s last experience at Paisley Park with Prince was January 23rd, 2016. It was a dance party to end the Piano & A Microphone gala where, without any heads-up or warning, Michael was drawn into a DJ battle with Prince.