Footage of Prince as a child has been restored after previously having been left untouched for 52 years.
In a bid to find out more about the educators strike that occurred in Minneapolis in April 1970 to give context to a strike which happened last month in the same district, WCCO restored a film from its archives.
However, little did WCCO Production Manager Matt Liddy know who would crop up within the 13 minute video.
Liddy explained that initially 'all [he] cared about was looking at the cold old buildings from the place [he] grew up,' such as whether or not he remembered his school or any landmarks, WCCO CBS Minnesota reports.
However, he then caught sight of a group of children being interviewed by a reporter. He believed he recognised one child specifically.
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He said: "I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people and saying, ‘I’m not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?’ And every single person [said] ‘Prince'."
After receiving help from a specialist to be able to hear the audio from the recording, the team were finally able to hear the interview between the reporter and a suspected young Prince Rogers Nelson.
When asked if the children are in favour of the picketing, the boy can be heard saying: "I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us."
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However, the team realised that the video didn't capture the boy identifying himself as Prince Nelson.
In order to confirm whether or not the young boy on the recording was actually Prince, the team tried to track down another child who had been interviewed called Ronnie Kitchen, but the hunt proved unsuccessful.
Professional historian, archeologist and Prince fan Kristen Zschomler - who has 'written a big document sort of outlining [Prince's] historic journey from Minneapolis’ northside to Paisley Park and the world' - explained that videos of Prince before he was a teenager are extremely rare.
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"As far as video, I am not familiar with any. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist but I’m not familiar with any," she said.
However, upon viewing the footage, she stated: “I think that’s him, definitely. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think that’s definitely Prince."
The historian also revealed a photograph of a child who is believed to be Prince in sixth-grade at Lincoln Junior High School, 'where he would have been attending school in April of 1970' - which matched the school captured in the footage and year of the strike.
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She said: "There’s so much in his mannerisms and his eyes and everything that it looks like him."
Terrance Jackson - who went to kindergarten at John Hay Elementary in north Minneapolis with Prince and was a neighbour of the singer too - confirmed the team and Zschomler's suspicions.
Getting emotional as he watched the video, Jackson said: “Oh my God, that’s Kitchen. That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!
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"I am like blown away. I’m totally blown away."
Zschlomer concluded: "I think just seeing Prince as a young child in his neighbourhood school, you know, it helps really ground him to that Minneapolis connection.
"Even if they’re momentary glimpses into what Minneapolis meant to him, what he stood up for when he lived in Minneapolis, just helps understand that symbiotic connection he had to his hometown.”
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Poppy Bilderbeck