2 Quotes & Sayings By Brian Van Reet

Brian was born in the outskirts of New York City to two blue-collar parents. He spent his youth working at local factories and created what he calls his “First World Childhood”. At the age of 14, he began to pursue music as a hobby, buying his first guitar and writing songs, playing them for friends and family, and sending them to radio stations. When he was 18, he met his musical hero, Peter Frampton, who was then at the height of his popularity Read more

Brian sent Peter some demos, and Peter said that he would listen if Brian could wire him $500. The money was wired to Brian’s father's bank account across state lines, which was illegal at the time. He spent the $500 on a tape recorder hoping to make enough money to buy it back (he didn't).

At 19 years old, he took another trip across state lines hoping to return the recorder to the original owner. He made it back to New York City with an unfinished demo tape which still has not been returned. Brian signed with Atlantic Records (EMI) in 1975 after getting signed by Frank Farian (the owner of Zomba Records) after joining Zomba's open audition. He recorded several songs for his self-titled album "Brian Van Reet", which was released in 1976 on Atlantic Records; however it failed to chart.

In 1980 he released "The Time Has Come" album but again it failed to chart. In January 1981, Van Reet got a call from a young man who introduced himself as Prince Charles Edward Stuart III called "Charlie". Charlie asked him right away if working with Prince Charles Edward Stuart III is a good idea since they have never worked together before.

Brian said yes because he had nothing else going on in his life at the time so they decided to work together on an album entitled "A Self-Titled Album" which was released in 1982 on Paisley Park Records and it sold over 1 million copies worldwide making it one of Prince's most successful albums up until that point. In 1984 Brian wrote another song with Charlie called "Breakfast With The Royal Family" which became one of Prince's biggest hits until then and has been used in many TV shows including "Spin City", Mad Men", "Sex and the City", and more recently appearing as a theme song for "The Blacklist". In 1985 Brian wrote another song with Prince titled "Greatest Love Of All" which featured