#kim berry

[phillyindego]

Prince getting his hair braided by his hair styles Kim Berry.

[darlingnisi]

Review : Diamonds and Curlz

It’s finally here. The book we’ve heard so much about over the past year or more. It was a rough road getting here, lots of interviews, a GoFundMe, continuous delays, auction scandals...but it’s here...Kim Berry’s behind the scenes look at her time as Prince’s hairstylist.  

Diamonds and Curlz is indeed a look behind the purple curtain and all of what that means. It covers Kim’s journey into the world of celebrity hairstyling and also her perspective of things she saw and a relaying of things that were told to her. I will say...this book leans more on the “here are things that happened while I was with him” vs. “here was my experience as a hair stylist”. There are lots of stories here (some that we’ve heard and some that we have not) and small tidbits that did not quite pass my smell test of “are you conveying YOUR experience or relaying someone else’s story”, not in a way to suggest she wasn’t there but in a “is this part of YOUR story or HIS personal experience that he shared with you/something that you witnessed as a third party” way.

I am not by any means a “Prince is perfect” person as I am BIG on painting him as human, and nothing in this book was too surprising as none of the stories are far from what I’ve heard over the years, but it’s a little different to have it presented in the way things were depicted in this book.

With books like this, it’s REALLY important to walk the “telling my experience”/”speaking on things I saw happening or what I was told” line carefully. If you fall too far on the “telling my experience” side without enough connects to the person of interest, it’s not interesting to readers. If it falls too far on the “speaking on things I saw happening or what I was told” side, it will feel like heresay, even if you were there.  This book leaned more to the latter. 

For readers, if you have a perception of Prince being a musical genius who glorified women you will find the Prince depicted here unrecognizable. If you have the perception of him being a flawed human who is a musical genius you will still have quite a few moments of this as you read this book.

I am a person who reads EVERYONE’S books. Fan books, memoirs, girlfriends, all of them because for me I don’t feel comfortable giving  my opinion of something I haven’t read. I also do not participate in cancel/drag culture personally because it often turns vicious and everyone has something about them they need to work on. 

That said, this book I feel needs more work to balance the messages in it, especially given the person behind it. It needs more of her actual experiences vs what she saw/what Prince shared with her to help bring balance to her story. I think Mayte’s book did that BRILLIANTLY (see here for my review). You left that understanding her more, understanding Prince more, and though he was humanized, the love was palatable. This one wasn’t as tight in that way tbh. I am SUPER charitable of people as you all know...and this is my feeling after having read this book...

It is what it is. Whatever will be, will be. If you’re not interested, preserve your energy and drive on. If you are...

A quick recap of what is in this :

😬  Means oh boy people are going to have a time with this topic

A nice poem about the legacy of Prince

Art by Mosises Suriel

Her April 21st experience

Her high school years

Getting into the Prince Camp

Beauty School Experiences

The stories behind the braids and ribbons hairstyle

Fashion drawings by Debbie McGuan

Snippets of his hair and beauty products

What Prince was like as a boss 

A story about Manuela  😬  

When he distanced himself from the Jehovah Witness faith and why

The first time he wrote Slave on his face

The entrance of Mayte via her mom  😬

Prince as a womanizer and some of what he got up to  😬

Her perception of how he felt about women  😬 😬 😬 😬 😬

Her perception of the women he kept around   😬

Some tidbits of what he said about his mother  😬 😬 😬 😬 😬

A piece of advice he told D’Angelo before he made the scene  😬

Mayte’s early years  😬

Prince and Mayte’s wedding day

More stories around Mayte’s pregnancies     😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 

How Prince dealt with Mayte’s pregnancies   😬 😬 😬 😬 😬

The Oprah Interview  😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬

Amazon Kindle Unlimited Free / Amazon Kindle $9.99 /Amazon Paperback $25

[frontpagewoman]

[darlingnisi]

I'm writing this book about "The MAN"...Prince. I was not only up close and personal with him but most of all  I was privileged to travel around the world with him. It's my honor to include Y.O.U..."PURPLE FAMILY in this process. Many loved him from afar, now I will take you on My journey behind the Purple Curtain. This memoir will allow U to see the world of Prince from a unique perspective...Mine! We grew from a mere hairstylist 2 client arrangement to Family. Welcome 2 the EXPERIENCE!!

Check out her IndieGoGo Campaign

[darlingnisi]

Prince Podcast contributor Chloe Calvin talks with Kim Berry at the PRN alumni event held at Café De Paris in London.

[darlingnisi]

The Prince Podcast – KIM BERRY INTERVIEW

Kim Berry shares the lessons and blessings she learned as Prince’s hairstylist for over 25 years. #Masterclass

Listen Now!

This is amazing guys….she legit knows EVERYTHING. (Doesn’t say a ton of course because privacy, but she was around for pretty much everything and until the very end.)

[nuthindoing1996]

Prince and Kim Berry photographed by Steve Parke.