Utah Jazz: Prince Secretly Remodeled Carlos Boozer’s House

After news about the death of music legend Prince broke, tales of his incredible life were recounted all over the internet. Former Utah Jazz star Carlos Boozer has a Prince story you won’t believe.

The world was shocked and saddened by the news of Prince’s death on Thursday. The music legend was just 57 years old. Although most of us never knew him on a personal level, his music and enigmatic, yet larger than life personality undoubtedly made an impact on millions of people around the globe.

I, for one, have been reliving my youth today through his song “Trust” from Tim Burton’s 1989 film version of Batman. Say what you will about how well the whole affair holds up, it’s still my definitive Batman movie, aided in large part by Prince’s wacky, yet strangely appropriate music.

While I dig the Batman soundtrack, enjoy his collaborations with Sheena Easton and Martika, have partied like it’s 1999 and have seen Purple Rain more than my fair share of times, former Utah Jazz star Carlos Boozer has a more direct connection to the man. More specifically, Boozer was briefly Prince’s landlord.

Back in 2004, the same year he signed a six-year, $70 million contract with the Jazz, Boozer leased his 18,000 square foot California house to the singer for $95,000 per month. However, Boozer got more than he bargained for out of the deal–Prince secretly did major remodeling to the Jazzman’s house.

Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, I suppose. At least if you’re Prince anyway.

Needless to say, Boozer was not impressed and looked to litigate. After hearing some of the changes that were made, it’s hard to blame him.

Here’s the litany as recounted by Boozer on The Triple Double Podcast on Friday–

• Two lions that had been on the 12-foot gate in front on the house were replaced by Prince’s logo. Boozer literally struggled to find his own house once because the gate had been so dramatically altered.
• The house’s pillars were painted purple.
• A large purple rug was now on the stairs in the front, also bearing the Prince logo.
• Boozer’s Italian cream carpet was all gone and was replaced with black carpet. Everywhere.
• A guest room had been converted into a massage room and hair salon.
• The weight room was now like a nightclub scene, complete with disco ball.

Boozer’s summation of what exactly had gone down–“Basically, he turned my crib into his crib.”

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Having said that, the Boozer-Prince saga has a happy ending. The singer gave the Booze a hefty cash sum, promising that he could keep it if the house wasn’t in satisfactory condition at the end of the lease. True to his word, the home looked exactly as it had when Boozer left it when Prince’s time was up.

In recounting the story in 2011, Boozer told the Chicago Tribune that Prince was “a great dude,” going on to say, “He’s very humble. He has a great spirit about him.” It was a sentiment he echoed this week following the news of the music legend’s death.

Without question, a world without Prince is a little less interesting than the one where he’s here, singing “When Doves Cry” and going renegade house decorator on Carlos Boozer’s crib.