POP MUSIC

HIS HIGHNESS: Prince didn’t exactly roll out the purple carpet for nearly 500 fans who came to his hometown of Minneapolis recently from as far away as Europe and Japan for a weeklong convention of-- guess what --Prince fans. But the fans did get a chance to meet their hero--sort of.

Fans’ flashbulbs sent Prince scurrying from two different nightclubs where he was a spectator. By the end of the week, however, he was sitting with about 80 fans in the audience at a club where the Steeles, a Minneapolis R&B; band, were playing.

But don’t expect another convention next year--unless British organizer Eileen Murton gets more cooperation from the Prince camp. This time around, she said, she lost $12,000 on the affair.