The real path into close protection work

Harlan “Hucky” Austin

“There have been over 20 men and women who have personally protected Prince over the years. I’m number 4.”

Hucky grew up in Minneapolis. As the best friend of BrownMark, bassist for Prince & The Revolution, he sat in on rehearsals in the early ’80s and got to know Prince’s bodyguard at the time, Big Chick, who became his mentor and recruited him. At 21 he joined Prince’s entourage. Over the years more than 20 people personally protected Prince; Hucky was “number 4.”

His 25-year career in executive protection took him to France, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil and dozens of cities in between, as a detail leader and advance agent for celebrities and top corporate executives.

He founded Bodyguard Careers in June 2006 as an honest look at the profession, “warts and all,” after watching predatory businesses promise training and job placement, take aspiring protectors’ money, and leave them with little or nothing.

Featured on NBC’s Today Show (June 24, 2010) and in a national Fox News story on female bodyguards (November 2009).