By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
October 05, 2006

ECCENTRIC singer Prince offered scantily-clad club dancers double their wages to STOP gyrating on stage.

The pint-sized star — who used to use girls in his own sexy stage act — told the dancers they should be “ashamed” of themselves.

And according to an onlooker at top Hollywood nightspot Xenii he added: “What would your parents think if they could see you now? It’s wrong to dance like that.

“You’re too good for this. You shouldn’t be selling yourself so cheap.”

But instead of stopping, the girls told the star: “We need the money.”

Prince — who became a Jehovah’s Witness five years ago — then asked how much they earned a night, said the onlooker.

When he was told he offered them twice as much to stop.

But the girls turned him down, saying they needed to work EVERY night. The witness added: “He seemed seized by religious fervour. He lectured the girls as soon as he saw them on the podiums.”

Prince, 48 — who also now shuns alcohol — gave up pleading, sat at a table and turned his head away from the girls.

He is a regular at the celebrity haunt, but always asks DJs not to play songs containing swearing during his visits.

A regular said: “No one knows why he comes here. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t like the music and now doesn’t like the dancers.”