FEATURE:
And Let Me Guide You to the Purple Rain
PHOTO CREDIT: Everett Collection/Bridgeman Images
Remembering the Iconic Prince
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YOU get these artists who…
PHOTO CREDIT: Everett Collection/Bridgeman Images
have a body of music that lasts through times and will inspire and influence the odd person here and there. They have quite a large legacy, maybe. Others that spread into other areas of culture. There are a rare few artists who have inspired so many generations and areas of culture. Madonna is one. David Bowie, The Beatles. Objectively, Kate Bush too. Prince is someone who has gone down in the history books. A true icon whose music will always be loved and never forgotten. On 21st April, 2016, we received the devastating news that Prince died. Aged only fifty-seven, it was a premature and shocking death that was so hard to process. It is almost ten years since the death of Prince. I am going to write another feature or two prior to that anniversary. I will start out more general here and compile a Prince mix. I want to first get to an article from Esquire published in April 2021 that reflects on this music protegee. It is a fascinating piece about how “The Purple One's late-career protégées reflect on the lives and art he still inspires five years after his death”:
“So much of today’s music was shaped by these relationships he cultivated. From Alicia Keys to D’Angelo to Janelle Monáe, most of R&B’s biggest stars in recent decades were summoned to Paisley Park at some point. A then-unknown Lizzo appeared on Prince’s 2014 album Plectrumelectrum, and before he passed, he had offered to produce her next album. Kendrick Lamar was flown in to join Prince onstage in 2014, and the pair met in the studio for the rapper’s 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly, but ran out of time before they could record anything .
Prince approached musicians who caught his attention whenever, wherever. Pop star Rita Ora got a phone call from him at her London office, out of the blue in 2014. He found Donna Grantis—who became the guitarist in his band 3rdEYEGIRL—from a YouTube video. Soul/jazz singer Kandace Springs had been trying to contact him for a few years when he retweeted one of her recordings and then slid into her DMs.
“It was important for him to feel like he was a part of what was going on, to get different perspectives,” says La Havas. “It gave him energy to know what other people were doing and to make connections and new friends and jam with other musicians.”
But in addition to gaining insight into fresh approaches and attitudes, Prince also knew what he had to offer to these new kids. “He found a lot of fulfillment in bringing people together and helping young musicians develop their sound,” says Ora, who remembers “musicians everywhere” when he brought her to his headquarters in Chanhassen, Minnesota. “He had so much passion for music and was really invested in the growth and evolution of younger artists.”
Given his stature, Prince obviously didn’t need to open his ears—and his studio—to artists who were on the rise. Most pop stars tend to turn competitive when the next generation starts to threaten their dominance. But for him, that drive manifested in wanting to keep up on any interesting voices entering his musical territory, and then helping to cultivate their potential, creating a future for the organic, R&B-based sounds he loved.
These protégées all point to certain concepts that he emphasized, mostly having to do with independence and individuality. “He would always stress not to cover up my voice,” says Springs, “to use live instruments, even to mix my own music at the shows. Do everything you can yourself if you can. Push yourself, learn, don’t be afraid—that’s what he was best at.”
Grantis recalls a session in which Prince asked her to record a guitar solo. Thinking it was a pretty big deal, she asked if she could work out some ideas and tackle it the next day. He heard her out and said, “OK—do it now and let me know when you have it,” and then left to play ping-pong with her husband. “That moment speaks to Prince’s ability to bring out the best in all of us, challenge us musically and push us to reach our full potential.”
These women all recount fun moments with Prince—playing checkers, tweeting jokes, having “giggly” phone calls—and staying in touch with him on a regular basis for years. Springs’s last email exchange with him came just two days before his 2016 death; “I remember seeing that he was struggling at the time and asking if he was OK, and he said ‘I’m fine, miss you’.” She recalled performing as a guest at a Paisley Park show marking the thirtieth anniversary of Purple Rain, after which they ran offstage, jumped on bicycles, and rode around the parking lot as the audience got in their cars to go home.
Five years later, his wisdom continues to reveal itself. “Prince would often teach us things, or encourage us to explore certain topics, by asking questions,” says Grantis. “On a couple of occasions he asked, ‘What if we could use music to teach people?’ Although it sounded intriguing, I didn’t fully connect with the possibilities of what it meant at the time. Now, what has become clear to me is that capturing someone’s attention—whether it’s during a three-minute song, or a three-hour performance—is such a privilege. It’s an opportunity for ideas to be shared.”
La Havas, who describes Prince less as a mentor than as a “dear friend who had very valuable advice and cared enough to communicate that,” notes that our current world makes his example shine even brighter. “He was so productive—that’s what’s really sticking with me in this time we’re living in, COVID times,” she says. “He made music on his own, in his own space, 24 hours a day, and that really resonates with how I am now, knowing that I can’t really go to the studio and collaborate with people”.
Even though we mark ten years of Prince’s passing on 21st and it will be very sad, we also will share celebration. In terms of his legacy and staggering body of work. His brilliance and how he changed lives. An artist that will be remembered forever and whose music will continue to influence artists, below is just a portion of the genius that Prince left us. Ten years after his death and there remains…
NOBODY like him.