The world has lost a great artist in the recent days. Prince, the king of funk, considered to be the only real rival of Michael Jackson passed away. Minutes after the announcement of his death, a small group of fans gathered in the rain in front of the recording studio of the artist, where the awards he received are hanging on the wall. Reactions are raining down in the world of music, especially on social networks.
“I have to confirm with deep sadness that the legendary performer, Prince Roger Nelson died at his home in Paisley Park this morning“, said Yvette Noel- Schure, without going into the further details of the death of singer.
“Prince was unique. This is such a shock, Prince was undoubtedly original, someone unique“, payd tribute soul legend Aretha Franklin to another legend, Prince. The 74 years old singer claimed that there was something “mystical” in this one hundred and sixty centimeter tall virtuoso.
Madonna, another great voice of pop, sees in Prince a “true visionary” who “changed the world”. Madonna posted a picture of herself on Instagram and Twitter with the giant of Pop, both in yellow. “And all of a sudden … the world has lost some of its magic. Rest in peace Prince! Thank you for giving so much” responded singer Katy Perry on Twitter.
For Mick Jagger, Prince is just “a revolutionary artist.” Like them, dozens of singers and musicians from around the world salute the genius of “Kid of Minneapolis” who has always been innovative with his music that blended jazz, funk and disco.
Prince was found dead on April 21 (Thursday morning) in an elevator of his property at Paisley Park, a gigantic complex built in Chanhassen in Minnesota. Unable to join the artist, the singer’s employees had alerted the police, before discovering the lifeless body in the elevator.
The circumstances of his death remain mysterious for the moment. The sheriff of the county where the artist lived said that “an investigation was opened.” The singer’s body will be autopsied on Friday. Regarding possible overdose, the spokesman for the medical examiner’s office Martha Weaver said that “there is no information yet.”
After the autopsy, the body of the singer was handed over to his relatives. Prince Rogers Nelson, that is to say Prince was born on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA). He was a singer, a songwriter, a record producer and a producer of pop, funk, rock and contemporary R & B.
He was also an affectionate dancer and actor. Prince was always a big provocator with his songs about sex and masturbation (like Sexy MF). Let’s investigate now his best pieces:
6. Purple Rain
Purple Rain remains his most colossal success. Purple rain is the third single from 1984 with the same title as the album and the film: all media was released in 1984.
This is the title that won the most awards for Prince: two trophies at the Grammy Awards (Best Music and Best Rock Performance), but especially the Oscar for best film music in 1985. The song is a mixture of rock ‘n’ roll, pop and gospel music.
The single won the second place on the chartlists in the United States, seen as one of its flagship songs with “When Doves Cry” and “1999”. According to the legend the album was a response to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” which has sold over 100 million copies.
The kid’s Purple Rain could not match the King of Pop with it’s 20 million copies, but the performance is unique. The song was recorded live in 1983 at a night club in Minneapolis. The original lyrics of Purple Rain contained an extra verse about money, which was edited out because it weakens the emotional impact of the song.
5. Controversy
Prince tackles the 1980’s with two albums: Dirty Mind and Controversy. Two nuggets that certainly influenced the movement of R & B a few years later. The song ” Controversy ” is part of the iconic singles on this fourth album.
It was classed in the 70th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and the 28th in the Netherlands. Controversy was republished in 1993 in Europe with 2 discs with 4 titles for each single. The song has two main choruses with the title repeated throughout the track.
Prince recites the Lord’s Prayer in its entirety towards the middle of the title. The song is composed of drum beats, synthesized bass, guitar and keyboards. Prince plays all the instruments on the studio version and Lisa Coleman recorded the chorus.
The title was played the first time during the Controversy Tour on the 20th of November, 1981 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanie. Controversy was also recorded live in 2003 in Hawaii (John Blackwell on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass, Renato Neto on keyboards, Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer sax and Greg Boyer) and published as a single in digital format in 2004.
4. Nothing Compares to You
Nothing Compares To You is considered as one of the best break-up songs ever written. It transfers a so universal message about loss, which is hard to overcome. Everyone knows that lonesome feeling when the absence of someone loved is so harshly real.
Originally the song was written for the group “The Family” in 1984 by Prince, and this song was not really noticed by the public at large. The song became famous in Sinead O’Connor’s interpretation, who claimed in a BBC interview that it’s emotional content enabled her to perform it again and again over the years.
“It’s really about emotions, it’s not about notes… I never sing a song that I can’t emotionally identify with,” she explained. In fact Sinead O’Connor’s version flied up the song and its singer into the charts and worldwide fame.
3. I Wanna Be Your Lover
I Wanna Be Your Lover is a funky song, which appeared as the lead single from his second album (Prince) in 1979. It is a disco-pop song sung exclusively in falsetto about Prince’s love for a woman and how he would treat her better than the men she is with, and the frustration that she thinks of him as “a child”.
It was the first success of a single for Prince. The song additionally reached No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and No. 2 in New Zealand.
There are two versions of the music video for the single. The main version is a video with Prince wearing a leopard shirt with jeans trying to sing alone before a black background with only a microphone.
The other video, which is not on the video collection The Hits Collection, shows Prince and the members of the group at performing the song in a tanning room. The video was removed because of the tiny clothes…
2. 1999
1999 is not the year of the release of this LP. In fact 1999 is a song by Prince from his self-titled album released in 1982, which has irrefutable rock influences. The song is one of the best known by Prince, and a decisive moment in his way to become a superstar.
The song is best described as an apocalyptic dance. 1999 reached the 12th position on the Billboard Hot 100 on 23 July 1983. The song that the album version, starts with a slow voice saying “Do not worry, I will not hurt you. I only want you to have some fun. ” Prince created 1999 using the main riff of the song Monday, Monday by the group The Mamas & the Papas.
The melody of the 1999 verse was reused by Prince (written under the pseudonym Christopher) on the song Manic Monday for the group The Bangles. Some critics of the music recognized a similarity between the Phil Collins song “Sussudio” and Prince’s song. Collins himself agreed with this statement and even remembers having often heard that while he was on tour with Genesis.
1. Kiss
Kiss is the first single composed from the album Parade, performed and produced by Prince & The Revolution. Kiss was originally an acoustic demo of about one minute, with a verse and chorus. Prince gave the piece for Mazarati, a funk group for the opening of their album.
Prince added Kiss at the last minute to his album Parade. Despite the will of Warner Bros. who did not want to make a single, Kiss became a number three in the U.S. after its 1984 releases: When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy. The single was ranked in the first position in the Hot R & B/Hip-Hop Songs, in the Hot Dance Club Songs and in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.
The song also achieved success on the other side of the Atlantic ocean: the 6th position in the UK charts. “Kiss” was classed the 464th in the 500 Greatest Song of All Time list by the Rolling Stone. The song ends by a funny conversation between a woman and her husband while they are watching Prince in the TV.
Well, the article about Prince ended. We are really sorry, that Prince has passed away. Rest in peace, Prince of peace! Life seems so unjust sometimes. 57 is such a young age for dying. But who knows?
Maybe Prince is still alive, and he is slurping cocktails incognito on the beaches of Oceania, he just got fed up with the show-biz. New name, new personality, new life. You never know. Stay with us, in our next article we will discuss the best albums of Prince!
If you like music and legendary music artists, you can check out our articles about Nick Cave, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, Donovan and even Bob Marley. Have a good time!