I say my heart broke a little…but it may be more than a little, because we just lost one of my favorite people. The news broke today that Prince Rogers Nelson has died at the age of 57 at his home outside of Minneapolis. Yes the artist known as Prince is gone.
I can’t really think of anyone that didn’t like Prince and his music. He had a way about him that appealed to everyone. Women thought he was sexy and men thought he was cool. I can trace moments of my life to different decades of Prince’s hits. When “1999” came out, it made Prince a superstar. My friends and I would cruise in our cars and if a Prince song came on, the radio got cranked up. In college it was “Purple Rain”. I can’t tell you how many times I saw the movie or danced to the music. Who didn’t cry at the end of that movie? Luckily, I got to see him in concert during the “Purple Rain” tour with the Revolution. I was so excited! I even got dressed up in my best “Madonna” look (did I say that out loud?). Prince delivered that night, what a performer. I realized that night just how talented a musician he was.
A few years later I even had a brush with the artist formerly known as Prince. I was in Tulsa, Ok for a Lionel Ritchie concert when I came within inches of greatness. I had been invited by a friend that managed a big hotel downtown across from the arena where the concert was. Waiting in the lobby, my friend came down and said “you won’t believe it…Prince is in the hotel!” He had flown in to see Sheila E., who was opening for Ritchie that night. Moments later, I saw a flash of head to toe bright yellow…yellow hat, yellow suit, yellow shoes…go whizzing right in front of me. It was Prince!! He just skipped through the lobby twirling a cane and right out the door. I’d like to believe we made eye contact (at least that’s what I like to believe). Remember his 2007 Superbowl halftime show…one of the best ever! In a lot of ways, Prince was the Elvis of my generation. Yes I said it, not Michael Jackson, but Prince.
I have some many favorite Prince songs, hard to choose from the two dozen I have on my ipod, but I have no doubt that doves around the world are crying…