8
Tribute
purple
Thursday, April 28, 2016
The
Day
F a d e d
A w a y
Prince Rogers Nelson: 1958-2016
39 STUDIO ALBUMS 29 TOURS 7 GRAMMYS
5 SOUNDTRACKS 4 FILMS 1 OSCAR
BRITNEY WILLIAMS
Contributing writer
The world officially said
goodbye to Prince Rogers Nelson, famously known as Prince,
on Saturday in a private service
with only close friends and
family.
Fans left flowers, cards,
posters-majority were the color
purple-outside Paisley Park on
Saturday just to pay their respects to the fallen legend.
Prince had an emergency
landing on his private jet on his
way back from performing in
Atlanta on April 14 and week
later was found unconscious
in his home elevator Thursday
morning.
“If you saw him on Saturday, you wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong with him,”
Lars Larson, a Paisley Park
security guard, told the New
York Times.
Rumors are swarming
around about the cause of
Prince’s death, saying that it was
the flu, aids, murder, and suicide
and even though Prince was
known to have lived a clean and
healthy life, drugs are being investigated in the autopsy report.
While his cause of death remains unknown, his legacy will
always be remembered.
The seven-time Grammy
award winner earned wide fame
in the ‘80s with hit albums like
1999 and Purple Rain with hit
songs such as “Let’s Go Crazy”
and “When Doves Cry.”
Prince was born on June
7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to two musicians: his
father, John Nelson, who went
by Prince Rogers as his stage
name, and his mother Mattie
Shaw, who was a jazz singer.
So young Prince naturally
became interested in music. He
taught himself how to play the
drums, piano, and the guitar.
He eventually formed his
own band in high school.
Prince signed to Warner
Bros. Records in 1978 and
dropped his first album titled
For You.
He basically played all the
instruments on it as well.
He made the Top 20 pop
hits chart with his second album in 1980 with “I Wanna Be
Your Lover.”
The singer became internationally famous in 1982 when
dropped 1999, which included
top 10 hits like “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious.”
And it wasn’t until 1984
when “Purple Rain” dropped
along with the movie of the
same name.
The movie made over $70
million in the box office. The
song made it to No. 2 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. His
other hits “When Doves Cry”
and “Let’s Go Crazy” both hit
No. 1.
Prince’s eighth album, Parade, included another one of
his No. 1 hits “Kiss.”
Parade was also the
soundtrack for his second
movie Under the Cherry Moon.
Prince has collaborated
with a number of artists in his
lifetime including Chaka Khan,
Alicia Keys, Madonna, Patti La-
belle, Janelle Monae and many
others.
Prince changed his name to
O(+> from 1993 to 2000.
The symbol combined the
male and female astrological
symbols.
This was after the lack of
success of his Love Symbol
album, which released in 1992.
He started appearing at
shows with the “SLAVE” written on his face, making a bold
statement of the disparagement
he had with Warner Bros. Over
the next decade Prince continued to do what he does best.
He was inducted in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
2004. In 2007 he performed at
the Super Bowl XLI halftime
show, which was watched by
140 million fans.
Besides being a Jehovah’s
Witness, Prince was known for
his extremely private life.
He dated his guitarist’s
twin, Susannah Melvoin. He
also dated a couple of members of his band including his
drummer Sheila E. and backup
singer Mayte Garcia, whom he
ended up marrying in 1996.
They had a son in October
of the same year, but he
passed away one week later.
They divorced in 2000 and
Prince married again in 2001
to Manuela Testolini, who
he divorced five years later.
After the divorce he became
romantically involved with
one of his music mentee
Bria Valente.
Prince spent most of
time out the lime light at his
private estates, Paisley Park.
Grambling’s own Regina
Love, Kassandra Merritt, and
Will Sutton got to visit Paisley
Park for a dance party during
the National Association Of
Black Journalists convention
in Minnesota last August.
Sutton, a mass communication lecturer and former
NABJ president, said she
heard that Prince had invited
people at the NABJ convention over, so they ordered
several buses to get them
down to Paisley Park.
“It was a Par-Tay!” said
Sutton. “I don’t know who
the deejay was, but he was on
point. It was amazing.”
“I’ve always been a fan of
Prince,” said Love, a senior
from Kansas City, Missouri.
“I was introduced to his music back in elementary school.
Having the opportunity to go
to his estate for a party was
priceless.”
Although, it did, however,
cost $20 to get in, according to
Merritt, a senior from Montgomery, Alabama. He only
came out to speak, announce
his upcoming project and
thank them for coming out.
“I expected to see him
perform,” said Merritt, “but
it’s Prince! Just seeing him was
worth more than that!”
Sutton added he will not
forget that night at his place.
Prince has roots in Louisiana, with ancestors from Claiborne, Webster, Bienville and
Lincoln parishes. His maternal
grandfather was the one who
moved to Minnesota.
Prince was soundtrack to my life
ERIC ROBINSON
Alumni contributor
My experience with Prince
is personal. Not because
he was personal friend. I
personally never met him. The
closest I ever got to him in
the physical form was seeing
him live at the Forum back
in 2009. Great show, I was
literally in heaven for three
hours.
But despite having no
material relationship with
him, I, like millions of others
shared a lifetime through his
art. He had a song for every
moment in your life, and if
you were a real fan, he made
sure he crafted the songs
that served as the personal
soundtrack to your life.
$