I was never a Prince devotee, but it’s difficult to avoid the media attention to his death. And the outpouring of memories and grief on Facebook.
So I decided to do some research into why this man touched so many with his music. As is often the case, I turned to Wikipedia for factual information and to Facebook for the outpouring of memories. Here’s what struck me most.
Prince’s real name actually was Prince, although he wrote music under a variety of pseudonyms. We all know about the period when he changed his name to a graphic symbol that was unpronounceable and was referred to as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” In the early nineties, he was quoted as saying:
“Warner Bros took the name [Prince], trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros. […] I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity was . . . a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about . . . “
Prince was prolific. He wrote his first piece of music at age seven, composed his own lyrics as well as lyrics for other musicians, played several instruments, and found inspiration everywhere. I was struck with how mild-mannered and polite he was in interviews with Larry King, Oprah, and the like while being known for salacious lyrics and suggestive movement in concert.
He performed in pouring rain at Super Bowl XLI when another rock star might have objected. He forced YouTube to remove material he felt was being shown in violation of copyright laws.
He married twice and was linked to many celebrities. His discography is legend. And I saw a news clip where mention of his music brought interviewee Stevie Wonder to tears.
I still haven’t heard enough of his music firsthand to form an opinion of it, but my over-riding impression of Prince – who happened to be born on my birthday in 1957 – is that he was an enigma. To the end.
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