I spent the majority of my teenage years idolizing the legendary Prince Roger Nelson, the iconic, radical, flamboyant artist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. It brings me great sadness knowing he has passed today at the age of 57.
Imagine living a limitless creative reality, fully flowing in your gifts and talents. His life was unparalleled in accomplishments and his sales of over 100 million records worldwide reveal the enormous influence he has had on music and pop culture.
Living in Minneapolis, I've seen Prince perform live at a number of local venues. My favorite memory was being able to see the rehearsal of Prince and Sheila E before a live performance at First Avenue. It was AMAZING seeing Prince swiftly move from instrument to instrument to test out his gear. His free-style and warm-ups should have been recorded and sold! Another memory was attending a dance audition for Prince and being chosen to dance in a performance at the Glam Slam night club back in the early 90's.
Prince performing live is nothing short of phenomenal. It's pure artistic and genuine expression with perfect, magical musicianship. And his music has so much emotion, it easily brings back so many memories for us all. "1999" and "Let's Go Crazy" remind me of feeling free at high school dances, "Kiss" reminds me of singing in the car at the top of my lungs with my husband, "Around the World in a Day" reminds me bike rides and rollerblading around the lakes in Minneapolis, and "Rasberry Beret" reminds me of 80's fashion and sewing jeans really tight around the calves.
When I found out Prince passed today, I was unable to stay focused. I couldn't concentrate for long about anything without returning to memories tied to his music. I would have loved to interview Prince, to hear what makes him tick, to hear what inspired him as a child, and to hear how he tapped into his creative energy from day to day.
Out of nowhere, he is gone...and I will never have the opportunity to do so.
And when people pass, we awaken to the fullness of how much we appreciated them. There are millions of people across the globe honoring Prince now.
Prince lived his life to the fullest and was relentless in expressing his unique gifts and talents. This alone inspires me and millions of others. For those Prince-lovers, enjoy this video below of one of my favorite recordings of him. Once you watch it, let me know what you think of him killin' it in the Purple Rain.
Alyce Renee
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