Music icon Prince Rogers Nelson dead at 57
Prince, the legendary musician and actor has died at age 57, on April 21st, 2016, at 9:43am, at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen. Carver County Sherriff Jim Olson found Prince unresponsive in the elevator .The first responders attempted to provide CPR, but were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 10:07am. Prince was hospitalised after his jet made an emergency landing on Friday morning. He was suffering from the ‘flu prior to the performance and the plane landed at Moline, so he could receive treatment there. Prince continued his journey after treatment and returned home.
Born in Minneapolis, Prince produced hits in like 1999, Purple Rain and “Wanna Be Your Lover”. Prince was a prolific songwriter, spanning over forty years.
Rolling Stone said about Prince “ one of most naturally gifted artists of all time, and also one of the most mysterious.|”
Prince’s father led a Minneapolis jazz band which his mother also sang in. At the early age of seven, he was playing the piano and by 14 guitar and drums.
Later Prince albums included ‘Sign ‘O’ the Times,’ ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ and ‘Musicology’. In 1978, he released his debut album ‘For You’ followed by Prince (1979), ‘Dirty Mind’ (1980) and ‘Controversy'(1981). He won international fame for his albums ‘1982’ and ‘1999’ which included the top 20 title track including ‘Little Red Corvette’ and ‘Delirious’. He won seven Grammys and created the album and film ‘Purple Rain’ in 1984, which grossed US $70m at the US box office co-starring Apollonia Kotero and Morris Day, for which he won the academy award for Best Original Song Score. And the title track ‘Purple Rain’ reached no 2 on the billboard hot 100 and ‘When Doves cry’ and ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ both reached no.1. With the release of the Batman soundtrack, PRINCE became one of America’ s most successful artist.
In the USA and around the world distraught fans are holding vigils to the inimitable legend Prince. A word from the Assistant Editor – with Michael Jackson also gone in his late fifties and Madonna coming on very late to energetic stage round the world venues, it is questionable whether solo artists should continue punishing regimes when they are nearly sixty and that they should probably slow down considerably and find another outlet for their artistic energies – like maybe nurturing younger talent. Looking at pop groups like The Rolling Stones it is noticeable that as a group, performers last longer but when all the onus is on one individual to wow their audiences including dancing stunts and routines, a heavy workload cannot just lead to ill health but to death. Although there are bound to be people who do not agree with this observation, we do not wish to lose any more big names through exhaustion and subsequent bad health.
Prince was a powerhouse of chic, creativity, a fashion icon and an artist who combined eroticism with hedonistic and memorable lyrics both with angst and exotic undertones. He kept himself fit and was a photogenic dream of style. He was handsome and unique in his presentation and he will always and forever be missed and yet his work will never die, such was its uniqueness, sometimes cheeky, sometimes geeky and always absolutely fantastic and mesmeric.
Penny Nair Price