In many ways I feel like the least qualified person on the planet to write about Prince. I never saw him perform live. And with his passing last week, I never will. For many years I wouldn’t even acknowledge being a Prince fan – he was maybe a little too flamboyant for a suburban teenage girl during the Reagan era to outwardly embrace. But in the early ‘90s I admitted that I was a closet Prince fan to a jazz pianist friend, well known at Dartmouth and later New York City. “Come out of the closet!” he urged. And I did - over the years blasting Little Red Corvette from my little red Tercel and then from my little black Prius.
I’ve been trying to decide what most drew me to Prince. First, of course, was his distinctive guitar playing and rhythm. Then there were his lyrics - blurring the boundaries between spirituality and sensuality, gender and genre. I loved his willingness to experiment and risk commercial failure. I loved his collaborations and performances with women - from a folk rocker like Ani DiFranco to ballerina Misty Copeland. I loved that Prince reveled in breaking rules, and I’ve often wondered if he influenced my decision to wear a purple wedding dress - his signature color - 20 years ago.
The tributes in traditional and social media in the days after Prince’s death speak to his legacy. Upon hearing the news, President Obama issued a statement saying “Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent.”
Bruce Springsteen opened a Brooklyn concert by singing the the song Purple Rain, and the Broadway casts of Hamilton and The Color Purple payed their own impromptu musical respects. Saturday Night Live dedicated a whole show to Prince’s many performances spanning four decades, and The New Yorker honored him with a purple cover.
Stevie Wonder told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he treasured Prince’s genius as a musician, composer, producer, and performer. But he most loved Prince’s spirit. Wonder said “he was very free, and to do what he did without fear was a wonderful thing… because it’s always great when we don’t allow fear to put our dreams to sleep.”
While Prince may no longer rock the planet in person, we can use the sound of his music as a cue to dream on fearlessly.
