He stood only 5-feet 2-inches tall, but Prince Rogers Nelson was a musical giant.
The Artist – as he once called himself –known as Prince died Thursday at 57. Prince came of age with the MTV generation and he, along with Michael Jackson and Madonna, revolutionized music during the 1980s and beyond.
I covered Prince in concert during the late 1990s in Buffalo. On stage, he was electrifying. I never realized what a phenomenal guitarist and dancer Prince was, until I saw him live.
The night I saw him, he had Larry Graham Jr. in his backup band. Graham started out with Sly and the Family Stone during the late 1960s, one of the originators of funk music.
Prince, like Sly, could mix funk, rock and pop into an intoxicating musical cocktail. But Prince took it a step further. He could cop Jimi Hendrix guitar licks; sing lyrics with a soulful Motown style and move like James Brown.
Despite those influences, Prince was a total original. He flavored funk with a layer of hard rock that no one has done before or since.
It didn’t take long in concert for Prince to sing one of my favorites, “Little Red Corvette.” This was vintage Prince, a soft soulful beginning, building the tempo to that ultra cool chorus: “Me and Red Corvette/Baby you’re much too fast/You need to find a love that’s gonna last.” On stage, Prince ripped into the guitar solo and added some wicked dance moves.
Another favorite was “When You Were Mine,” that featured a steady rock beat that went along with another number, “Raspberry Beret.” Just when you think you had Prince figured out, he break the mold and offer challenging numbers like, “When Doves Cry,” “I Would Die 4 You,” “1999” and “Let’s Go Crazy.”
If you want to know the definition of funk without looking in a dictionary, just listen to Prince sing “Kiss.”
I remember a record company executive telling me that Prince was “like a rock and roll Mozart –totally original, crazy and a genius.”
In Buffalo, I covered a then young band known as the Goo Goo Dolls. Johnny Rzeznik, lead singer of the band, was a big fan of Prince. Before the Goos became big stars, they covered a Prince number, “I Can Never Take the Place of Your Man,” with the late, great Lance Diamond singing lead. That also happens to be one my favorite songs. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tom Jones revitalized his career with a cover of “Kiss” and showed how Princetranscended generations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
My favorite Prince television moment came during Super Bowl 50 in 2007. During a driving rainstorm, Prince delivered what I believe is the best Super Bowl halftime performance in history.
He finished the set with “Purple Rain” and nothing – not thunder, lightning or raindrops – was going to stop him.
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-
In his own way, Prince was a lightning rod, jolting contemporary music out of its predictable and commercial vacuum.
Death has silenced Prince Rogers Nelson, but nothing will ever stop his music.
Tony Violanti covers entertainment for Villages-News.com
