6 minute read
Purple Reign The Legacy of Prince
Article by Brea santos Illustrations by Rebellah A. D‘Arcy
Let me tell you a little story. I need you to imagine the scene in your head. Picture this… a three year old girl sitting on the kitchen floor of an apartment where her aunt’s parents resided and as soon as they yelled, “Sing that song baby by that one fella!” A few words to Diamonds and Pearls came out of her tiny mouth. Diamond and Pearl. Boy and Girl. That’s where it all began for me. Do I remember it? Absolutely not! But I remember a love for Prince Rogers Nelson as long as I can remember. I grew up on so many styles of music and from all different eras but my admiration and love for Prince has always transcended any other artist or any particular genre of music.
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Prince Rogers Nelson came into the world on June 7,1958 leaving his mark on Minneapolis, Minnesota. Being born to John, a pianist, and Mattie, a jazz singer; it’s no secret that music would be his calling later on in life. Music basically became his saving grace. He was bullied at school and his home life with his parents and younger sister Tyka was less than ideal. Their divorce in 1965 left Prince with a gift , his father’s piano. It was not until 1978 that the sex symbol cemented himself as a music icon that would eventually take the world by storm. Not only would he be known for his risqué lyrics and revealing pants with a surprise in the back, but his ability to keep the world talking by dancing to the beat of his own drum and playing it at the same time.
By the year 1993, the icon and his then record label W.B were at odds over contract details. In an effort to stick it to the man, Prince became the Artist Formerly Known As Prince or the symbol. No one in the media even knew what to call him or what to make of the symbol which is believed to be an amalgam of the medical symbols for male and female which could also be an homage to the Saturday Night Live character Pat who is androgynous. To further this idea, there are lyrics from the song I Would Die 4 U.
“I‘m not a woman. I‘m not a man. I am something that you‘ll never understand. “
When he wasn’t blessing our ears with his musical talents, he lived his life in the best way Jehovah would want. He shared his wealth with the world by giving to charity. One of the most important organizations that he devoted his time to was PETA. Prince believed that humans should treat animals with decency. Being a strict vegetarian, he not only donated money to the organization but he pinned a song Animal Kingdom that urges mankind to treat all living things with compassion. He also felt a deep connection with the next generation of future musicians and artists. Therefore, in February of 2011, he finished off a concert series in New York that would give 250,000 to each of the programs run by American Ballet Theatre and Uptown Dance Academy. ww His biggest piece of activism came after the April 19, 2015 death of Freddie Gray, an African-American male who died in police custody in Baltimore, Maryland after he was arrested for carrying a knife. Due to lack of evidence, all six arresting officers were not charged with his homicide. Of course, his death sparked outrage in the city which led Prince to write the song 91 Sisters in SL Magazine
Baltimore. The official music video contains footage of the actual protests. Activism might have kept Prince busy but he always made time for romance. He is the definition of a true ladies man and boy did he court quite a few !
Prince’s love for the ladies was very evident in his dating history. He has been seen with some of the most beautiful and talented women in the world. Many of these gorgeous beings happened to actually work right alongside the musician. He has dated Carmen Electra, Kim Bassinger, and even the Queen of Pop herself,
Madonna. Even though he has charmed quite a few ladies, he only married twice. According to folklore, he spotted Mayte Garcia outside his tour bus and told Rosie Gaines, “There’s my future wife.” She was only 16 at the time of course. After she graduated high school, she became one of his dancers on tour and the rest is history! The pair married on Valentine’s Day of 1996 and by October of the same year, a son was on the way. Little Amiir or Boy George Nelson was only in the world for seven days before he died of Pfeiffer Syndrome which is a genetic disorder that causes a fusion of bones
in the skull. The death of the little boy took a toll on the marriage and they parted ways in 2000. But a year later, Prince took a sexy strut back down the aisle to Manuela Testolini. By 2006, that relationship was over as well. Funny story, even Prince has been rejected. Using his 2006 album release 3121, his songs Lolita and Te Amo Corazon divulged his feelings for the actress Salma Hayek.
During the course of his music career, Prince released thirty-nine solo albums and three with his group New Power Generation or NPG. He sold over a hundred million albums world-wide making him one of the best selling musical artists of all time. His accolades included seven Grammy awards, seven Brit awards, six American Music Awards (AMAs), and four MTV Video Music Awards. He earned an Academy Award or an Oscar for Best Original Song Score for the Purple Rain film. Despite all his achievements, he never took any of it for granted. He was a practicing Jehovah’s Witness and even went door to door to talk about his faith. His faith is probably what led him not to receive medical treatment when his health started to decline. I remember posting on my real life Facebook account about him having to make an emergency landing because he had the flu. I was upset but knowing how strong he is and health conscious, I had faith it was just a hiccup and he would be back to jumping on and off stage risers in no time. Ironically, my younger sister was the first person to post about his death on April 21, 2016. This man influenced my love of music, the color purple, and Cap’n Crunch cereal. I have a whole discography in my closet and a Live in Las Vegas DVD. That day will be forever cemented in my memory as the day the music died. My room has sprinklings of him all around it. There will never be another Prince. No other artist could come close to the sound that he has created in his lifetime. But at the end of the day, he was still human! He struggled with demons that his fans had no idea about. To me, that makes him even more relatable and loveable allowing his legacy to live on forever.
