Death of Prince aged fifty seven….

Upon hearing the news of the death of Prince today at the age of fifty seven, I have been trying to remember a time when there were so many ‘celebrity deaths’. Like David Bowie who predeceased him, Prince Nelson Rogers was a musical pioneer, near genius musician and songwriter.

I vividly recall the time Prince burst onto the scene in the UK, sexually charged songs and performances backed up with wailing guitar riffs and solos. Prince had it all, he wrote the book on imagery and exclusivity. Like Michael Jackson and Madonna, he was like no other and demanded one’s curiosity and attention.

His output of recording material and song writing for himself and others was extraordinary, thirty nine studio albums which included four in the last eighteen months alone including the staggeringly good and successful Purple Rain in 1984.

Like Bowie, he had his peaks and troughs, when he was good, he was very good. His life performances were electrifying, his biggest hits such as Kiss and When Doves Cry set him apart from the rest. If you were having fun in the Eighties and early Nineties then it goes without saying that Prince and his music played a part in your soundtrack, directly or indirectly. Prince was a virtuoso performer and it is difficult not to feel a slight pang of sadness about the death of someone whose songs many of us heard over and over during the heyday of the 1980s.

Rest in Peace: Prince 1958-2016