Saturday, December 31, 2016

New Members of Rock & Roll Heaven, Part 14

2016 not only doubled the record for the number of deaths to significant players in the Rock Era; the depth of the losses were great.  Another of the greatest stars we lost was the incomparable Prince.

If you have Tidal, you can hear his songs; otherwise, the Purple One shut you out.



1958:  Prince died of an overdose of fentanyl at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota April 21 at the age of 57.


Prince self-produced his first album in 1978.  He enjoyed another big hit with "Little Red Corvette" in 1983.


Another big hit from that same year is "Delirious".





Another song Prince is famous for is "1999".


Prince starred in and recorded the music to the 1984 movie Purple Rain.  "When Doves Cry" presided at #1 for five weeks.


Prince followed that up with another #1, "Let's Go Crazy".


The title song gave him three Top Two songs in a row.


Prince became one of the top guitarists in the world, and his superstar status attained on Purple Rain continued with the Top 10 hits "I Would Die 4 (sic) U (sic)", "Raspberry Beret" and "Pop Life".  Prince reached #1 again with "Kiss" in 1986.



He continued to be one of the most successful artists of the '80s, enjoying a big hit with "Sign 'O' The Times" before collaborating with Sheena Easton on "U (sic) Got The Look" in 1987.

In 1989, Prince fan Jack Nicholson was set to star in the movie Batman.  On Nicholson's advice, Prince was brought in to record the movie soundtrack, and Prince hit #1 again with "Batdance".

Three more Top 20 hits followed, with Prince getting to #1 again with "Cream".

Prince finished with 47 career hits, including 19 that reached the Top 10.

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