HAVE A HEART
Rmember suspected that Prince had been using drugs for a decade before his death in April 2016. “I didn’t know to what extent,” she told us in advance of upcoming Prince-less Revolution performances at Sony Hall in Midtown on Oct. 11 and 12.
“I had heard rumors over the last like 10 years or something that he was fooling around with drugs,” Coleman said. “It was so unusual, but I knew he was in a lot of pain and he was going through a lot with his hip and that made sense to me.”
His Purple Majesty, born Prince Rogers Nelson, died of a fentanyl overdose in his Minneapolis home at the age of 57.
Coleman (photo) played keyboards with the Revolution from 1980 to 1986 before going on to record as a duo with bandmate The Revolution reformed shortly after Prince’s death. Coleman was aware that Prince was suffering from chronic hip pain, but wasn’t aware of the extent to which he was using drugs to cope. “I was shocked that it had gone so far,” she said. “It’s hard to think about even the pictures that I saw of him and stuff in the last two months (of his life). ‘Hey something’s wrong. Someone give him some soup or something.’ It really freaked me out.”
According to Coleman, the Revolution’s music was experimental, but their anti-drug stance made the bandleader’s death complicated.
“All of us have very difficult feelings about it because he was very conservative and we weren’t a stoney band,” she said. “We were clean. That was part of our image too, you don’t need all that. So yeah it was a shock, but not a surprise.”
Coleman said the Revolution reunited as a way to deal with grief after Prince’s death, though he continues to mentor them even now.
“All of us were trained so severely, working with Prince was such a discipline, that having him not be there, I didn’t know where to look — we were always focused on him,” she said. “It took us a while (to figure out) what the f--k to do. It was really crazy.”
According to Coleman, the Revolution isn’t making money when it performs, and that’s fine.
“It’s definitely an act of love,” she said. Surgeons of Hope, the nonprofit organization that provides heart surgery to children in developing countries, has a new fan — The late night host (photo), whose nearly year-old son underwent heart surgery, has spoken out in support. The charity’s annual gala kicked off at a party hosted by and Guests included Rep. and “Orange Dr. is the New Black” cast members and