Prince charming
Closest bandmates reunite Revolution & spill intimate details
ONE year on from Prince’s death, the grieving process is still continuing for his fans, friends and family — and also for his band.
The Revolution played alongside the Minnesotan (who died at 57 on April 21, 2016, of an opioid overdose) in various forms between 1979 and 1986. But it’s the vintage “Purple Rain”-era lineup who decided the best way to heal is to hit the road for a reunion tour.
“It would be horrible to just sit at home and wallow,” keyboardist Lisa Coleman tells The Post. “It’s healthier and feels better to do this.”
“Prince and the band were still in touch,” adds guitarist Wendy Melvoin, who, with Lisa, will be playing alongside BrownMark (bass), Doctor Fink (keys) and Bobby Z (drums). “Towards the end of his life, we talked about getting back together, and he was excited at the idea. And yet, here we are.”
Ahead of their April 28 show at BB King’s in Times Square, the iconic female components of Prince’s group discuss happy memories, as well as the singer’s deterioration.
When was the last time you saw Prince?
Lisa: He paid us a visit at the studio we have in LA in 2015. It had been a couple of years since we’d seen him. It was very sweet and loving — I showed him my new keyboard. We geeked out for a minute, and then we went back to work. I feel so foolish because I’ve grown up with drug users and I’ve had a lot of experience with addicts. But I just had no idea. You just think, “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have helped.”
Prince’s performances were often described as near-superhuman. It’s my theory that seeing these reviews may have inadvertently pressured him to force his aging body to continue those kinds of shows, possibly leading to his opiate addiction. Do you think that’s a possibility?
Lisa: I think you’re absolutely right. It’s not easy getting old, and it’s impossible to maintain that level for your entire life. As a society, we don’t forgive that. For someone like Prince, having your body fail is not accept- able. He probably had to do what he had to do. I’m sure the pills were a beautiful gift at first. “I can take them, and I can still do it.” But it’s only temporary. You’re still gonna get old. But I don’t think he cared — he was willing to do the deal to keep going. There was no choice. He had painted himself into a corner. Did you have any suspicion that he may not have been well? Lisa: I’ve never really told anyone this publicly, but when I heard that he was
doing the piano-and-mike tour, that was the only time I worried about him. Something in my mind went, ‘Uh-oh, what’s wrong?’ I think he was suffering and trying to give his body a break. Wendy: You look at the pictures of him in [his last] three months, and he didn’t look well.
On this Revolution tour, is it correct that you’re planning to use guest vocalists to sing Prince’s parts?
Lisa: A lot of the songs are with band vocals, so we will do them together.
Wendy: No one is going to be Prince. That’s not the point. We’re going to do songs that work for the band. And if certain people, like D’Angelo, want to come up and play a song, then come on up. It just depends if they’re in town.
Do you have any sense of what might be coming from Prince’s famed vault of unreleased music?
Wendy: We don’t have any control over the vault, but there’s tons of stuff in there that we did. Me and Lisa were in the room with Prince and Miles Davis in Minneapolis once. It was jazz-funk kind of stuff. Prince was bigger than Miles — Miles let him be the boss. Do you have any recollection of the famous “Shirts vs. Blouses” basketball match, as recounted by the late Charlie Murphy on “Chappelle Show”? Wendy: We were in rehearsal that day. He went out to play ball with the guys. All we heard was that he kicked everyone’s ass — which was totally normal. Prince was the greatest athlete I’d ever seen. He could get under the basket with guys who were nearly 7 feet tall. He was just as good as [5-foot-7 NBA star] Spud Webb.