‘THE GREATEST PERFORMER’
Prince fans share memories
This time, I’m too shocked to cry.
In a year already filled with too many notable celebrity deaths, the loss of pop-rock-funk legend Prince, at the age of 57, feels unreal.
Unlike David Bowie, who knew he was dying and had all but withdrawn from the world, Prince was very much out and about — recently playing shows in Atlanta, Toronto and Montreal. Last week, his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., so he could be taken to hospital — but it was only the flu, his reps said.
My brain is scrambled with images and songs — like I’m flipping through a scrapbook, trying to remember all the good times I shared with Prince.
Such as listening to his breakthrough album, 1999, with my best friend as we suntanned at Shuswap Lake and tried to forget about the upcoming school year (Grade 9, yay!).
Or singing When Doves Cry with my little sister, Nicky, pretending we were bumblebees.
Dancing to his more lascivious numbers with my university friends in clubs across Ottawa and Hull.
Taking my mom to Prince’s first show in Edmonton — on May 31, 2002 at the Jubilee Auditorium.
“Fans will be talking about this one for ages, using all sorts of superlatives to describe the majesty of Prince and his five-person band,” I wrote in my Journal review. “Wonderful. Amazing. Transcendental. Brilliant.”
What made it even more special was (a) the show was only announced nine days prior and (b) Prince hosted a private sound check and Q&A for members of his fan club. Rock gods just didn’t do those things at the time — but then again, he was always ahead of the curve.
Remember when Prince changed his name to a symbol and we all thought he was losing it? Turns out he only did so to get out of a record contract. Remember when he started his own music subscription service? Turns out it was one of the precursors to every streaming service — and crowdsourcing site — on the planet.
Yet for all his seemingly odd business ventures and flamboyant clothes, Prince always felt very real and relatable, says musician and longtime fan Brent Oliver, who is now the director of cultural services for the City of Spruce Grove.
“Here was this black kid from Minneapolis, who was 5-foot-1, and if he can do it, anybody can,” he says.
Oliver was nine or 10 when he first saw Purple Rain, the 1984 film starring Prince.
From then on, he was hooked, devouring each one of Prince’s albums as they were released. He learned how to play Prince songs on piano and guitar. He made sure to spin a Prince tune on every episode of his CJSR show.
“He was my Dylan, he was my Bowie, he was my Beatles. He was absolutely, bar none, the greatest performer I’ve ever seen on stage.”
Singer-songwriter Jinting Zhao admired Prince’s sense of rhythm and groove, and his abilities as a great showman and musician. Her first taste of His Purpleness came when she was eight — after her family moved from China to Edmonton.
“I taped the 1994 World Music Awards,” she says. “Prince performed and I remember being confused and mesmerized by this person who sounded like a girl but was clearly a boy and was wearing bright colours. We didn’t have funk in China, so the sounds were completely new. I watched that tape over and over again for years.”
Zhao attended Prince’s last show in Edmonton on Dec. 13, 2011, at Rexall Place. What does she remember of the night?
“Realizing that I had never actually heard the VERY end of Purple Rain and getting to hear 15,000 people do the ‘Wooooo hoo hoo hooooo’ part together with purple glitter falling,” she says. “It was religious in its impact.”
He was my Dylan, he was my Bowie, he was my Beatles. He was absolutely, bar none, the greatest performer I’ve ever seen on stage.