Lordy - sixty years ago today, the much-missed Prince Rogers Nelson was born!
The archetypal flamboyant icon of mid-80s to mid-90s pop [alongside Queen Madge, of course], he evolved from the shadow of his idol Rick James into the mega-successful, adored superstar whose death was so widely mourned across the globe. He was not merely a performer, singer and musician, however; he was a brilliant songwriter, too.
And, by way of a tribute to his genius, here are several examples of how his compositions became massive hits for other people:
First up, the one that always makes me cry...
...lightening the mood somewhat, a clutch of much more uplifting choons...
...the classic - here featuring an artist who shares a birthday with The Purple One, Sir Tom Jones (Tom Jones)...
...and finally, the man himself:
RIP Prince (7th June 1958 – 21st April 2016)
"automatic" was not written by prince, but by Brock Walsh & Mark Goldenberg. the sisters did cover "i feel for you" which chaka khan had the hit with and was written by prince. prince's "automatic" is a totally different song
ReplyDeleteOops! A failure in my research, mthinks - I shall remove it a.s.a.p...
DeleteThanks, Den
Jx
Did not realize he wrote "Manic Monday". Did he ever perform it himself?
ReplyDeleteApparently: Prince wrote 'Manic Monday' in 1984, and recorded it as a duet for the band Apollonia 6's self-titled album; however, he eventually pulled the song. Two years later, he offered the single to The Bangles under the pseudonym "Christopher", a character he played in the 1986 film 'Under the Cherry Moon'. It was rumoured by various writers that after Prince listened to the band's 1984 debut album 'All Over the Place', he gave the song to Bangles rhythm guitarist Susanna Hoffs, so that in return she would sleep with him.
DeleteHistory - or in this case, Wikipedia - does not record whether Miss Hoffs fulfilled her part of that particular deal... Jx
a sad loss to the world.
ReplyDelete2016 was a bad year for sad losses. Jx
Delete