The Prince Who Reigned

He was, possibly, the most talented musician of the 80s generation. His rivalry with Michael Jackson was widely spoken about, and it did seem that he took the duel much more seriously than the latter did. As a musician, he heard and internalised genres as diverse as rhythm and blues, soul, disco, hip-hop, and funk to create a style that was idiosyncratically his own.

Born Prince Rogers Nelson and known to the world as Prince, this consummate showman on stage and a riddle off it is no more. Just 57 and reportedly brought down by drug overdose, he was more prolific than any of his significant contemporaries during a career spanning close to four decades.

Close to four decades? Those who had heard his first album ‘For You’ released in 1978 followed by the self-titled release ‘Prince’ in 1979 will suddenly feel that too many years have flown by. Indeed, they have, but not before this supremely talented one-person army had made emphatic statements of his musical versatility with albums that sold over 100 million copies across the world. If his live performances were electrifying which they were, well, that was him.

Some of his critics share the view that he was churning out many albums, which he needn’t have. They don’t understand why containing the need to create, when one is as blessed as he was, is impossible. Like every other artist, he must go on, oblivious of commercial outcomes, ignoring the uneasy truth that there are others much younger who have usurped the spotlight that was once owned by him and a few others who were comparably big during his days at the peak.

Much like David Bowie who passed away only recently, his personality had a streak of androgyny, which made him more enigmatic than he would have been. While his now-mourning fans worshipped this onstage persona -- and oh, his limitless talent as well – his workaholic’s mindset kept him up there at the top in their minds, with very few others for company.

Discovered dead in the elevator of his Paisley Park estate in Minneapolis, Prince befriended isolation to create songs in his studio. His appetite for creativity seemed to enhance his passion for touring. Between 1979 and 2015, he toured more than 25 times to sing and play the guitar, an instrument over which his command is frequently underrated because of the highlight on his manic energy with a unique body language on the stage.

Any tribute to this legend will be incomplete if the writer fails to state that Prince played almost all the instruments during his recordings. How he pulled it off is a mystery that we must not even try to solve. Once assessed in that context, winning a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, and seven Grammies for such all-round mastery over music seems to be an easily achievable outcome.

It was his self-titled album in 1979 that resulted in instant fame with his memorable top ten tracks, “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” The years that followed produced unforgettable albums like “Diamonds and Pearls,” “Emancipation,” “1999” and that epic Indians living and growing up in India know best: “Purple Rain.”

Faltering during the course of his journey wasn’t alien to him; but then, there were times when his fans and analysts seemed to be guilty of raising their bar of expectations from him.

A musician with a preference for solitude in the studio, and yet, one who couldn’t stay away from performing in front of his fans, Prince, the quintessential Mystery Man, changed his name to a glyph in 1993. It was an unpronounceable symbol of love, which he thankfully abandoned before reverting to Prince in 2000.

Even after his age had crossed the 50 mark, his ability to charm his fans hadn’t reduced one bit. The energy, the guitar licks, the manner in which he held the audiences in a trance remained intact. Untiring and almost impossibly gifted, his song-writing skills delivered hits for several musicians like Sinead O’Connor (“Nothing Compares 2 U”), the Bangles (“Manic Monday”) and Cyndi Lauper (“When You Were Mine.”)

Hardly surprising, then, was his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. The Hall’s dedication defined his impact in musical space: “He rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge music in the Eighties. Prince made dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative.”

His devotees the world over won’t get over his eternal absence anytime soon. For them, he will always be that Last Original who could have given so much more.