Purple Reign
Our World was brilliantly colored by Prince’s enormous talent.
The sky was all purple
There were people running everywhere
Trying to run from the destruction
You know I didn’t even care, 1999.
“Purple” went from being a verb to a noun when Prince re-introduced us to his interpretation of this color with a low budget film called “Purple Rain” in 1984. My generation was never same and even now when I see or hear this color in normal speak I will always think of Prince. I graduated High School in 1985 and at a time the 1980’s were all about bright colors and flash which were prominently adorned such artists as Cyndi Lauper’s hair or the dangling cloths and bracelets of Madonna. However, who would have thought that a single color could be so powerful and be synonyms with his artistic brilliance? We were bathed in Prince’s favorite color for over 32 years like a creative blanket keeping us entertained and baffled at the same time. Whether it was becoming a “symbol” (the artist formally known as) or parading a tattoo “Slave”on the side of his slender face in defiance of Warner Brothers Records, Prince kept us interested with his painfully shy-mysterious life.
In 1992, suddenly and inexplicably he changed his name from “Prince” to an unpronounceable symbol.
Green is the New Purple
Prince, using his favorite color Purple as his unique identity, allowed your mind to associate itself with a color to his talent. This mind-play was so brilliantly manipulated by an artist who thought deeply about all aspects of life along with his business. If he had it his way, money would be changed to the color of purple as well.
Purple is a potent and powerful color. And certainly, the “Purple One”, as the musician born as Prince Rogers Nelson was often referred to as, realized the significance of the color and, “oh by the way”, just happened to like the color too.
“It is the color of royalty and of the church,” explains Victoria Finlay, the Bath, England-based author of “The Brilliant History of Color in Art.” “Purple is a branding color, a very special color. Not many people use it.”
Interestingly, it was the Romans who made purple a color of social stature.
“They really got attached to purple,” says Finlay. “There were rules about who could wear purple and the rules often changed. Sometimes people could wear purple if they paid taxes and sometimes only the Caesars could wear purple. There were periods where if you wore purple and you weren’t aristocratic, you could be killed.”
The status came partly from the fact that making Tyrian purple, as the Roman shade of purple is known, was a difficult, expensive and a rather deadly enterprise. During the Roman era, the color came from the shell of the Bolinus brandaris mollusk, known as the purple dye murex. More than 250,000 of these creatures were needed for just a half an ounce of dye, enough to stain a single toga.
“It was the ultimate luxury,” says Finlay. “But, actually, the stuff smelled vaguely of fish. The ‘Caesars’ definitely smelled.”
Since then, purple has retained its connotation of royalty and power in Western culture worn by kings and by cardinals. In the 1980’s purple made a strong showing in men’s ties and woman’s pant-suits and blazers, as the “Power Color”.
“Purple is the last color on the spectrum,” she adds. “It’s the color of being present and not being present. It’s symbolic of that boundary of being and not being, seeing and not seeing. It’s a powerful color in that.”
A color well suited to Prince, an artist who was never confined to one genre, one style, one way of thinking.
“If he was going to choose one color,” says Finlay, “purple is it.”
The Purple Palace-”Paisley Park”
Like every Prince they need a castle to seclude themselves in and away from the world. Paisley Park was the perfect kingdom to percolate Prince’s unfiltered talent and keep his deepest wildest thoughts behind thick walls where he could channel them into over 1300 songs. This was also a place where he could entertain a mix of friends and business associates without the Paparazzi hounding his every move.
Prince’s distaste for 21st-century technology also fed into the Paisley Park’s no-cell-phone policy. In Prince’s time, restricting access to cell phones no doubt made Paisley Park its own island. You also won’t find any clocks like a casino.
If you were unique and interesting enough to be invited to Prince’s home he had a few rules. You were greeted by a person at a desk before entering and were informed that Prince’s staff would order you food but this it is a meat-free building. If you wanted to eat meat you would have to take it outside into your car or bus that you traveled in. Also, no curse words. If you did, it was $20 each curse word.
The sprawling estate included a section with a climate-controlled vault that housed thousands of reel tapes from Prince’s various shows. There were lyrics in the patterns on the carpet. Gold cages with doves in them and male and female signs on the bathroom doors. Downstairs housed all his clothes, a tour bus, a purple BMW 840 and the Purple Rain motorcycle.
After you walk into the front of the home into the lobby, you will first notice the symbol Prince used when he changed his name from Prince to the symbol. You will also see grand second-floor balconies and clouds painted on the walls. The ceiling is made up of pyramid-shaped skylights.
The first floor has production complex including recording studios, a sound stage, and a rehearsal hall. The recording studios included no windows so that Prince could utilize the space without having to know what time of day it was; therefore, he could work at any time.
The second floor includes private quarters, executive offices, and a vault. This is where Prince kept his unreleased, rare music, master recordings, and video recordings.
The home also includes a music room donned with purple lighting and a nightclub that could hold 100 people.
After his death, Paisley Park was turned into a museum to honor Prince’s legacy. He planned it all along. Think Elvis’ Graceland. Now legions of Prince fans can have unprecedented access to his once private estate and musical sanctuary.
Fans can take tours of the complex and view his personal archives, including iconic concert wardrobe, awards, musical instruments, and unique artwork. And based on the experience they choose, it varies.
A 70-minute general tour takes guests into the first floor, which includes the recording studios, concert hall, and nightclub. The most emotional part of the tour is by far the urn which houses Prince’s remains that sits in the first-floor atrium.
Honor Thy Mother and Father But not Thy Step Father
Prince was destined to have musical talent as he was born to Mattie Della, a jazz singer, and John Lewis Nelson, a pianist, and songwriter. They named their son after John’s stage name, “Prince”. He also had a band called the Prince Rogers Trio. Prince had a younger sister named Tyka, who was born in 1960.
Prince’s parents divorced when he was ten years old, and his mother remarried Hayward Baker, with whom he had a strained relationship. They had a son named Omarr. Prince lived with his parents in the Minneapolis area throughout his entire childhood. “Purple Rain”, the film that was developed to showcase his talents was semi-autobiographical of his own life which depicted his troubled relationship with his step father. While “Purple Rain” was only budgeted at just over $7 million to make, it grossed over $70 million.
Prince released the soundtrack album, Purple Rain, the same year the film was released. He wrote all of the songs on the album and every song was performed by him and his band “The Revolution”.
Several singles from the album were huge hits for Prince. “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” both reached number one in the U.S. “Purple Rain” reached number two and “I Would Die 4 U” reached number eight. The album itself also was number one on Billboard’s 200 charts.
Purple Downpour
Prince adamantly refused to drink alcohol or use recreational drugs throughout his entire career. However, an autopsy revealed that Prince died from an accidental drug overdose of fentanyl. Some say the drug is 50 times more powerful than heroin.
Later it was revealed that the icon was addicted to prescription pills. Authorities searched Paisley Park to find massive amounts of prescription pill bottles prescribed to varying people.
Many close to him say they knew he has in incredible pain from years of performing but had no idea he had such a severe dependence on the deadly drugs.
Although he refused to become a slave to the record companies he eventually became a slave to his own success. Isolated from the world and keeping a dark secret hiding his addiction to prescription drugs, his enormous talent was swallowed up by the ugly side of success.
The beginning of his “Purple Downpour” can be traced back to a tragic event in Prince’s life which was the death of his only son Amiir Nelson. Born October 16, 1996, Amiir lived a week after birth from Pfeiffer Syndrome, a genetic disorder that includes the fusing of skull bones which affects the shape of the baby’s head and face. Prince was forever affected by this and rarely, some say never, spoke about it.
Silent Giver
As a member of the Jehovah’s Witness, Prince was not allowed to discuss his humanitarian work. After his death friends revealed his giving heart and how he kept it silent until now.
#YesWeCode, an organization which gives underprivileged kids an entrance into the tech industry.
Fifteen major technology companies working with kids getting them ready to have jobs in Silicon Valley.
“Green For All,” an advocacy group for green energy and social justice
There are people who have solar panels on their houses right now in Oakland, California in which Prince provided free of cost
Free concert for deaf and blind students at the peak of his popularity.
Not much more you can say about this.
There’s also all the small but still so significant kindness that we are just learning about now but others we will never know. Donated $1 million to the Harlem Children’s Zone, a non-profit organization for poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem. He also donated $250,000 to the Uptown Dance Academy when he found out they were going to lose their space back in 2014. Thanks to the donation, the studios were able to remain open. Surprise appearances to schools in Minnesota and random acts of financial kindness for people all over the world. Prince knew what it was to be poor and feel awkward in a cruel world.
Final Act
Prince gave a final concert in which he cryptically gave a performance at the Fox Theater in Atlanta Georgia on Thursday, April 14, 2016. This was an epic one — and unbeknownst to the music legend or his fans, it would also be his last.
After returning home to rest on April 15, Prince responded to fans who took in his last performance. On Sunday, April 17, the music icon tweeted at a concertgoer:
“I’ve barely slept since that nite. #FeelingRejuvenated #FeelingInspired #FeelingLoved.”
The iconic performer, who was found dead at his Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on Thursday, April 21 2016, gave it his all in his final performance, closing out the night with an emotional rendition of his 1984 hit “Purple Rain.”
In footage obtained by Us Weekly, the musician sits alone at a piano, the stage lights glowing purple and pink to illuminate his presence. At different moments throughout the song, he can be seen swaying back and forth on the bench, caught up in the moment. However, TMZ reported that hours after the show, early in the morning on Friday, Prince’s plane had to make an emergency landing on its way back to Minnesota to get him medical help. His rep later released a statement saying that the musician was suffering from flu like symptoms and that he was released from the hospital three hours later.
One concertgoer tells Us Weekly, “He sang well and was emotive and just incredible, of course. He didn’t seem unwell.”
Another fan who attended the show tells Us, “He sounded amazing and he looked great. But I know he had to reschedule due to the flu and then he had some complications after the concert.”
The “Purple Rain” singer canceled two shows in early April due to the flu. Although he still felt ill, Prince performed to the fullest on the April 14 Final Live performance.
When Doves Cry
Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson reports that on April 21, 2016, at about 9:43 am, sheriff’s deputies responded to a medical call at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen. When deputies and medical personnel arrived, they found an unresponsive adult male in the elevator. First responders attempted to provide lifesaving CPR, but were unable to revive the victim. He was pronounced deceased at 10:07 am. He has been identified as Prince Rogers Nelson (57) of Chanhassen.
Prince was dropped off at his recording compound Paisley Park by friends at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, April 21, 2016. When staffers could not reach him Thursday morning, they went to the complex and found him slumped in an elevator, alone and unresponsive on the first floor of the $10 million, 65,000 square foot recording and residential compound in the Minneapolis suburb Chanhassen. Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said Prince’s body had no signs of trauma when he was found.
“We have no reason to believe at this time that it was a suicide. ,” Olson said.
There was apparently no security on duty. Olson called Prince “a very private person” and said it was customary for the singer to be alone at the sprawling compound.
Ironically, Prince articulated to a back-up singer and friend during his brief recovery about almost losing his life six days before he actually did:
“I had to fight for my life. I remember hearing your voices from afar and saying to myself, ‘Follow the voices, follow the voices, get back in your body, you gotta to do this.’ And he said it was the hardest thing he’d ever done, to get back into his body like that.”
According to a Prince autopsy report, heavy drug use culminated in a tragic overdose. Specifically, the official cause of death is listed at ‘Fentanyl toxicity,’ , a drug overdose from an extremely potent type of painkiller.
Typically, fentanyl is administered for heart surgeries and late-stage cancer victims, with an immediate burst of extreme opioid effects. This is one of the most powerful drugs in the world, and is described as carrying 100 times the potency of morphine, and 50 times the potency of pure heroin.
All of which opens the question of how Prince obtained such a powerful prescription, which was obviously too much for his body to handle. Typically, the drug is administered to people experiencing excruciating pain, and carries a very high risk of fatal overdose. Prince’s autopsy report also confirms that the singer was cremated shortly after his death. That will hopefully curb lingering conspiracy theories related to the singer’s final resting place.
My generation has lost so many iconic artists in the last ten years or so, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. Prince enters the Mount Rushmore of brilliant singers and songwriters who burned out on drugs. No different then other generational artists from other decades but for me it was personal because they (Like Prince) were a stamp on my adolescent years. I recently went to a concert at the St. George Theater on Staten Island where my wife and I saw Taylor Dayne perform. She took a personal moment to mention the same stars who had past in last several years and how she was really impacted by their death because she too grew up with them in the music world. Taylor shared moments of when she was at the MTV awards and had passing moments with these super stars and how sad the music world is without them.
Prince was another one of those highly talented, tortured, mysterious souls that kept you wanting more of him no matter how strange he appeared to be. He loved Minnesota, he loved to write songs, and he loved his fans. He lived and created music in the state he was born in and walked among the community as a normal citizen. I think it is safe to say that he was one of a kind.
