The world officially said goodbye to Prince Rogers Nelson, famously known as Prince, on Saturday in a private service with only close friends and family.
Fans left flowers, cards, posters-majority were the color purple-outside Paisley Park on Saturday just to pay their respects to the fallen legend.
Prince had an emergency landing on his private jet on his way back from performing in Atlanta on April 14 and week later was found unconscious in his home elevator Thursday morning.
“If you saw him on Saturday, you wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong with him,” Lars Larson, a Paisley Park security guard, told the New York Times.
Rumors are swarming around about the cause of Prince’s death, saying that it was the flu, aids, murder, and suicide and even though Prince was known to have lived a clean and healthy life, drugs are being investigated in the autopsy report.
While his cause of death remains unknown, his legacy will always be remembered.
The seven-time Grammy award winner earned wide fame in the ‘80s with hit albums like 1999 and Purple Rain with hit songs such as “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.”
Prince was born on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to two musicians: his father, John Nelson, who went by Prince Rogers as his stage name, and his mother Mattie Shaw, who was a jazz singer.
So young Prince naturally became interested in music. He taught himself how to play the drums, piano, and the guitar.
He eventually formed his own band in high school.
Prince signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1978 and dropped his first album titled For You.
He basically played all the instruments on it as well.
He made the Top 20 pop hits chart with his second album in 1980 with “I Wanna Be Your Lover.”
The singer became internationally famous in 1982 when dropped 1999, which included top 10 hits like “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious.”
And it wasn’t until 1984 when “Purple Rain” dropped along with the movie of the same name.
The movie made over $70 million in the box office. The song made it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His other hits “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” both hit No. 1.
Prince’s eighth album, Parade, included another one of his No. 1 hits “Kiss.”
Parade was also the soundtrack for his second movie Under the Cherry Moon.
Prince has collaborated with a number of artists in his lifetime including Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Patti Labelle, Janelle Monae and many others.
Prince changed his name to O(+> from 1993 to 2000.
The symbol combined the male and female astrological symbols.
This was after the lack of success of his Love Symbol album, which released in 1992.
He started appearing at shows with the “SLAVE” written on his face, making a bold statement of the disparagement he had with Warner Bros. Over the next decade Prince continued to do what he does best.
He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2007 he performed at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show, which was watched by 140 million fans.
Besides being a Jehovah’s Witness, Prince was known for his extremely private life.
He dated his guitarist’s twin, Susannah Melvoin. He also dated a couple of members of his band including his drummer Sheila E. and backup singer Mayte Garcia, whom he ended up marrying in 1996. They had a son in October of the same year, but he passed away one week later. They divorced in 2000 and Prince married again in 2001 to Manuela Testolini, who he divorced five years later. After the divorce he became romantically involved with one of his music mentee Bria Valente.
Prince spent most of time out the lime light at his private estates, Paisley Park.
Grambling’s own Regina Love, Kassandra Merritt, and Will Sutton got to visit Paisley Park for a dance party during the National Association Of Black Journalists convention in Minnesota last August.
Sutton, a mass communication lecturer and former NABJ president, said she heard that Prince had invited people at the NABJ convention over, so they ordered several buses to get them down to Paisley Park.
“It was a Par-Tay!” said Sutton. “I don’t know who the deejay was, but he was on point. It was amazing.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Prince,” said Love, a senior from Kansas City, Missouri. “I was introduced to his music back in elementary school. Having the opportunity to go to his estate for a party was priceless.”
Although, it did, however, cost $20 to get in, according to Merritt, a senior from Montgomery, Alabama. He only came out to speak, announce his upcoming project and thank them for coming out.
“I expected to see him perform,” said Merritt, “but it’s Prince! Just seeing him was worth more than that!”
Sutton added he will not forget that night at his place.
Prince has roots in Louisiana, with ancestors from Claiborne, Webster, Bienville and Lincoln parishes. His maternal grandfather was the one who moved to Minnesota.