The Artist

It's been a year of big losses in the music world, but now Prince has died and that's the most shocking of all. I wasn't a big fan of everything he did, but he was, for most of my life, one of the major figures in music--an innovator who made sounds like no one else and sold like few others.

When I was in college, just before Prince became huge, I had a roommate who played his albums all the time, especially Controversy.

Then Prince released 1999 and his music was everywhere. The title song, as well as "Little Red Corvette" and "Delirious" were hits.

But that blockbuster was nothing compared to Purple Rain--album and movie--which included "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy" and the title number.  It also had "Darling Nikki," which offended Tipper Gore so much she founded the PMRC.

By this time I was in law school.  It turned out one of my friends there went to the same high school as Prince.  I guess back in those days Prince Rogers Nelson was just a weird little kid who loved music.

Prince would never again reach the commercial heights of Purple Rain, but he'd keep releasing albums and singles on a regular basis, many of them with fascinating sounds.  And the hits kept coming--songs such as "Raspberry Beret," "Pop Life," "Kiss," "Sign o' the Times," "U Got The Look," "Batdance," "Cream," "Diamonds And Pearls" and so on.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Half of Fame in 2004.  In 2007 he did the Super Bowl halftime show.  A couple years ago he did a mesmerizing medley on Saturday Night Live which showed he still had it.  Prince was a legend, but he was also the kind of artist you figured would always be around.

His regular recordings don't seem to be available on YouTube, so screw it, here's a whole concert from 1982: