I'd been sitting in the garden working away on my laptop and stopped for two minutes to grab a quick snack when my younger sister came rushing the down the stairs with her phone in hand. 'I'm really sorry about Prince, Robyn' she said to me. There was a blank look upon my face as I tried to comprehend exactly what she'd told me. 'Prince passed away' she said. For a moment I thought she was joking but realised by her serious look that she wasn't joking. I immediately popped on my iPod and was met by articles plastered all over social media; I'd only been offline for a few minutes and they'd all suddenly appeared. Needless to say I was and still absolutely devastated! I am a huge Prince and this was the last thing I expected to hear today!
I actually spent the morning before heading to a medical appointment in HMV going through albums and stopping to have a conversation with my Mum about Prince as I looked through his albums and wondered when he'd released the Hit n' Run Part 2 album here in the UK. Later on, after my radio show this afternoon we stopped at Sainsbury's to do the weekly shopping and popped into the café for a refreshment as I was extremely thirsty from talking so much. As we were sitting chatting, Sinead O'Conner's cover of 'Nothing Compares 2 U' which was originally written by Prince began to play.And then this sad news broke out-strange or what?
I decided to write a tribute here on my blog as I'm sure many of you have probably gather by now, I am a very big fan of his. To some degree I've always been familiar with Prince's music but didn't truly appreciate it until I met my music tutor a few years ago who introduced me to the world of Prince. Thanks to him I was jamming along to Prince's music just weeks after I first picked up a bass guitar.
Back in 2014 Prince announced a UK tour and one of the dates just so happened to be in Glasgow. I was beyond hyper as I often told my parents that Prince was on my concert bucket list. You know what it's like nowadays; ticket prices are ridiculous and I just couldn't afford the prices. I was just fifteen years old after all and well, pocket money doesn't exactly stretch that far particularly when the concert was just three weeks away! Somehow, I came across Prince's manager's email address and decided to contact her, a couple of days later I was sitting in my room, crimping my hair and decided to check my emails out of boredom when my eyes fell upon a reply to my email from Prince's manager. She said she would like to invite me to Prince's show as a guest. Can yo imagine my excitement? I was shaking as I read it; didn't expect to actually receive a response! I immediately burst into my Mum's room to share the exciting news-I was actually going to see Prince in concert!
On the lead up to the gig, I listened non-stop to his music and watched some of the very few videos on YouTube. Then the day of the gig came and funnily enough, Chris Evans was even playing Raspberry Beret on the radio that morning! I dressed in purple and wore a long, cream coloured jacket covered in fringes. I have to admit it was quite fun arriving at the box office to pick up my tickets and actually having MY name on Prince's guest list! As we were waiting on the show to begin I was pretty sure I spotted the pop singer Lorde in the crowd as she happened to be in Glasgow that weekend.
I remember the lights dimmed and the music began and they had a big curtain up on stage which dropped down to reveal the band as they began playing 'Let's Go Crazy', a song I'd been learning on bass. Throughout the show he performed back to back hits. What really caught my attention and blew me away was hearing 'Purple Rain' live, right there in front of me. It was a magical moment which blew me away. Hearing him perform that inspired me tremendously and from there on in I think it'll always have that have that breath-taking affect on me. I wanted to play instruments like Prince; I wanted to be good enough to one day work with Prince. Sadly, that'll never happen but I'll continue to play, learn and be the best I can be! I remember at the end of the show, Prince left the stage and returned moments later with a big bundled of balloons in his hand and let them go into the audience and that was the last moment I ever saw Prince.
When I left the Hydro that night, I never imagined that, that would be the first and last time I'd ever see Prince. I've always said that one day I'd see him again but sadly I won't. I am however, glad I got the opportunity to see him during his final show in Glasgow. It's times like this that makes me realise that I should ALWAYS take every opportunity that comes my way in life. You never know what tomorrow might bring and you might one day regret the things you missed out on.
Tomorrow, I plan on wearing purple in tribute to Prince and would love to see as many people get involved so whether it's painting your nails purple, sporting a purple scarf or wearing purple from head to toe; why not get involved! Send me your photos of your purple outfits and perhaps a few lines about why Prince inspired you or your favourite Prince song and if I get enough I'll feature some here on my blog! To send them in email using the following email address: thequeenofhats14@gmail.com.
Before I go I want to say Thank-You to Prince for all of the amazing music he gave the world, for giving me some great tunes to listen through some difficult times over the past few years and for inspiring me to fight for what I believe in and being a massive influence to me as a young musician. I'm sure his music and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come!
Rest in Peace Prince,
I love you! xxx
