Most Prince fans can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the reports of his death in 2016.
I was running around the halls of the radio station trying to finish up my work in time to catch a flight out of town. One of my co-workers leaned out of an office and offered his condolences to me but I had no idea what he was talking about.
As he relayed the news to me that they found Prince unresponsive at Paisley Park, I couldn’t process it. I didn’t have time to ask a lot of questions or sit down at a computer to get the story myself, I had a plane to catch.
When I finally boarded and got into my seat for the flight I threw in my headphones and played my Prince playlist. It didn’t take long before I was overcome with emotions. My musical hero had passed and the loss was personal.
This year marks the 7th anniversary of his passing and as I reflect on his legacy and the special memories I have of meeting him, dancing on stage with him, and DJing for him, I thought I’d share 5 amazing songs Prince gave to other artists.
Prince first released “I Feel For You” in 1979 off the self-titled album before Chaka Khan covered it in 1984. The song earned Chaka Khan two Grammy Awards.
Prince originally gave the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” to one of his band projects, The Family in 1985 but it was singer Sinéad O’Conner who allowed the song to reach its full potential by covering it in 1990. Billboard named it the “#1 World Song” of that year.
The 80’s all-girl group, The Bangles achieved huge success with the Prince-penned “Manic Monday” in 1986. Three years after his passing, the Prince estate released a posthumous album entitled ‘Originals’ which includes his demo of the song.
You can see the remaining songs and compare the remakes with Prince‘s versions below:
