This is a true fact.
I went to the Prince concert in summer of 2013 (already a devoted fan) and my life forever changed. He gave me the courage to perform and create. I started guitar lessons and writing songs, and singing publicly for the first time in my life and did insane research on how he got where he was.
If he started his dream at 17, (first album release) I believed I could also.
Without the start of those musical skills, I wouldn’t have ever been ready to audition for my first MT show later that semester, get in, and decide that it’s what I wanted to do with my life.
So thank goodness for artists that inspire. =((
PurpleRain
HIs music was an integral part of the soundtrack accompanying my college years. We may have been known to party like it was 1999. “Party over. Oops out of time”. Can’t believe it.
Thanks for sharing. I second the not believing it part. @mom4bwayboy
I am going to date myself - but in the fall of my freshman year of college (1984), I went with a bunch of girlfriends to see the Purple Rain tour down at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. I will never forget that night - and surely Prince was a huge part of the soundtrack of my high school, college years and beyond. When I first saw the news, I searched to be sure it wasn’t a hoax. Sad day.
@kategrizz I saw it at the Omni in Atlanta fall of my freshman year at Ga Tech! One of the best concerts ever!
I’ll happily out myself.
I saw Purple Rain at the theater at least 10 times. And then when it came out on VHS, I bought it and promptly watched it every day after school for a solid year. 30+ years later and I can still annoy DH by reciting all the dialogue in advance when we’d watch it on tv … like yesterday on MTV.
My MT kid texted me the news yesterday while I was out shopping because she knew I’d be shocked. Just a sad, sad day overall.
Yeah 
@KaMaMom I too had to text my dad and let him know. He was (is) our favorite and we bonded immensely over his music, and he bought me “Purple Rain” on Blu-Ray this past Christmas, ah… so this is very hard.
Can only imagine what it would have been like to see that concert in person, as I saw it on the 30th anniversary! @kategrizz @jbrideau @KaMaMom At least we have the memories. #-o
Heck, we have the purple vinyl Purple Rain around here somewhere … I need to dig that out.
I have this super cool Purple Rain T Shirt that says “Dearly Beloved we are gathered here today, to get through this thing called life.”
This is so silly, but I’m a huge beach lover. When we’re in Florida, I spend hours looking for natural treasures on the beach and in the Gulf. One of my favorite and most challenging things to find are purple whips, which are thin, purple coral. As I walk along searching for them, I find myself singing, “Purple whip, purple whip…” to Purple Rain over and over and over…
Purple Rain, When Doves Cry, sigh. . . I’m pretty sure it was the album with Little Red Corvette on vinyl that my dorm mates got sick of hearing through the walls.
And who DIDN’T have a lacy-sleeved shirt with a jabot to be worn under a frock coat? I did my best to coif my white-girl-strait hair into an asymmetrical punk cut with a point of bangs hanging dramatically over one eye (somewhat more successful than the preceding Farah Fawcett do). Perhaps it was inevitable that one of my kids would come to love to dressing up and singing on stage. I hope Prince had even the tiniest sense of how many “outsiders” he empowered over the decades of his iconoclastic career.
I hope he knows too. The media support and broadway tributes are bringing tears to my eyes! If you haven’t seen “the color purple” cast or the “hamilton” cast honor him last night you simply must go to these links! It’s heart wrenching. And exactly what Prince would have wanted… A giant party of music and dance in his name.
The color purple - Prince tribute
https://youtu.be/W6KUTL0PXl0
Hamilton - Prince tribute
https://youtu.be/l82Zhciehes
@myloves @mom4bwayboy
Carrying tissues everywhere today.
Cynthia Erivo makes me weep in the Color Purple tribute and i have watched 5 times.
and because of the forum… she went to the same college my ex did… East London Polytech. Though she had the good sense to move on and take up theatre
@KTVoice Cynthia Erivo is so awesome! I love Jennifer Hudson, but I will dare say that Cynthia out sings her *Gasp. I was so excited when they posted this tribute. I am still not over being able to experience The Color Purple a few weeks ago. I weep every time I listen to “I’m Here”. Her Prince tribute, AMAZING!