Prince‘s born day, June 7th was celebrated all over the world. The prolific musician would have been 58 years old. The Governor of Minnesota, Marc Dayton, declared June 7th “Prince Day” in his state. But celebrating Prince’s life and music doesn’t have to end.
There is so much music that he left behind – 37 studio albums and 5 soundtrack albums, including Batman and Purple Rain. And on June 26, BET will pay homage to his genius with what should be an epic tribute during the BET Awards.
If you are looking to find out more about the artist you thought you knew, now that there’s so much video flooding the web, here are the 7 top performances online (at least for the moment).
1. “Love We Make”
2. “Purple Rain” American Music Awards 1985
3.NAACP Awards 2005
4. “Baby I’m A Star/Take Me With You” Landover, MD 1985
5. “Cool” Welcome To America Tour North Carolina 2011
6. ‘Nothing Compares To You’ with Mary J. Blige Inglewood, CA 2011
7. “Daddy Pop” Arsenio Hall Show, 1991
7 Prince Online Groups To Celebrate His Life And Music
On Facebook:
More Than 7 Prince Collaborators Online:
7 Overlooked Prince Songs You Should Know:
1.”Way Back Home” – Art Official Age (2014)
2.”Black Muse” – HitNRun Phase 2 (2015)
3. “5 Women” – The Vault -Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)
4. “Colonized Mind” – LotusFlower (2009)
5. “Family Name” The Rainbow Children (2001)
6. “Savior” – Emancipation (1996)
7. “And God Created Woman” Symbol Album (1992)
7 Prince Albums You Need To Hear
1, Art Official Age (2014)
Ironically, this album is all about mortality (and sexuality) with Prince musing on the afterlife and opening up to a new love.
Essential Tracks: “Way Back Home,” “The Breakdown”
2, The Rainbow Children (2009)
Thought of as a “religious album” that reflected Prince’s embrace of the Jehovah Witness faith, it’s does have spiritual overtones, but is truly more about a humanist philosophy of unity among all people that includes some sharp observations about racism.
Essential Tracks: “Family Name” and “The Everlasting Now.”
3, HitNRun Phase 2 (2015)
The last album Prince would release in his lifetime, this is the Phase 2 of a two-disc set released at different times. While he let newbie producer Joshua Welton collaborate and do some production on Phase 1, Prince handles things himself on the superior Phase 2.
Essential Tracks: “Black Muse” “Revelation”
4. The Vault Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)
Once considered a throwaway album of vault songs to fulfill a Warner Brothers contract, it just goes to show that even Prince’s “throwaway” music was stellar.
Essential Tracks: “When The Lights Go Down” “5 Women”
5. LotusFlower (2009)
Probably one of Prince’s most underrated releases, the 2-CD set is chock-full of really great music.
Essential Tracks: “Dreamer,” “Colonized Mind”
6. GoldNigga (1993)
If you can find it, it’s one of the funkier, more hip-hop, more profane records of Prince’s career. It was a limited release.
Essential Tracks: “Black MF’s In The House,” “Call The Law”
7. The Gold Experience (1995)
Some Prince fans know this well, but for others this may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle of the almost 40 albums in Prince’s vast catalogue.
Essential Tracks: “Shhh” “I Hate U”
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(Photo Source: Getty)
