NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — Prince fans gathered outside Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater shortly after the news broke on Thursday (April 21) that the innovative music superstar died in Minnesota at the age of 57.
With a loudspeaker playing Prince songs, fans danced and sang Prince’s legendary hits like “Purple Rain” and “When the Doves Cry.”
“I’m still a bit shocked, hurt, but I’m having some wonderful, wonderful fond memories of how Prince’s art just enhanced my life and I’m so thankful that hs shared his gift with us,” said Prince fan Alyce Emory.
Fan Caran Menardy said she was nearby the Apollo when she hear Prince’s music start to play.
“When I looked, I’m like ‘oh my goodness, Purple Rain’ and they started the sound of the music, and I just broke down. I love this man. I mean, look at him. He’s unique, his style, his music. We just love him.”
For fan Arnold Strickland, what impressed him the most was Prince’s wide-ranging musicianship.
“He was just a great, great genius musician. I mean his first album he did all himself, played all 27 instruments at 19-years-old. Definitely an icon, he will certainly be missed,” said Strickland.
Prince was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park Studios compound, which included his home, in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen, according to the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. Emergency workers tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The sheriff’s office said it was investigating the circumstances. The local medical examiner declined to comment on the cause of death.
In midtown Manhattan, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton called an impromptu news conference to give his thoughts about the legacy of the fallen star.
Sharpton said Prince was deeply concerned about social causes, but made his contribution in private, preferring to stay out of the political spotlight.
“I will never forget a few years ago he called me and said ‘I want to get you some funds, and I want you to give it to Trayvon Martin’s family.’ Just out of the clear blue, and I did it. And not long after that he would call and ask about some police matter that we were fighting, some racial profiling. He was very much a humanitarian,” said Sharpton.
An intensely private person, Prince sold more than 100 million records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and his most recent album, “HITnRUN: Phase Two” was released in December 2015.
Prince first found fame in the late 1970s. Over the next three decades, he became known as one of the most inventive and eccentric forces in American pop music.
Often making a statement with bold fashion choices, the diminutive, 5-feet 2-inch-tall (1.57-meter) star sometimes appeared on stage sporting ruffled shirts and tight pants or elaborate costumes, including chain mail covering his face, a shimmery orange tunic with a cane, or bikini briefs.
His influential, genre-defying music blended jazz, funk, R&B, disco and rock, winning seven Grammy Awards and an Oscar.
“He could play like Jimmy Hendrix, dance like James Brown and Michael Jackson covers about 50 percent of what Prince could do. The genius is he could do it all at the same time, all in the same show and entertain different generations at the same time,” added Sharpton.
Born in Minneapolis as Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, he is said to have written his first song at age 7. As well as singing and writing, he played multiple instruments, including guitar, keyboards and drums.
