This past week, Prince died and it has been all the talk. I have to admit that I have not been the biggest Prince fan over the last 30 years. I listened to a lot of bands like the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Greg Brown, or old Waylon Jennings. But before that, I was a big Prince fan! I actually had Prince’s first seven albums, with six of those being vinyl (one was on tape). That is Prince, Prince for You, Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, and Around the World in a Day (in that order). I saw him in concert two nights in a row back in 1984. I was a pretty big fan back then.

Prince – Man of Many Talents

Even though I have not kept up with his career, it is fun to see Prince getting so much attention now, although tragic that it had to be because of his untimely demise. I always felt he was underrated as a musician and written off as a simple pop star. People who paid attention knew that his guitar playing was really second to none. Prince was also a great song writer, with lyrics that were as moving as any of the folk music I later gravitated to. He not only wrote great songs, but wrote many of other stars’ lyrics. These songs included Stand Back by Stevie Nicks, I Feel for You by Chaka Khan, Manic Monday by the Bangles and Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O’Conner (and many more).

Express Yourself

Another cool thing about Prince is he did things his way. We saw how he lived, as he expressed himself through his music, wardrobe, and at concerts. This is something we usually respect with artists, but are often too scared to do in our own lives. In the Animal Leadership System, we talk about four personalities (remember you can take the FREE personality test at www.AnimalLeadership.com) and compare them to one of four great animals of power. Each animal has a trap and one of the faults of the Horse Personality is that it tends to follow the herd and not express individuality until others have made such statements a well-trodden path. Prince was definitely not a Horse-person in this regard.

Death Can Inspire

As I have watched video clips of Prince performing over the years, I am sad that I didn’t pay more attention lately. This is especially true when I see him play with people like Maceo Parker, someone I have been listening too for the last 20 years and who can always get me pumped (see Maceo and Prince at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuBp2Q3oSTw). At the same time, I am getting inspired by his unique spirit, creative genius, and pursuit of fun-loving perfection in everything music.

Whether you were a Prince fan or not, why don’t we all take a little time to think about our own uniqueness, how we like to express ourselves, how we like to create, how we like to live, and then go on with our bad-selves and make sure we are living our legacy today. After all, none of us know how much time we have so we better go out and do the best we can right now. Before you know it, it might be too late to party like it was 1999.

Keep it real,
Rad