Prince Drummer Bobby Z Shares Recovery Story

MINNEAPOLIS - He’s a Minnesota music legend who played drums with other state greats like Prince, but a recent heart attack nearly cost him the beat that keeps him alive.

Robert Rivkin, better known as Bobby Z, was released from the hospital in February after doctors implanted three stints in his chest. Now, after spending the last few months letting his heart heal, he says he’s doing well on the road to recovery.

“My expression is, ‘I’m back in the saddle, but the horse is a little slower,’” he quipped.

It came as a shock for fans to learn that the man who helped Prince keep the beat as the drummer for his backup band, The Revolution, had suffered a heart attack. Yet, Rivkin said there were signs beforehand.

“There was a build-up,” he said. “We do have denial of our bodies -- especially men -- sometimes.”

Rivkin said it began in late January, when the pains he had been feeling in his neck, chest and elbow -- thought to be due to a pinched nerve after years of drumming -- became too much to bear.

Finally, his wife, Vicki, convinced him to go to the emergency room at Fairview Southdale, where he quickly took a turn for the worse.

“They basically said, ‘Goodbye,’” Rivkin recounted. “Sounds like it was pretty heavy duty. I’m glad I was asleep for it, but I’m glad I woke up from it to see everyone ecstatic and happy. I’ve never seen faces like that. Literally, like they’ve seen a ghost.”

As news of his condition spread, Rivkin’s family heard from former bandmates, including the purple one himself.

“He talked to my wife, Vicki, he talked to my son, Joey,” Rivkin said. “I think there is a connection that we had in the beginning that is very strong. I think the emotions tugged on him pretty good.”

In fact, during a series of sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, the man who one wrote a song called “Condition of the Heart” dedicated one of his most popular numbers -- “Nothing Compares to You” -- to his ailing friend.

“This song is dedicated to Bobby Z,” Prince said at the show. “There are a lot of people who helped me along the way. He’s one of them.”

Rivkin said the outpouring of love from fans around the world was both unexpected and overwhelming, and it helped him recover.

“It was the wind at my back that pushed me out of the hospital,” recalled Rivkin.

Now that he’s been to the brink of death and back, Rivkin said he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I wish I could tell you where I went, but I went somewhere and came back -- and that does make you feel like you were part of a miracle or you dodged a bullet,” he said.

Rivkin said he is telling his story to encourage other men his age -- particularly those with a family history of heart disease -- to not ignore those body aches and pains because they could be minor heart attacks.

Rivkin plans to take part in the American Heart Association’s annual heart walk at Target Field a week from Saturday.