The last few days have been something of an emotional roller coaster for me, as someone who is the same age as Prince and who has followed his career from start to finish. Prince Rogers Nelson's untimely death at 57 has deprived the world of one of its greatest polymaths and on Friday I was compelled to give a talk on his life, creative contribution and perform some of his songs at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money Lounge. Whilst preparing to give the talk I listened to Marvin Gaye's rendition of "Abraham, Martin and John" and finally broke down in tears - I always think "better out than in" smile and 10 minutes of uncontrollable sobbing gave me enough energy to carry the rest of the day without losing control. I also recalled our wedding day some 22 years ago - we had "The Beautiful Ones" as our wedding dance, much to the surprise of my Father in Law, once the screaming started ... smile As part of my own cathartic release of energy surrounding this very sad event, what then can I say about the man behind the controversy, sexual ambiguity, a symbol which journalists could not type on a keyboard and platform shoes that has not been said already in the media?

Anatomy of a Prince

I'd suggest Prince has a Myers Briggs typology in the area of INFP - That's Introvert, iNtuitive, Feeler, Perceiver - if you are not familiar with Myers Briggs, do check out MBTI. Views vary, with some arguing that he is an ISFP, but I'd argue that Prince has become more iNtuitive than a "Sensor" over time - perhaps why I feel so connected to him as a near neighbour on the MBTI profile. INFP's are often logical, unique, reserved, curious and experimental as musicians. Prince demonstrates these qualities in spades if one looks behind the stage at the artist within. Contrary to popular views, Prince is quite the Introvert and had to work hard at "learned extroversion" after he was caught speechless at an early stage of his career in a TV interview with Dick Clark. He vowed never ever to let that happen again and clearly manages his "on stage performance personality", as well as having his inner solitary thinking self, quite literally via his "man cave", aka Paisley Park. Many people around Prince's MBTI type are inventors and innovators - Examples include Jimi Hendrix, Lady Gaga, Robert Fripp, Bob Moog, J.K.Rowling, Albert Einstein, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, Princess Diana and Rene Descartes. We have some great comments in this post on MBTI and other issues such as dyslexia and autism - go check them out. Comments from my good friends Bill Nelson and Patti Russo sum up the inner artist behind the on stage extrovert: