I had the day off, and was spending some quality time with my 4 year old son. The sun was out, we were having an amazing day.

All of a sudden my phone went crazy, skype went crazy, twitter went crazy.

I'm grateful to everyone on the org for your thoughts, memories and passion. It's hard enough to digest this news still, but it would have been way worse without you guys.

Was on a job (currently, although I am a qualified scientist, I work as a domestic cleaner) in a private client's home, with their radio on (they are at work).

Was tuned into an all classic station (didn't wanna mess with their frequency, lol! lest they find out I had turned their stereo on ...such a boring job otherwise though... )..

...In any case, so I'm there in a crappy little appartment in Melbourne Australia, wiping down tables and book shelves in my domestic cleaner job, when on the all-classic radio station, I hear a voice: "We've just found out that Prince has been confirmed as passing away this morning. ....As a change in programming, we will play something different..."

...or something such is how it went...

And they then went to interrupt their all classic (as in violins and orchestras and Beethoven) music to put on, I believe it was "When Doves Cry".

...I was astonished. But I think it took a little while longer to really sink in that ...well, that was it, as far as a lot of the beauty and originality in art that I had experienced in that last 30 or so years was concerned.

....

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

...
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died

[Chorus:]
And they were singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die

[Chorus:]
They were singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye
And singin' this'll be the day that I die

TrivialPursuit said:

I was just sitting here, at home, working. I don't turn the TV on during the day, nor do I have a radio going. I might have music playing. I just like the peacefulness of the day, so i can get work done.

.

A friend that I've known since 1st grade, called me and said "Have you seen the news? There's been a death at Paisley Park." My first thought was actually "Oh dear, a staffer died at Paisley Park? How grim!" By the time I got the news on, my Facebook messenger, and Skype were lighting up. I work contact said "Prince is dead - TMZ is reporting". She swears by TMZ, and rightly so.

.

I couldn't click on the link. It was too much. I always go to GoogleNews to see if someone is trending or not. Sure enough, the headlines were coming in. CNN was reporting he was gone. I eventually hung up the phone, and just watched the news. It was a bit like when we all got the news of 9/11. It was so shocking, and sudden, that all I could do was watch the news to try and understand it, and absorb it.

.

I came here eventually, to read from folks. I cried a lot, and was able to snap a pic in that moment. I needed to dosomething to memorialize the moment more. I was flipping through my vinyl, and grabbed Prince and Purple Rain, held them in my arms, and took one picture.

.

I got so many emails from people - folks I'd not talked to in 20+ years, people from high school, etc., and they all said "you were the first person I thought of. I'm so sorry. You talked about Prince every other day in school, and I always remembered how much his music meant to you." It's weird to see yourself through someone else's eyes like that, and how they perceived you.

.

It was also the same day my mother had passed away 4 years ago, so it was a pretty heavy day. I think I've said this before- but my mother hated Prince, with a passion. I joked with my brother later that day, and said, "Imagine the look on mom's face when Prince showed up this morning." He said, "I thought the same thing." It was the one chuckle I had all day.

IRISHFAN said:

I was on my way to Portugal for a few days for my birthday weekend. Turned on my phone as we waited to get off the plane in Portugal, and the text messages started to fly in. I was in disbelief and felt sick to my stomach. Was with my partner who doesn't really understand and all I wanted to do with get straight back on the plane to be at home with friends so we could try get our heads around it and mourn together. My best friend called me in tears, trying to figure out if we could get to Minneapolis to be with other grieving fans, but realistically we couldn't make it . I can't recall the last time I felt this sad. I was 13 when I became a fan, 32 years ago! Felt part of my youth died too - very sad few weeks and I still can't believe we'll never get to see him live again. The excitment and enjoyment I got from a Prince concert - nothing will ever come remotely close to that experience and feeling. Also saddened to think of him dying alone. I hope it happened quickly and he wasn't in pain As some people have said 'sure you didn't know him!' - and I know that! I'm not crazy but when somebody has been part of your life through their music for such a long time, its natural to feel loss and sadness. Life goes on, we have the music, the videos and the memories, but life's a bit duller now Prince has left us.

You did know him.

Music, and especially his music was/is a direct communication to your soul -an imparting of emotion. It is very intimate.

So, you did know him -a very real aspect of his soul. All of us did. And all of us who resonated with it, have a similar sort of soul to his, I believe.

But you did know him, in a very REAL sense.

To Voilectrica:-

[Edited 5/21/16 7:42am]

Chasing said:

On the train iPod the way home from work, my best Prince mate text me, just said "bro, what the fuck, Prince died" - then I started getting calls, texts, I was just 10 mins from the door of my house. I raced home, my family had the news on watching the reports roll in. I asked them to turn the news off, and I just stood in the lounge put When Doves Cry on, very loud, we all listened in complete silence and we all had tears. Next few days were seriously tough, I have listened to a lot of Prince's music since, almost exclusively, I have felt low ever since, and actually think I am still grieving.

..That's nice, though.

Guitarhero said:

Was at home just got back from night shift work. My sister phoned me and told me, i looked at the news on TV. On top of everything have a family member very ill and with Prince's death just made 2016 the worst year of my life. Am just tired and my sleeping pattern is a mess. I hope others here are coping better.

So sorry to hear all that you are going through

My washer had broken so that morning I took myself off to the launderette. By early afternoon I had arrived back home and just checked the online papers and saw it .. total shock was all I could register.

So just a few weeks later yes I am coping as life has 2go on. But I will never be the same again. Prince came along into my life when I was just 12 years old into a difficult childhood and inspired me musically and spiritually. He gave me hope and aspiration.

When he left this earth, the profundity of his passing and how I feel about it has me puzzled as I cannot describe how deeply I feel about this. Enough to say perhaps, that his music was simply magical to me and I know that no one before or since will ever have the same effect on me.

There'll never be another like him. I'm truly grateful.

It was my older sister's bday and I'm laying in bed on tumblr and it was saying TMZ reported prince dead @ 57 my mama was using the computer and I almost jumped on top of her to use the computer .my sisters called my mom to avoid telling me. Here in Miami WHQT (HOT 105 was playing purple rain on repeat. Even my dad could see how hurt I was. MTV jams played 7 and I broke down.
[Edited 5/21/16 15:52pm]
[Edited 5/21/16 15:53pm]

EloiseEloise said:

I hadn't thought of it that way

CherryMoon57 said:

Guitarhero said:

Was at home just got back from night shift work. My sister phoned me and told me, i looked at the news on TV. On top of everything have a family member very ill and with Prince's death just made 2016 the worst year of my life. Am just tired and my sleeping pattern is a mess. I hope others here are coping better.

So sorry to hear all that you are going through

Hope your ok too.

I had just woken up. It was moving day and I had just spent my last night sleeping in my childhood home. Even though I had spent weeks before mentally preparing myself for this day, I did feel a little emotional that morning just thinking about all the memories my family and I had created in this house. I was a tad nervous about moving and remember just lying in bed for a little while preparing myself for the long day ahead. Suddenly mum walked into my room and said something along the lines of "I'm really sorry to wake you with such horrible news...". My heart sank, thinking that there had been a death in the family.....

"Prince has died." She said.

I remember just lying in bed in absolute shock, glancing over to my picture of Prince still on the wall; waking up to that picture was second nature to me. It was like a bad dream. The first thing I did was bury my head underneath the covers wishing I would wake up from this horrible nightmare. But I soon realised this was all real.

I was in silence for most of the day, avoiding social media and TV because the news was everywhere. I distracted myself with the move and tried my best to ignore the whole thing. I remember mum and I drove to the new house and I started to get an unsettling feeling in my stomach. When I started to unload things from the car I felt a lump in my throat. I held myself together for too long and couldn't hold it any longer. So I hurried into the new house and started balling my eyes out. I was crying for a good hour. The house was literally empty, no furniture, nothing. It was also rainy and cold. April 21st had been scheduled as moving day for months, and I knew it was going to be a strange day for mum and I since I was moving out of the only place I'd ever known as home since I was a kid. I know it's just a house at the end of the day, but the emotions weren't just linked to the house; it's been a challenging time for our family recently and we had no choice but to move. I honestly couldn't believe that Prince would pass on that day. It was so surreal, I still can't believe it.

[Edited 5/23/16 8:42am]

Longtime lurker and fan, but only first time poster... I had just walked home to my apt and sat down on my bed when my friend called me. First thing out of his mouth:

"Uh, I've got some bad news for you."

"What is it?"

"I just heard on the radio that Prince is dead."

...................

My reaction was like "ohhh god! Oh no!! What?? Are you sure?? He had the flu last week, are you sure he just isn't back in hospital??" A couple of other friends reached out to see if I was ok when they heard the news too.

I held up weirdly fine for a couple of hours afterward, listened to his music and danced while doing the dishes, but the tears started later that night. I found some raspberry liquor in my fridge and went outside and poured some out for him. Lol

I'm holding out okay now but once in a while it hits me all over again. Today I watched a live performance of Nothing Compares 2 U he did with Rosie Gaines and cried. Boy, what a loss. I wish more than anything I saw him live at least once but I am still more than grateful his music enriched my life the way it did. He was too otherworldy and too good. I hope you are all doing well... much love

[Edited 5/23/16 9:11am]

joelmarable said:

I was in the classroom teaching when another teacher came over to tell me near the end of the day. i was totally shocked the rest of the day. taught very little just handed out assignments.

were u the teacher in the youtube video?