Last update: March 17, 2004 at 6:07 PM
Testimonials: Prince's peers pay him tribute
March 18, 2004MUSPRI
An assortment of big names in music offer their praise for Prince:

Missy Elliott: Prince is a genius. He's opened so many outlets, not just R&B music. He has taken it somewhere else. Sometimes you get people that's so much of a genius that they become far ahead of people. That's the type of person he is. I can't even explain it, but it's a good thing.

Joe Perry of Aerosmith: His name was on my ballot. He's an art form unto himself. He's an amazing talent. He stands up for what he believes in and makes no bones about it. He kept creating in spite of the industry. Fortunately, he was commercially successful in the beginning to support his habit.

Al Green: His contributions have been tremendous. He's a super artist. To me, Prince don't have as many blemishes as a lot of other super-superstars with these different elements that they get themselves into. Prince has got a space in here and it's just for him and can't nobody take it. Just like you can't take the Four Tops' space, you can't take Al's space, you can't take Aretha's space, Prince has got a piece of this puzzle.

Joan Osborne (whose hit "One of Us" was covered by Prince): I think he's a genius. I've seen him in concert a number of times and he's probably the only one who can lay claim to carrying on the mantle that people like James Brown and Sly Stone kind of raised up as live performers. He's the only guy who can claim to be that next generation of that kind of incredible performer. I've never seen anything like it. He's so talented. It's like he's living on some other planet of talent from the rest of us.

I can see how someone with his talent and his ability to generate as much material as he does could be frustrated. It's nice to see somebody take on those big corporate entities and stand up for himself and try to come up with a different paradigm and a different model for how music can be made, distributed and enjoyed. Because we certainly need that now.

Lars Ulrich of Metallica: I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Prince first and foremost because he challenges the status quo. Anyone who plays by his own rules, that's great. I relate to his individuality. He's not part of a scheme, not part of a wave, not part of a fashion, not part of a trend. He's his own damn thing. That's absolutely cool.

Terry Lewis: After watching Prince, who's my all-time favorite, on the Grammys, you could see how much talent at that level is missed. He's so far ahead of everything else. Prince loves music. He lives, breathes, is -- Prince is music. He is truly one of the cats that is married to the music. He doesn't compromise that. And not a particular brand of music -- music in general. He can pick up any instrument and play it better than you if it's your main instrument. He hears melodies, he hears notes that you don't. He's just a musical genius that comes very, very, very seldom in a person's lifetime.

He'll make you go way past where you perceive your mortal threshold to be, and you'll end up way on the other side where you thought you could never get. He's a master at that. Taking a mediocre staff and turning it into something special. Hard work, drilling, mind-control manipulation. He's brilliant at all those things. He's a great leader. He's a general. If I was in a musical fox hole, he would definitely be the cat I could follow.

Bette Midler: I think Prince is a genius. I've always thought Prince was a genius. Because he plays every instrument, he writes it all, he arranges it all, he produces it all, he's such a great performer. I adore him. He's had a really curious career. Why, I have no clue? Maybe that's the career he wanted. To me, he's as good as it gets."

I used to say "Prince, Prince, Prince" to my daughter. She used to be "Oh, don't bother me with that Prince" because she was into something else. Then I showed her "Purple Rain" and she said, "Omigod!" because she had no idea. I have everything he ever recorded; I dumped all the CDs in her lap and she's been a Prince fan every since.

Bob Seger (fellow 2004 Hall of Fame inductee): A couple of my light crew were working on the Controversy Tour. They called me and said, "You got to come." They were playing Joe Louis Arena (in Detroit) to 19,500 even though they were getting no radio airplay. I'd never heard of him. I went there and I was just floored. They were so-o-o-o good. He just knocked me out. He reminded me of a young James Brown. Oh my goodness! I bought all of Prince's albums. He's a great artist. There's not too many better.

Paul Stanley of Kiss: Prince has been an innovator and a groundbreaker. From that early album with "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on it, he's somebody I've watched. First time I saw him was in a club in New York in like 1979. The music and the show just blew me away. Although some of what he's done in recent years is a lot more obscure and narrower in its appeal, I admire him tremendously for following his own vision and for having a huge, huge wealth of talent.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty: He's pure genius. His music defined the '80s. To this day, if you put on "Purple Rain," it doesn't sound old. Same thing with "Sign o' the Times." Same thing with "Parade."

Yanni: I think he's brilliant. He does incredible work, he's incredibly creative, he's a brilliant musician.

Anita Baker: People don't even realize what he's done. There's such depth to who he is as a businessman, as an artist, as a producer. When you look at him, he's like this amazing hybrid. It's like James Brown with a guitar, it's Jimi Hendrix, the swagger of Jim Morrison, he's just this amazing hybrid of every artist who ever influenced him. He takes his own outrageousness and sets it on top of those influences -- and then there's the businessman on top of that.

Josh Groban: He's so experimental but such a genius with catchy tunes as well.

Jimmy Jam: He does everything well. Greatest guitar player? You might say Jimi Hendrix, but you'd have to put Prince in the Top 5 of a bunch of categories -- songwriting, performing, musicianship. Maybe he's not No. 1 in any of those, but if you put all that stuff together, he is No. 1. Besides all that, he's a visionary, the way he fused music and film in "Purple Rain" or the way he put his stage shows together or his concepts for things like the Time. All those facets, he does better than anyone else; but somehow it's all in one package. I don't think anybody's done that better.

Kelis: Prince is amazing. He set a precedent for music. He was everything a lot us aspired to be -- from sexy to innovative to incredible musician.

Travis Tritt: I was on the same label, so I saw him at Warner Bros. events. Although I was never a huge fan, I have a lot of respect for him. He's extremely talented, an incredible musican. I respect his musical integrity. He called his own shots and paid his price. He stayed true to his focus.

Sean Lennon: We need a moment of silence for Prince. There are no words to express how talented that guy is.

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