As celebration rolled out for Queen Elizabeth in the UK for her 90th birthday, one of the greatest music icon Prince was passing away.
Prince died in the morning of April 21 at age 57 at his Paisley Park home and studio in Minneapolis, his publicist confirmed to the Associated Press.
With his death announced, a lot of facts and representation emerged on social media. Prince was famous for his sexual appeal but amidst all the musical facade, Prince was a conservative Christian – a Jehovah Witness who went from door-to-door in his Minneapolis neighbourhood evangelizing – although the larger community of Christians with in depth knowledge of the God-head hold a different belief to that of the Jehovah Witnesses.
Prince was raised a Seventh-day Adventist and later became a Jehovah’s Witness after a two-year discussion with fellow musician, personal friend, and Jehovah’s Witness, Larry Graham in 2001. Amidst the belief system, Prince held a personal conviction rooted in what his biographer Toure called “my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ” as explained in his book I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon. Toure further said that faith is at the core of much of Prince’s music, something fans may not be able to hear above the beats of his music, furthering that “the amount of discussion of sex is this much,” holding his hands a foot apart, “and the amount of discussion of religion and spirituality and God and Jesus is this much,” doubling the space between his hands during an interview.
The story of his conversion to Jehovah’s Witness became public in a rather remarkable way. The Guardian wrote in 2004: “A newspaper in his hometown reported how a married couple had answered their door to find Prince proffering a copy of the Watchtower. Though they were orthodox Jews, and it was Yom Kippur, they were also Prince fans. They welcomed him into the house.”
There was also a time Prince came out against gay marriage. In a New Yorker profile in 2008, he slighted Republicans and Democrats — “neither of them is getting it right,” he said — but singled out same-sex marriage as part of the Democrats’ notion that “‘You can do whatever you want.”
“God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out,” he told the magazine. “He was, like, ‘Enough’.”, he alluded to the book of Genesis and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He achieved wide fame in the 1980s with ‘1999’ and ‘Purple Rain,’ the latter album also serving as the soundtrack for the popular film of the same name. Later Prince albums included ‘Sign ‘O’ the Times,’ ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ and ‘Musicology.’ He changed his name to a symbol following a feud with his label Warner Bros in the 90s. The symbol was unpronounceable and can be seen as the shape of his guitar. The media referred to him as ‘the artiste formally known as Prince’ at the time up until 2000 when his contract with Warner Bros expired and he took back his name Prince.
Some of his most religious lyrics below:
From “God”
“In the beginning, there was God
He made the earth and the heavens
He gave us light 2 rule the day
And another light 2 rule the night
The Lord, thy God
He made, He made the seas
He made the fruit upon the tree
When He saw
When He saw that it was good
He made a man
He made a man
Only He could, only He could
From “The Holy River”:
“Let’s go down to the holy river
If we drown then we’ll be delivered
You can still see the picture upon the wall
One eye staring at nothing at all
…Every breath you take will make you stronger
Keepin’ you happy
(Happy)
And proud to call His name
(Go’n’ and say it)
Jesus
(Jesus)”
From “Thunder”:
“Like rain falling on a window pane…
…
‘Twas like thunder all thru the night
And a promise to see Jesus in the morning light”
Sources: Washington Post, Religio Magazine, Billboard
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I am sad about prince i truly feel terrible about his death. I am so happy to here he became a christian. Glory be to God. I hope one day when we get to heaven i can high 5 him. May he RIP