Remembering Prince

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Republished from Social Biz Babes, with permission. Original post date: April 21, 2016. Social Biz Babes is merging with The Awesome Muse.

Rest in Peace, Sweet Prince.

Prince! NO! Not you too!

My first reaction to Prince’s passing is unprintable. It hurts. It was a true punch in the gut. I saw the news on Facebook, and I lost my breath. I didn’t want to believe it… But it’s true. I’m devastated.

Growing up as a child of the 80s, Prince was one of the greats. Purple Rain posters decorated the walls of practically all of my friends’ rooms. The soundtrack to my childhood and teen years involved many of his songs. Even though my family thought his music was a bit too provocative for a girl to listen to, I always managed to sneak in some listening when they weren’t looking. I definitely remember getting in trouble for listening to “Darling Nikki.”  But Prince rocked, so I risked it anyway. It was worth the risk! And I am glad that I did.

Prince taught me that it’s okay to be me.

Prince taught me a lot. He taught me to be myself. To be comfortable being a creative. Prince’s message was to embrace being different because it was worth celebrating. He taught me to let my freak flag fly and to wave it loud and proud. And that’s stayed with me into adulthood.

While I have so many great memories involving his music, Prince was about so much more than being a musician. He was a connector. He brought people together.

“Kiss”… and that one time on a bus in London…

One of my favorite memories involving his music was when I lived in England. I was on a bus from London on my way home to Cambridge after a weekend trip with friends. Most of the people on the bus were not native speakers of English.

Prince’s song “Kiss” came on, and regardless of my fellow passengers’ language or fluency level in English, every single person on the bus was singing along “smooch smooch smooch smooch… KISS!” when that lyric came on the radio. And we all roared with laughter! The bus had been very quiet before that moment. We all had a chuckle when we realized what we all shared in common. A lot of great conversations came about that night.

Prince brought every one together. He was truly a connector as well as a music icon. Prince knew how to tap into our consciousness and find that commonality that we felt comfortable sharing. And we all had a nugget of rock n roll inside of us. And it came out.

We didn’t have social media back then. Yes, I’m dating myself. Shhhh…. We actually had to write emails and letters to our friends at home to share stories like this. And this story was one that I’ve told many times. Prince facilitated a camaraderie among perfect strangers like what you can sometimes find via social media. You can find others who share an interest or a kindred spirit and connect.

I will miss Prince’s artistry tremendously. 2016 has been a difficult year for losing icons. To celebrate his memory, tonight I think I’ll party again like it’s 1999.

Further reading about Prince on The Awesome Muse

Jaunique Sealey used to work for Prince. He was her mentor.  She has shared a guest post with us to commemorate the one year anniversary of Prince’s death.

Republished from Social Biz Babes, with permission.