It was a sea of purple inside Minneapolis’s Target Center as fans gathered to celebrate a Minnesota icon’s legendary film on July 27. The date marked 40 years since Prince’s Purple Rain was released. The semi-autobiographical box-office hit shows the rise of Prince and helped him achieve worldwide fame.
Inside an arena that was decked out in purple and filled with historic memorabilia from the Purple Rain era, fans watched the film before Prince was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Prince Rogers Nelson p/k/a Prince was elected in 2013 for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The policy is that a songwriter has to personally attend the annual induction and awards gala to be officially inducted and Prince’s schedule did not permit him to attend for a few years. SHOF President & CEO Linda Moran stated that the organization had been working with him to coordinate his schedule “He reached out at the end of 2015 and said how important the award was to him and that the June 2016 ceremony could work. We planned that it would be unannounced and a surprise; but unfortunately Prince passed two months beforehand in April. It has been a long road, but we are thrilled that one of the world’s most prolific and phenomenal songwriters is finally a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame."
Upon accepting the award from Gilbert Davison, a longtime professional colleague of Prince’s, Prince’s sister, Sharon L. Nelson, who has fond memories of him always walking around writing lyrics on a yellow pad, said, “You will always remember his songs. This is the award he wanted more than any other in life — to be known as a great songwriter.”
A songwriter, producer, musician and pioneer of the Minneapolis Sound (which also included SHOF inductees Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) and who sold over 100 million records as an artist, Prince crossed all genres of music effortlessly. Credited by his full name, Prince Rogers Nelson, he wrote every song in his catalog. He had 19 songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, five that also went to #1: “Let’s Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry,” “Kiss”, “Batdance” and “Cream.”
Prince also wrote hits for other artists including Sheena Easton, Kenny Rogers, Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Patti LaBelle, Celine Dion, Kate Bush, the Bangles. A number of his hits written and recorded by him were also covered with tremendous success by other artists including Chaka Khan, Tom Jones,Sinead O’Connor, Alicia Keys, the Pointer Sisters and Cyndi Lauper.
