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When an artist as singular as Prince checks out—someone responsible for 39 studio albums, which have sold over 100 million copies worldwide, resulting in 47 Billboard Hot 100 entries (among them nineteen top 10s and five No. 1s in the U.S. alone)—they don’t just vanish. They leave an indelible legacy: partly of their own doing and partly based on the impact they’ve had on other artists.
Prince’s pen never slept, jotting joints for pop stars from Paula Abdul to Stevie Nicks to TLC, and even a country jam for Kenny Rogers (not to mention his jazz fusion band Madhouse). The credits—from “Jamie Starr" to "Alexander Nevermind" and “Joey Coco”—might be confusing. But if you listen carefully you can always tell a Prince joint. Here are a few tunes you might hear with new ears now.
Sinéad O'Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”
Originally written for Prince’s side project, The Family, this heartrending song—with its telltale numerics and alphabetic words in the title, a sure sign of a Prince composition—became a worldwide hit for the Irish singer in 1990, topping the pop charts in 17 different countries. She struggled with the fame the song brought her. When “Nothing Compares 2 U” earned a Grammy for Best Alternative Performance, she refused to appear on the awards show. In 2015 she declared that she would no longer be performing the song—at which point nobody seemed to care anymore. Prince released a live version of the song with Rosie Gaines on his 1993 album, Hits.
Chaka Khan “I Feel for You”
Prince wrote this song to express his feelings for the jazz pianist and R&B vocalist Patrice Rushen, who caught his eye while she was doing some synth programming for Prince’s debut album. The teenage prodigy offered this song and “I Wanna Be Your Lover” to her but she declined to record either of them, so he cut them for his eponymous 1979 sophomore album. Five years later, Chaka Khan and producer Arif Mardin transformed the languorous slow jam into a hip-hop electro-funk workout. On the strength of Melle Mel’s rapid-fire rap and boasting a music video that featured Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp of Breakin’, the song became the biggest hit of Chaka Khan’s career winning the Grammy for Best R&B Song.
Sheila E. “The Glamorous Life”
Sheila Escobedo was already a distinguished percussionist when she met Prince in 1978. But this song, the closing track on her 1984 debut solo album, has become her signature jam—reaching No. 1 on the U.S. dance charts, No. 7 on the U.S. pop charts, and earning two Grammy nominations. Although Sheila’s drum solo was not included on the song’s radio edit, her live performances of the tune are legendary.
Sheena Easton “My Sugar Walls”
The petite, mild-mannered Scottish-born singer earned herself a spot on Tipper Gore’s “Filthy Fifteen”—along with Prince’s “Darling Nikki” and Vanity’s “Strap On (Robbie Baby)”—with this 1995 smash hit, penned especially for her by Prince. They would continue to collab on “U Got the Look” and “In the Arms of Orion.” In a 1989 interview with NME, Easton explained their process: “I'll get a phone call out of the blue and he'll say, I've just written a song that is perfect for you, do you want to hear it?” She added that “Prince is a spontaneous artist, more than anyone I have ever met, and he's the most unpreconceived writer that I've ever, ever had the privilege to work with. Anything is possible with him.”
The Bangles “Manic Monday”
Written for Prince’s girl group Apollonia 6, this catchy workaday blues was eventually offered to The Bangles under the pseudonym “Christopher.” Prince apparently had a thing for the band’s guitarist Susanna Hoffs, who tweeted her condolences—“Peace & Love”—yesterday.
Tevin Campbell “Round and Round”
Since Quincy Jones rode shotgun on “Tomorrow (A Better You, A Better Me),” the 15-year-old R&B wunderkind’s first solo single was “Round and Round,” written and produced by Prince for the singer’s 1991 debut album, T.E.V.I.N. The song was a hit on both the pop and R&B charts peaking at No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and No. 3 on the R&B chart.
Morris Day & The Time, What Time Is It?
Prince took the Minneapolis funk band Flyte Tyme—which included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on keyboard and bass—and put his childhood friend Morris Day on lead vocals. He wrote, arranged, performed, and produced every song on their 1982 album, What Time Is It? from “Gigolos Get Lonely Too” to “777-9311.” On their next album, Ice Cream Castles, Prince let Morris Day and guitarist Jesse Johnson play a part in writing the single, “Jungle Love,” which went all the way to No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Alicia Keys “How Come You Don't Call Me”
Paying tribute to the master on her debut album, Alicia Keys recorded her own version of Prince’s non-album B-side to the smash single, “1999.” Though more bombastic than Stephanie Mills’ 1983 cover of the same torch song, it may not be AK’s greatest tribute to Prince. The breathless “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” from her third album, As I Am, is strikingly similar to Prince compositions like “Adore” and “Purple Rain”—from the vocal performance to the arrangement and chord structure—that it goes a step beyond being merely derivative. Neither a cover nor a jack move, the homage is politely referred to as a “distant cousin” to “Purple Rain.”
Alicia Keys provides the perfect point to pivot from songs that Prince actually wrote to songs—and artists—who simply would not exist without Prince’s inspiration to light their way forward. Some of these names may surprise you, but dig if you will the picture of a world without.
D'Angelo
When Michael Eugene Archer was first being introduced to the press back in 1994, EMI publicists quietly described D’Angelo as “Prince for the hip-hop generation.” As the Black Messiah himself later explained to Chairman Mao: “I was five years old. 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' had come out, and it was a big hit. When that album came out, it was just huge. He really, literally, was the talk of the town. Everybody was wondering, 'Who is this guy? Is he a guy? Is it a girl?' No one really knew who it was. I remember we had the album, and my brothers were just enamored by this guy. They told me, 'He plays everything, he writes everything, he’s singing everything,' so I was hooked from then on. I learned how to play every song on that album, note for note, at five years old.” As for Prince, he told Ebony, “I love D’Angelo but he’s just getting started, he came way after.” Ouch.
Black Rock Matters
Every black guitar hero from Lenny Kravitz to Vernon Reid to Gary Clark Jr. owes Prince an immense debt of gratitude. More than any other artist since Jimi Hendrix, it was Prince who asserted to mainstream American the fact rock and roll is and will always be black music. His epic guitar solo at the Super Bowl halftime show and his virtuoso performance at George Harrison’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—leaving a stage full of white rock dinosaurs slack-jawed—will stand forever as living monuments to black rock.
The Neptunes
Would their whole sound even be possible without Prince’s sparse hard-edged Minneapolis electro-funk? Bold innovations like leaving out the bassline? Prince did that in 1984—laughing at the time that nobody else would have the guts to do it—and scored a No. 1 hit. Laugh if you like but there’s a straight line from “When Doves Cry” to Noreaga’s “Superthug.” And need we even mention the inspiration for Pharrell’s falsetto?
All Those Falsettos
Pharrell ain’t the only one. From Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke to The-Dream and Gallant, all these modern-day soul men dabbling in the upper octaves were inspired by Prince. Resurrecting a time-honored tradition pioneered by legendary soul groups like The Stylistics, The Delfonics, Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, and Curtis Mayfield, Prince made the falsetto sound like the future.
Miguel
Like Prince, Miguel Jontel Pimentel is a biracial kid who started making music early (age 13) and went with a mononym. He’s comfortable with a wide range of genres (R&B, funk, hip-hop, rock, electronic), he’s smooth with the falsetto, sings about sex in varied and evocative ways—from “Quickie” to “Let my love adorn you.” Producer Salaam Remi said, “To me he kind of feels like Prince, where he's doing this eclectic blend but still coming back to focused songs.” Speaking about his album, Kaleidoscope Dream, Miguel said, “There’s no way Prince could not be a musical influence of mine. I grew up not only looking up to him as a musician but as an icon, someone who was pushing the boundaries in his art.” Sounds about right.
The Weeknd
Today he's one of the world's biggest pop stars, but back when Abel Tesfaye was an Ethiopian youth who spent his entire life in Toronto, he learned how music and sex and drugs could help his mind travel. In 2011 he created a triptych of mixtapes with an eerily foreboding vibe and a lyrical rawness that mesmerized the Internet and entranced Drake. Until he gave his first ever interview in 2013 few could figure out the inspiration for his utterly fresh sound. "My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince, for the vocals anyway," he told Damien Scott in that groundbreaking Q&A. He went on to elaborate that the music surrounding these vocals had nothing to do with R&B. From the falsetto to the lyrical shock value to the genre-bending eclecticism—it's hard to imagine The Weeknd without Prince as a template.
Kendrick Lamar
You know that space alien voice K-Dot slips into on “Control?” Straight Prince. In his Mass Appeal cover story, Kendrick told Gabe Alvarez where his style comes from: “I think what gives me my sound is not only the gangsta rap but a lot of the oldies. I always say my foundation comes from records like the Isley Brothers and even more [so] Prince. My pops played a lot of Prince. And what I learned from Prince is he knew how to use his voice as an instrument. Whether he was doing his falsetto or his baritones, he had them pockets. I pattern my lyrics and my style and my aggression the same way.”
The two almost worked together on To Pimp a Butterfly. “I wrote the hook for 'Complexions,' and originally I wanted Prince and Azealia Banks to sing both hooks, and Rapsody to do all the verses. I demoed the hook for Prince to sing that 'Complexions… Complexions don’t mean a thing' and on the breakdown where it says, “I like it, I love it,” I wanted him to bring out his guitar on there and [he starts playing air guitar]. You feel me? I played [the demo] for Prince, but in the middle of that we [had] to perform [at his record release party]. And the conversation [backstage] just kept lingerin’ on about life and about the music business, so we just never got to it. But he’s a legend and that would have been a blessing for sure.” Damn.
Beyoncé 2.0
Ever since “1+1,” which was first recorded and written by The-Dream—another artist who wears his purple heart on his sleeve—and Tricky Stewart, Beyoncé has sounded more and more like P. Check out “Blow”—produced by Pharrell and with risqué lyrics written by Justin Timberlake—from B’s self-titled fifth album, sounds like a Vanity 6 outtake. And then there was “Rocket”—another Timberlake composition, with a little help from Miguel—“So rock right up to/The side of my mountain/Climb until you reach my peak babe, my peak, the peak/And reach right into the bottom of my fountain…” You get the picture. Just for the record: all this happened long before Jay signed Prince to Tidal. But even her harsh vocal tone on the future funk of “Formation” sounds like some “Housequake” era Prince.
Frank Ocean
The elusive genius was one of the first to pay Prince tribute, taking to his Tumblr page to praise Prince’s “deep catalog of propellant, fearless, virtuosic work” and declare hisself a “proud Prince fan(stan) for life.” Matter of fact, the whole Odd Future collective’s defiant fuck-what-you think attitude feels inspired by Prince.
“My assessment is that he learned early on how little value to assign to someone else's opinion of you,” Ocean observed. “He was a straight black man who played his first televised set in bikini bottoms and knee high heeled boots, epic. He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity etc. He moved me to be more daring and intuitive with my own work by his demonstration — his denial of the prevailing model … His fight for his intellectual property — 'SLAVE' written across the forehead, name changed to a symbol…An all out rebellion against exploitation. A vanguard and genius by every metric I know of who affected many in a way that will outrun oblivion for a long while.” 'Nuff said.