The moment Prince got to work with his musical heroes
Prince is such an individual that it’s difficult to imagine that he has any influences other than the powers that be. He doesn’t strike the average listener as somebody who hears music and thinks of different ways that he can successfully implement it into something he wants to make. Instead, he feels like a complete individual who pulls ideas out of thin air and allows them to take whatever form they see fit.
Of course, that’s not the case; Prince took inspiration from a number of different pieces of art. One of these was what he called the “aquarium”, a space he said he used to develop creative ideas. The aquarium was a very peculiar environment, as it required no external involvement except for two films constantly playing on repeat.
“Here’s the deal. Since 1997, Soul Train has been my aquarium. That’s a Prince term,” said Questlove when discussing how Soul Train helps inspire his work, “When he was alive, whenever you’d go to Prince’s house, two things were always on TV: [the 2003 animated film] Finding Nemo and Black Orpheus, this beautiful Brazilian film from 1959. He would have those on a constant loop.”
He also drew a huge amount of inspiration from the group Earth, Wind and Fire. Like many people, Prince loved their dynamic approach to making music. Not only did they have excellent voices, but they refused to be trapped by a specific genre or style of music. Their creative freedom led to the creation of some of the most iconic music to which the sounds of disco, soul, and funk ever became accustomed.
Allee Willis, who wrote and recorded songs on behalf of Earth, Wind and Fire, recalled how much of a fan Prince was of the band. One of the tracks she is most famous for penning is ‘September’, which is still considered a classic by many.
“In the (happily, gratefully) never-ending saga of the special life of my song, ‘September’,” she wrote in her blog, “In this issue of the New Yorker in a story about Prince, he tells his personal DJ, Purple Pam, to always end her sets with ‘September’.”
Willis continued to talk about how much of a big fan Prince was of the band. “It’s true that Prince was a massive Earth, Wind & Fire fan,” she said, “He hung around their office in the late 70’s all the time while we were working on I Am, the EWF album I co-wrote all but two songs on.”
Given he was such a big fan, Prince was incredibly excited when he was given the chance to work with Earth, Wind & Fire in the ‘90s. This happened on the album Millennium when Prince was asked to help write the song ‘Super Hero’. He ended up coming into the studio with the track completely written and ready to record. The band were happy with it and, as such, got to work. It didn’t just stop there, though, as Prince also helped play the guitar on the recorded version, really leaving his stamp on the work of one of his favourite bands.
