The one musician Prince believed was God: “I learned from him”
Prince lived and breathed the gimmick, making it difficult to gauge a deep understanding of who he was underneath the guise he permanently wore.
The mystery that surrounded him only made his artistry more alluring. He was an alien-type creature to gift us with super-human music, as well as the greatest performance in the history of the Super Bowl. It’s impossible to imagine him ever doing everyday tasks like the laundry or heading to the supermarket to top up on milk, because he was Prince, who existed within his own universe.
While his life outside of the stage and the studio was a puzzle to us all, he was a music fan first and foremost, which was one of the few topics that made him snap out of his shell. More importantly, everyone would hang on to his every word, too. Prince held a unique position in the musical landscape, able to straddle the boundaries of genres better than a cowboy holding on to the ropes of a bucking bronco.
With most artists, it’s easy to pinpoint the core set of influences they’ve amalgamated together, but that wasn’t the case with Prince. Refreshingly, the same couldn’t be said for Prince, whose music taste was often as unpredictable as he could be in an interview.
Although it was illuminating to hear him talk about his love of music, like how he worshipped the ground that Joni Mitchell walked on as a teenager, he kept these insights infrequent.
Nevertheless, during one interview with Mojo, Prince gave a rare glimpse into the music he admires, revealing the one attribute he seeks from an artist above all else. He stated, “I crave great musicianship, and I don’t care who provides it. I’ve got no problems saying I dig D’Angelo. Or some of the things that Björk does…the Cocteau Twins…musicians, we’re family. I hope young musicians learn from me — my mistakes too — the way I learned.”
The concept of genre was trivial to Prince and didn’t concern the performer. Instead, all that he cared about was a musician who made him deeply feel something inside. However, nobody achieved a greater connection to him than Sonny Thompson, best known under his stage name Sonny T, who operated on the same frequency and was the perfect musical foil.
Prince had known Thompson since they were teenagers in Minneapolis, enjoying a relationship that lasted for decades. They first played together on a demo recording of ‘Got To Be Something Here’ in 1976, with a pre-fame Prince being enlisted on the guitar and backing vocals.
However, their careers would travel in different directions as Prince eventually jetted off into the stratosphere while Thompson patiently awaited his big break.
Eventually, Thompson was given a lifeline courtesy of his close friend, who asked him to join his backing band, The New Power Generation, in 1991. After his arrival, Prince had nothing but superlatives to say about his musical wizardry on the bass.
When asked who his favourite guitarist was in 1994, Prince chose his bandmate and bassist, Sonny T, saying, “I listened to everybody. My favourite of all time is Sonny T.”
Detailing his respect and appreciation further, he continued, “I thought Sonny was God. Sonny was my hero. A lot of what I do on guitar, I learned from him. I’d go over to his house and we’d play records, and he’d show me things on guitar.”
Thompson was his mentor and helped mould Prince into ‘The Purple One’. When the tables turned after he rose to fame, and the bassist’s career didn’t flourish similarly, Prince offered a supportive hand that helped the wider musical world realise his friend’s talent. Nevertheless, despite their rich history, even Thompson wasn’t safe from losing his job.
Yes, despite calling Thompson a “hero” and comparing him to God, Prince still fired him in 1996. In Prince’s years, half-a-decade was still a decent run, and more than many fared under his rule. Also, it wasn’t enough to end their unbreakable bond.
During an interview with the Oxford Mail in 2018, Sonny shared, “His death came as a real shock as I’d seen him two weeks before. He wanted to see a show at [Minneapolis venue] Bunker’s, and that was the last time. He seemed okay but a bit tired. And I gave him a big hug.”
He painfully added, “I thought he’d go on forever. When I heard the news I didn’t believe it. I thought someone was lying. Then every station repeated the news, and I thought ‘Oh my God!’ I really didn’t know what I was going to do. I was in shock. He was my friend for many years and I’m still not over it.”
As reflected in Thompson’s comments after his death, they were more like brothers than bandmates. He knew Prince before the fame, money and success, playing a key role in inspiring him to reach such stratospheric heights.
Prince viewed Thompson as a God when they were both dream-chasing kids out of Minnesota, and even when he was the one to gain worldwide acclaim, that stance remained the same.
