Stevie Wonder Pens Prince Tribute Essay

In the days since the recent untimely death of renowned musician Prince, fellow icon Stevie Wonder has paid tribute to The Purple One on a number of occasions, including performing “Purple Rain” on CBS and at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Called a “role model” by Prince in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1999, Wonder penned a moving essay in tribute to his late friend for the outlet.

“Prince’s music was so picturesque that even I could see it,” Wonder’s piece begins, later explaining, “I think I related to the way Prince saw things because we both grew up in the Midwest, where we met all kinds of people and had a great spectrum from which to learn. We both grew up hearing blues, rock & roll, jazz and gospel, and found the value in it all.” Wonder goes on to praise the talented multi-instrumentalist who passed away last month at age 57, writing:

Prince was so inspired, and so inspiring. He was kind, he was disciplined and he knew where he wanted to go. He was able to make big transitions. If Michael was the King of Pop, Prince should be the Emperor. Prince fought for his artistic freedom. He didn’t allow anyone or anything to get in his way. By following his own path, Prince took music to a whole other place, like the Beatles did. He wanted to change the way things were, like Marvin Gaye did. When you do that, you have to be very sure of yourself.

Head to Rolling Stone to read Stevie’s complete tribute to Prince and below watch his performance of “Purple Rain” on CBS This Morning: