Wood tweeted: "I will miss a good friend who was so talented. He was such a great performer/guitar player. Sleep well Prince." Wood also posted a photo from 1986 of him performing on stage with Prince when Wood was a guest at one of Prince's concerts.
Prince was the opening act on the Rolling Stones' 1981 North American tour, when he was often booed off the stage by audience members who did not appreciate his musical talent and might have been turned off by his androgynous image. Although Prince was a popular R&B artist at the time, he had not yet broken through to a mainstream pop audience. That would happen with his 1982 album, 1999, which included hits such as "Little Red Corvette" and the title track. Prince reached superstar status with his 1984 album Purple Rain, the soundtrack to the semi-autobiographical movie in which he starred. The movie and soundtrack were major hits and earned Prince an Oscar for best original soundtrack score.
Jagger was an early champion of Prince and was the driving force in having Prince as the opening act for the Rolling Stones in 1981, at a time when black artists were rarely played on MTV. Prince was a prolific songwriter and musician who collaborated with many artists. Although it's unlikely that he would have recorded with the Rolling Stones, it would have been interesting if he ended up working with Jagger on one of Jagger's solo projects. Prince's last concert was in Atlanta on April 14, 2016. Prince's last public appearance was when he hosted a dance party on April 16, 2016, at his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen.
BY CARLA HAY.
