RIP Prince...Another Legend Passes

Screencap of Prince from his movie Purple Rain

At this point in time it does appear that God is trying to create a super band as another music legend passed away in 2016.

Prince Rogers Nelson, one of the few people who could get away with being called by only a single name (and at one time just by a symbol) mysteriously passed away in the elevator of his Minnesota home at age 57. News sources such as Fox News are reporting that he died of the flu while other sources are stating flu-like symptoms as a possible cause.

Whatever the reason, it feels almost unbefitting of such a rock legend to die by something that used to get me out of school for a day or two. People can die from complications due to the flu, but you usually think of people from third world countries or someone in their 90's.

Prince may have been known for being a singer, but he was so much more. Once, when asked how many instruments did he know how to play, he responded, "Thousands." On his first album he is credited with playing 27 different instruments. Now while some people might think this is just boasting, Prince was actually able to back this up. When people think of guitar legends they think of names like Hendrix, Van Halen, Satriani, but Prince is also on the level of these greats. He also played the bass, the piano, drums, the Linn drum, and much more.

Also not known to everyone is that Prince was one of the greatest song writers of his generation. He had released 104 singles in his life, 27 of which hit number one on the music charts. What a lot of people don't know is that he would constantly write so much music that he would give it to other artists to use. He wrote a large portion of Morris Day & the Time's music, and music for Sheila E., Sheena Easton, Vanity 6, Stevie Nicks, The Bangles, Sinead O'Connor, Chaka Kahn, Madonna, Pattie LaBelle, Tom Jones, and Alicia Keys.

For The Time he wrote "Jungle Love". For Stevie Nicks he wrote the music for "Stand Back" and she based her lyrics of his hit song "Little Red Corvette". For the Bangles he wrote "Manic Monday". Sinead O'Connor covered his "Nothing Compares 2 U". Alicia Keys recorded his song "How Come You Don't Call Anymore". For Chaka Kahn he wrote "I Feel for You". He even wrote the entire soundtrack for Tim Burton's Batman.

He was the most overall successful music artist in the 1980's, and tenth most successful in the 1990's. Overall he sold over 100 million albums in his lifetime, won 7 Grammy's, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. In 2004 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "There are many kings…but there is only one Prince," said Alicia Keys when she inducted him in.

During a contract dispute with Warner Bros. Prince changed his name to the unpronounceable symbol know as Love Symbol #2 (pictured right). During this time he would be referred to as "The artist formerly known as Prince." He claimed that they took his name, trademarked it, and used it to make themselves money. Later he changed it back to Prince and would sign with Arista Records.

Anyone that lived through the '80s and/or '90s usually can name at least one song that they like even if they weren't a fan of Prince. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" was his first hit single and was released in 1979, but he had so many more. "1999", "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry", "Purple Rain", "Raspberry Beret", "Kiss", "Batdance", "Partyman", "Thieves in the Temple", "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", and more in '80s and '90s. This doesn't include songs like "Guitar" which shows off how good of a lead guitar player he was and "Musicology" which came out in the 2000's.

On February 4, 2007, Prince played the halftime show for Super Bowl XLI which many called the best halftime show ever. He performed "Let's Go Crazy", "Baby I'm a Star, "Purple Rain" and then performed cover songs of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan, "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters, and "Proud Mary" by CCR. An estimated 140 million people watched the performance on TV.

He was so musically inclined that he had his whole house wired so he could record music from any room of his home whenever he felt inspired.

A lot of people didn't know that Prince was a philanthropist and supported many social awareness issues. He wrote a song called "Baltimore" after the murder of Freddie Gray and the riots that followed. He's donated millions of dollars anonymously to build libraries, help people start businesses, and save families from losing homes.

When asked why he never moved to Los Angeles or New York instead of living in Minnesota, he would cite that the state was his home and that it was where he belonged.

Another aspect of Prince's life that he was well known for was the amount of women he dated. Madonna, Carmen Electra, Apollonia, Kim Bassinger, Vanessa Marcil, Susana Hoffs, Misty Copeland, Ananda Lewis, Heidi Mark, and Marvin Gaye's daughter, Nona. His music was often centered around romance so it was no surprise that he found it easy to woo some of Hollywood's prettiest women.

With his death, it should be interesting now to see what the future holds for Prince's music. One of the oddities of his career was that he recorded so much music that he would produce albums that he would only keep for himself and lock away in a vault at his home. There's rumored to be hundreds of unreleased songs that people who helped him work on these songs said should be hits as well. He also recorded multiple music videos and made several movies that have yet to see the light of day. So with his death, the public could possibly see a flood of his work finally be released in the coming years.

Whether you're a fan of rock, R&B, pop, funk, or soul, Prince's work certainly reached you at some point. His work has inspired other music artists after him including Andre 3000, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, and more. He even inspired the costumes of the Hamilton: The Musical.

RIP David Bowie

Screencap: David Bowie as Tesla in The Prestige

In the world of music thousands of people try to add their two cents into the world, but only a rare, select few ever get the chance to really change it. These rock stars are often a combination of music talent, likeable personality, style, and charisma...David Bowie had this all and more. He was one of the few music artists that could not only transcend music genres successfully, but also dive into the acting world without appearing to be a stunt casting.

Unfortunately, the world lost Bowie on the night of January 10th, 2016. He battled cancer for 18 months according to his Twitter account, before succumbing to it with family and friends at his bedside.

Starting out his solo music fame with "Space Oddity" in 1969, he became one of the pioneers of a new sub-genre of music called Glam Rock. Introducing his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust with his release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the album was intended to be the soundtrack for a TV or film production of the same name, but never produced. Hits such as "Starman" and "Suffragette City" sprang from this album which Rollingstone Magazine ranked as the 35th best album of all-time.

Later on his Diamond Dogs album, he released the hit song "Rebel Rebel" which would go on to be one of the most covered songs of all-time. It was his good-bye to glam rock song. The song featured a riff that was reminiscent of songs by Rollingstones or even Iggy Pop. The song could even be cited as being a precursor to the Grunge Rock movement that would take place years later and fall under the category of early punk.

Not long after, Bowie would release "Fame" which would be the first time he broke onto the Billboard Hot 100 charts (pop music), hitting number one. Unknown to most people, he recorded this song with the help of John Lennon who received song writing credit, played guitar, and was the backing vocals to Bowie in this hit song.

In 1976, Bowie would dive into the world of acting as well, starring in The Man Who Fell to Earth with Rip Torn and Candy Clark. This would bolster his confidence in his acting abilities, leading him to star in movies throughout his career.

Before the end of the '70s, he would release other hit singles such as "Sound and Vision", "Heroes", and "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)".

Not to be outdone, Bowie was even more successful in the '80s. He released singles that included "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion" before combining his efforts with Freddie Mercury of Queen for the hit song "Under Pressure", which would be one of the most significant songs of the decade and featured one of the most famous bass lines of all-time. The song regained fame after Vanilla Ice sampled from it for his hit song "Ice Ice Baby".

After "Under Pressure", Bowie collaborated with Bing Crosby to release one of the most iconic Christmas songs of all-time, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy". To this day, it is hard to avoid this song every December. It solidified his status as one of the greatest music artists of all-time.

Less than a year later, Bowie released Let's Dance which would feature three hit singles, "Let's Dance" which would be accompanied by one of the most famous music videos ever, "China Girl", and "Modern Love". This is where he firmly planted his music in the New Wave genre with the platinum hit sensation.

In 1985, he would once again collaborate with a fellow musician, this time Mick Jagger, to release a cover of the song "Dancing in the Street". This song would chart in nearly every genre from rock to pop.

In 1986, he would star in the hit movie Labyrinth as Jareth the Goblin King. The movie would feature puppetry from the Jim Henson Workshop and would be the first major role for star actress Jennifer Connelly.

He would go on to collaborate with other music artists in the '90s as well, most famously with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails for the single "I'm Afraid of Americans". Other collaborative works include "Hallo Spaceboy" with the Pet Shop Boys and "The Buddha of Suburbia" with Lenny Kravitz.

In the 2000's, Bowie would stay in the eyes of pop culture, appearing as himself in the movie Zoolander and winning an MTV Movie Award. He then would go onto his one of his most famous movie roles as Tesla in the Christopher Nolan movie, The Prestige which would also star Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, and Michael Caine.

His last top ten hit was in 2013 with "Where Are We Now?".

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, won two Grammy Awards, and was ranked the 23rd best singer of all-time by Rollingstone Magazine. In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, but turned down being knighted in 2003 by the British Empire. In total he sold an estimated 140 million record albums.

Born as David Jones, he had to change his name to avoid confusion with Davey Jones of the Monkees. Bowie is survived by his wife, actress/model Iman; his son, director Duncan Jones; and daughter Alexandria.