PRN was my brother, father, friend, saviour, mentor, counsellor and most importantly, my teacher. He saved my life, he kept me sane, he taught me it was OK to be me, OK to be different, OK to do what I wanted to do. His lyrics helped me to understand life and all its complexities. I was a vulnerable, confused 7 year old boy, with exposure to so many taboos at an early age. Lost, afraid and scared to speak, PRN's music reached out to me and his lyrics had answers to my questions. He answered questions I hadn't asked or dreamed of asking - yet they spoke to me and related to my thoughts, he validated my thoughts and led me to safety. He opened my mind and allowed me to think and question the wonders of love and life. I was hooked early (Australia didn't really hear about Prince until 1981 and by the end of 1982 I knew the lyrics to most of the 1999 and Controversy LP's and the title track of Dirty Mind). The more music he released, the more he became relevant in my life. Not once did he hit a sour note, speak a lie or miss a beat (unless he did it with it intent). His truth and honesty made me the man I am. His songs are lessons that we will all constantly learn from. For me he will go down in history as the greatest of our species, achieving leaps and bounds beyond any other human has ever been able to achieve single handedly, the last artist to ever command and manage full artistic control of their work in their own lifetime. His words and music will evolve to become post modern prophecy. A humble man and the most powerful composer to ever walk the Earth, a modern day Prophet.

I'm so glad I listened to and went with my gut feeling to see all 4 of his Piano and Microphone shows when he was last in Melbourne in 2016 - they were beyond words, other worldy and gave us a 21st century revision to the Purple Rain legacy. Vanity left this Earth hours before his first show, setting the tone for the performances we were about to see. Each show was different stage of grief; Vulnerable and hurt (he played his heart strings, not a piano during that show)
Anger and withdrawn (he was hard, hurt, short and to the point)
Funk and Acceptance (he picked himself & reminded us why he was the funkiest)
Down with the Blues (he played the most organic honky tonk blues renditions of his classics). For the record: I have never hear Purple Rain played the way he did in this fourth show - no one had and no one ever will - it was the moment he pulled us out of our conscious minds and allowed us to levitate outside our bodies and witness the wonder of transcendental love. He did things I cannot write about in that moment. Many people felt this way about THAT VERSION of Purple Rain.)

Nothing, no one will ever compare to PRN. Thank U 4 lliving, loving and giving. RIP.