An hour ago I learned that Prince has died. I had the very great privilege of working closely with him during the 1990’s, while I was at Warner Bros. Records, his record label. At Warner Bros, and before that A&M Records, I had the good fortune to work with many extraordinarily talented artists . But Prince was the only true Genius. With a capital g. I think if you polled all the other artists I’ve known, they’d probably agree.
An incredible guitarist. An amazing songwriter. A world class dancer. A visionary and tireless live performer. A masterful record producer. A business visionary. Prince was not afraid to do things his own way–in fact, he was fully committed to doing so, no matter what anyone thought. I spent a fair amount of time with him, art directing a number of his album covers, and overseeing the marketing of his records. I’ll be writing more about my experiences with him, but right now I’m just processing the news. The world will be a much lesser place without Prince.