There was always a feeling that Prince knew something that the rest of us didn’t. And now, the music world is in mourning with the passing of the enigmatic and ground-breaking musician. Prince was an influence in many of our lives here at AFAR, both when he was known and formerly known as Prince. We’ve carried him around the world with us, whether it was seeing him perform live or catching our first glimpse of the legend on television. With Sign o’ the Times blasting in the background, here are a few places we’ve been with his Purple Majesty, and where we will always remember him.
Los Angeles, California
I remember visiting my bestie in Los Angeles and going dancing. Nothing gets a dance floor going like “1999."—Breanna Rhoades, HR Director
In college, we played “1999" on repeat in the months leading up to New Years because my roommate was obsessed with memorizing every lyric in preparation of our party that year.—Kevin Favro, Director of Mobile Apps
Whistler, Canada
When I lived in Whistler, my best friend Diane would often have a few too many glasses of wine and then feel the need to demonstrate her high school cheerleading routine to “Baby I’m A Star.” It actually was a pretty amazing routine, and that song always reminds me of her and makes me laugh.—Jill Greenwood, Director of AFAR Experiences
Louisville, Kentucky
When I was a freshman in college, I lived with a women’s basketball and volleyball player (she was an incredible athlete) and we would clean our apartment once a week to “Black Sweat” on repeat. Our volleyball team thought it was hilarious so it became a tradition in the locker room before games.—Maci Wachtel, Integrated Marketing Manager
San Francisco, California
The first time I went to the Fillmore was to see Prince do one of his after-show shows. It started at 2 a.m., after he had already played a full show at the Oakland arena. He jumped from guitar to drums, and Sheila E. and Larry Graham, the bassist from Sly and the Family Stone, played with him. I remember his voice on the microphone before he appeared onstage saying “Frisco” and thinking, “Only Prince can say that and sound cool.” He chided us, with a smile, for not knowing every single word to “Paisley Park.” I remember they played “Car Wash,” and through it all you could tell how much fun he was having; that after playing a few hours of music for thousands of people, what he most wanted to do was play more music, for just a few hundred.—Jeremy Saum, Executive Editor
Farmington Hills, Michigan
Also, I won a gift certificate to Harmony House records for my enthusiastic dancing to “Baby I’m a Star,” at a middle school dance. When you’ve got it, baby, nothing comes too hard.—Jeremy Saum (again), Executive Editor
Redlands, California
My mom was a huge Prince fan when I was growing up. I remember that song “1999" coming on in the car and screaming along with her, “Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999!” Because that’s exactly what you do with your mom when you’re 8.—Erin Jeffery, Marketing Coordinator
Weymouth, Massachusetts
I remember seeing him on “The Muppet Show” when his name was a symbol and there were lots of jokes made about it.—Danielle Walsh, Associate Editor
Saginaw, Michigan
There was one night in sophmore year of high school when about 10 of us slept over at a friend’s house. I remember singing along at top volume to all the songs on “Purple Rain” until the wee hours, doing “The Bird” (thanks for the intro to Morris Day, Prince!), trying to figure out the true meaning of “Darling Nikki,” and generally swooning at all the drama and romance.—Laura Simkins, Chief Operating Officer
Indiana–Switzerland–France
I remember going from riding in the back of the bus in elementary school, secretly listening to “Little Red Corvette” on cassette to dressing up in purple and eyeliner in junior high school to see the opening of Purple Rain and dancing to “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Erotic City” in high school. In college I saw Prince in concert in Geneva while backpacking through Europe, and then experienced the turn of the millennium in France, singing along to ‘1999' with 1 million Parisians.—Lou LaGrange, Business Development Director
Ogden, Utah
The day the “Raspberry Beret” video came out, MTV literally played it back-to-back ALL DAY LONG. I was babysitting a couple of neighbor kids, so I had plenty of time to memorize every single detail before school on Monday.—Lisa Trottier, Contributing Editor
New York, New York
At the very last minute, a friend and I lucked into tickets to a Prince show at Madison Square Garden in about 2004. We raced through Penn Station to get to the concert, which had already started. When we finally turned the corner and climbed up to our nose-bleed seats, the whole place was already exploding with joy. He played all the crowd pleasers, confetti fell from the ceiling, and we never wanted it to end.—Julia Cosgrove, Editor In Chief
