Prince Day: BET reveals tribute details, Tidal unlocks trove of rare music
Prince would have turned 58 on June 7.
While the sorrow of speaking, or writing, about the Purple One in past tense following his April death will never fade, the trailblazing performer’s birthday has already seen a few massive tributes, including Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton declaring Tuesday to be Prince Day in Minnesota.
Since Prince’s untimely death on April 21 from an accidental overdose of the narcotic painkiller fentanyl he’s been honored by Beck, Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and countless other artists during live shows across the world.
Fans, and critics too, have been waiting to see how awards shows planned to fete the revered musician.
To mark Prince’s birthday, BET announced the first wave of acts it tapped to perform in his honor on its June 26 telecast.
And true to the network’s promise, it’s keeping the singer closely in mind with a lineup of artists directly connected to or deeply inspired by him.
Shelia E., the Roots, D’Angelo and Janelle Monae are the first artists being teased for the tribute, with more expected in the coming weeks.
“This show will be innovative and special; in addition to celebrating the best in entertainment, we’ll also spend time throughout the show remembering Prince as only BET can,” the network’s president of programming, Stephen Hill, said in a statement. “You can count on memorable performances and moments in honor of a true legend.”
BET, which revealed its plans early Tuesday to ring in Prince’s birthday, created a bit of controversy last month following Madonna’s tribute to the singer at the Billboard Music Awards late last month.
Madonna closed the ceremony with a rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Purple Rain” in a polarizing performance that led to some intense Internet scrutiny (to be fair, folks were pretty incensed from the moment Madonna’s plans were announced).
The network threw some hilarious, and incredibly petty, shade at Billboard immediately after the performance, releasing a short teaser advertising their upcoming tribute, writing, “Yeah, we saw that. Don’t worry. We Got You.”
Questlove, who helped produce the tribute, defended Madonna’s performance in a series of impassioned tweets: “Every Prince rendition will not be a life changing orgasmic [experience]. Just to SING his work is brave enough.”
And Madonna fired back on Instagram writing, in part, “Anyone who wants to do a tribute to Prince is welcome to. Whatever your age, gender or skin color.”
While BET’s tribute is still a few weeks away, fans can indulge in the trove of Prince music that streaming service Tidal unlocked on Tuesday.
Tidal, the only place Prince wanted his music available to stream, uploaded a collection of rarities, B-sides, live albums, and even some previously unreleased music.
The bounty of recordings — 15 albums in total — includes 1987’s “The Black Album,” 2001’s “The Rainbow Children,” and work from the 1990s.
Last year Prince pulled his music from other streaming services and his final two albums “HITnRUN Phase One” and “HITnRUN Phase Two” were exclusive to the service.
In the week following his death, Prince’s albums and songs sold more than 4 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.
MORE ON PRINCE:
Prince overdose: Authorities looking into how pop star obtained fentanyl
Fentanyl: Prince’s cause of death puts potent painkiller in the spotlight
Prince, master of rock, soul, pop and funk, dies at 57
Appreciation: From beginning to end, Prince was always surprising us
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