I have been fortunate enough in my lifetime to witness, or to have heard some of the greatest musical entertainers ever. Michael Jackson comes to mind immediately; Stevie Wonder follows not too long after that. Sam Cooke, Ray Charles. Marvin Gaye. The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. David Bowie. Earth, Wind & Fire. James Brown. P-Funk. Miles Davis. George Benson. Led Zeppelin. Eric Clapton. Santana. Elvis Presley. Public Enemy. Aretha Franklin. Luther Vandross. The Temptations. Smokey Robinson. So many great artists, and that list is leaving out so many, many others.  And for as great as all of those artists and groups were, and are, there were none like Prince Rogers Nelson.

Photo by Scott Penner via Flickr using a Creative Commons license.

It was as if he had studied every nuance of so many of the great musical masters and movements of the previous years of rock and roll, rhythm…