Dave Paulson, and Nate Rau

The Tennessean

As news of the sudden death of music icon Prince Rogers Nelson – known to all as Prince – spread on Thursday, his music returned to the top of the charts. Millions of fans around the world revisited his songs, and conjured up their fondest memories of the larger-than-life figure: perhaps riding on his motorcycle in the film “Purple Rain,” or rocking through a downpour during the 2007 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

When Nashville’s Dez Dickerson thinks back, he remembers a food fight.

He was touring as Prince’s guitar player on the “1999” tour, and during a stop in Cincinnati, the singer organized “an epic food fight.” Dickerson called him a “tremendous practical joker.”

“When I think of him, that's what I remember. I remember this Dennis the Menace smile on his face, and him running around, squeezing mustard on people.”

The rest of the world, however, never saw Prince get that sloppy. He was an impeccable entertainer, easily mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jackson and James Brown. And though many pop stars, Jackson included, took pains to craft an aura of mystery and magic, none did it as well as Prince. In recent years, his guest appearances at concerts were discussed like they were ghost sightings – an apparition vanishing as mysteriously as he appeared.

And somehow, this otherworldly presence appealed to nearly everyone – regardless of race, age or background – like few musicians could.

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“Prince was huge, and that is really the simplest and maybe most profound way to put it,” said H. Beecher Hicks, III president and CEO of the Nashville-based National Museum of African American Music.

Prince released his first album in 1978, a time when, Hicks said, “people were looking for a certain sense of unity. The late '70s were on the heels of the Civil Rights movement. Here you had a mixed-race musician who really did not conform to standards of genre identification, and really forced people to pay attention to the depth and significance of his music. He really brought people together.”

His best work seemed to effortlessly blur the lines between rock, funk, soul and countless other genres, with Prince showcasing incredible command over several instruments – none more notably than the guitar. Even if some music makers weren’t wild about his more risqué, sexually charged material, they had to acknowledge his talent.

“He really was a musician's musician,” said Joe Chambers, founder of Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame. “He could stand up on any stage and play guitar, next to anybody. He almost created another genre of music, putting things together like he did.”

Mystery, compassion, ping pong

His sprawling body of work – including 39 studio albums – is a testament not just to Prince’s talent, but also a defined work ethic and vision.

As a member of Prince’s horn section for three years, Nashville trombonist Roy Agee had a behind-the-scenes perspective on the man behind the artist.

Agee remembered Prince as a tireless worker who led 12-hour rehearsal sessions, but also kept an open mind regarding suggestions from his band members.

“He ran rehearsals like a film director,” Agee said. “He was like, ‘This is the picture we’re going for. This is what we’re doing.’ He always had the whole thing in his mind. And that was mindblowing to me, that he could see the vision so clearly.”

Nashville resident Laura LiPuma Nash knows all about Prince’s vision. From 1984 to 1988, she designed all of his album and singles covers for Warner Brothers Records – with the constant input of Prince himself, of course. It was a relationship that started when Prince called the label asking to meet with an art director – and Nash, still in her 20s, was the only one working in the art department at the time.

“When Prince has a request, you're gonna respond,” she told The Tennessean. “They said, 'You're just gonna have to go meet with him.' I was terrified.”

Prince was “in control of every detail,” Nash said. And while he took his time warming up to her, he never sought out anyone else until she left Los Angeles for Nashville.

“I was clearly the underdog, and he was the biggest artist on the planet, and he continued working with me. He never requested any big-time L.A. art directors, and he was always really good at making sure I got the credit. You wouldn't expect that, but I was really touched by that.”

On the road, Agee said Prince was kind, but never let the mythology behind the persona fall by the wayside.

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“He always maintained that sort of mystery,” Agee said. “I never saw him dress in any sort of casual clothing. He was always dressed to the nines even at home. I can tell you he was extremely funny, which very few people know. He could have been a standup comedian if he wanted to. I can tell you he played ping-pong at an Olympic level, like kind of ridiculous."

“He was nice. He was genuinely nice to me. He was a good person. I know he had his issues and he reacted out of his own pain like all human beings do. But at the end of the day, Prince was a really good man.”

On Thursday, Dickerson was quickly booked to speak with news outlets around the world, each asking him to sum up the massive legacy of a guy he played in a band with from 1979 to 1983. He thought back to his first audition for a then-20-year-old Prince. It took place in a Minneapolis warehouse – the former home of Del’s Tire Mart – and afterwards, Prince spoke to him about his future plans in a way that was “wise beyond his years.”

“It was after looking in the rear view mirror that we had a sense of how profoundly impactful that whole thing was,” he said of his four-year-run with Prince.

“There are few (artists) that are in that pantheon. There's just a handful of folks, whether it's Elvis or Bowie. And I believe that Prince was one of them, and having been a part of that, is definitely something that I cherish.”