THE MAKING OF...
“Purple Rain”
A live recording at a local benefit show results in the signature tune from a career-defining album and movie
byPrince
“This wasn’t an act, this is who he was”: on stage in LA, 1985
MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTYIMAGES
ON August 3, 1983, Prince and backing band the Revolution – with 19-year-old guitarist Wendy Melvoin making her live debut – played a benefit gig for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the First Avenue club in downtown Minneapolis. Prince used the occasion to showcase songs that would form the backbone of sixth album Purple Rain, the soundtrack for a proposed movie. Among these was an apocalyptic ballad with a grandstanding guitar solo that became the title song of both the album and film.
On hand was engineer David Rivkin (aka David Z, brother of Revolution drummer Bobby Z), instructed by Prince to record the show on a mobile unit. “It was an incredible night,” he recalls. “Prince had improved the bando much that he didn’t settle for anything other than great. He was the most energetic person and set an example for everybody – you’ve gotta be on top of it, no matter what.”
The following months saw an accelerated period of recording sessions, rehearsals and filming duties, powered by Prince’s extraordinary work ethic. “The metaphor I like to use is a rubber band being stretched and stretched,” says Purple Rain’s co-engineer Susan Rogers. “It’s well known that he had a really traumatic and turbulent childhood. Growing up, the pressure was enormous. So if you manage to get that rubber band to release and achieve that escape velocity, then you get out of the circumstances of your youth and don’t turn around. He was very driven.”
The runaway success of 1984’s Purple Rain – both album and film – turned Prince from Midwest R&B hipster to international superstar. At the core of his newfound reputation was the title track, which became the crowning glory of his subsequent live shows. It also closed the final gig he ever performed in public, in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 14, 2016, a week before his death.