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Prince Passed Away: The 12 Greatest Performances He Left Behind

By Trisha Faulkner
Published on: 11:17 PST, Apr 28, 2016

It has officially been a week since iconic entertainer Prince passed away. The Inquisitr reported the music star passed away at his home in Minnesota on April 21.

Prince may have passed away, but he left a lot of things behind for his fans to enjoy. This included a number of songs he wrote for other singers such as “Manic Monday” by the Bangles, “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor, and “Love Song” by Madonna.

After he passed away, Prince also left behind a lot of incredible performances for his fans to enjoy. Here are the 12 greatest performances of Prince in no particular order.

1. “Purple Rain” at the 2007 Super Bowl Halftime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fv_6bH8WUA

In addition to being labeled as one of Prince’s greatest performances of all time, his performance of “Purple Rain” at the Super Bowl halftime in 2007 is considered by many to be one of the best halftime performances in Super Bowl history.

2. “I Wanna Be Your Lover” At The Capitol Theatre In New Jersey, 1982

https://youtu.be/FwWBJ3U3THs

3. Medley with Beyoncé at the 2004 Grammy Awards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOs_XbVZUiA

Roughly 20 years after Prince first released Purple Rain, he performed several tracks from the album during the 2004 Grammy Awards with Beyoncé at his side. Together, the pair of singers opened the award show with their medley. Prince first took the stage by himself singing “Purple Rain” with his signature purple suit and guitar. Beyoncé joined him in a gorgeous sparkling pink dress and sang with him. The two transitioned to a very playful rendition of “Baby I’m a Star” before Beyoncé and her backup singers took over the stage and sang “Crazy in Love.”

Prince was later interviewed and asked questions about his experience with Beyoncé thanks to this performance.

“I was really curious as to how much she knew musically.”

Prince talked about how he spent his time with the singer leading up to the performance during the award show.

4. “Do Me, Baby” At The Capitol Theatre In New Jersey, 1982

https://youtu.be/eu9qkMPr10I

Many Prince fans agree just about every song he performed at the Capitol Theatre in New Jersey in 1982 could be labeled as one of his best performances. This is why performances from this concert made this list several times.

5. “Nothing Compares 2 U”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCJ908kdTlw

“Nothing Compares 2 U” is the hit song many people know Sinead O’Connor for. What a lot of people did not know was the fact that Prince was who originally wrote the song.

6. “American Woman” From Rave Un2 In 2000

https://youtu.be/3vecyBTKR4I

Rave Un2 the Year 2000 was originally a pay-per-view broadcast of Prince’s concert on New Year’s Eve of 1999.

7. “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno in 2002

8. Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella in 2008

https://youtu.be/VDQBswiTM0A

It was in 2008 that Prince did a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at the Coachella. Fans considered it to be an incredible performance. According to Digg.com, Prince removed all traces of the performance from the Internet due to a copyright issue. The video of this performance went viral on the internet before viral was really even a thing. It was earlier this year that the copyright ban was lifted and the video was re-uploaded all over the internet.

9. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” At TheRock & Roll Hall Of Fame, 2004

The breathtaking guitar solo Prince performed at the end of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” during the 2004 Rock Hall induction ceremony is recognized as one of the greatest musical moments in the history of these inductions. The most incredible part of this guitar solo was the fact that it almost didn’t happen, according to Rolling Stone. Olivia, the widow of George Harrison, wanted the performance of the piece to be limited to people who knew her husband. This did not include Prince; he claimed he had never heard the song before he had received it to learn it so he could perform it during the induction.

Organizers of the induction managed to convince Olivia to let Prince perform. The big reason why Prince wanted to perform at the induction was because it was the first time he had the opportunity to be on stage with Tom Petty.

“It was an honor to play with him. ‘Free Fallin’ is one of my favorite songs.”

10. “Crazy” At NYC’s Madison Square Garden, 2011

https://youtu.be/XfpkbjDwpsY

This live performance took place during Prince’s Welcome 2 America Tour at Madison Square Garden on February 7, 2011, in New York City.

11. “Purple Rain” at American Music Awards, 1985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsdR8eycRys

Just a year after the release of Purple Rain, Prince’s performance of the song at the American Music Awards was one of his first incredible performances to be televised.

12. “Little Red Corvette” by Prince and the Revolution on March 30th, 1985, in Syracuse, New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW2z2Nxqa2M

Prince went on an extensive tour of the United States during the years 1984 and 1985 in order to capitalize on the growing success of the Purple Rain album. While it is not shown in the video above, Apollonia 6 and Sheila E. were the opening act for the tour.

He Left Behind More Than Just His Performances And Songs

In addition to leaving behind a lot of great performances and songs, Prince also left a lot of questions. For example, Prince passed away without a will according to the Inquisitr. This has left a lot of people wondering who would inherit his $250 million fortune.

Rumors have also begun to surface that Prince may have left hundreds of unreleased songs in his vault.

Naturally, fans also questioned why Prince passed away in the first place. Did it have anything to do with the fact that he was treated for drug overdose just days before he passed away? Unfortunately, only time will tell. It is possible Prince overdosed on the painkillers found on his person at the time of his passing. However, it is just as possible that the painkillers caused the flu he was sick with to get worse. There are even rumors circulating that Prince may have been murdered.

How do you think Prince passed away; and which one of his live performances was your favorite?

[Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images]

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