Prince ‘Purple Rain’ Remaster News: New Tracks, A Remastered ‘Purple Rain’ Album, And Sheila E.’s Tribute Song To Prince Will Be Released

Prince’s Purple Rain was one of the iconic musician’s most popular albums and it’s destined to live on, like its creator’s fame, when it comes out again next year as a remastered version.

Several reports have announced that Prince’s Purple Rain will be released again early next year. Songs like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry” will be featured again when the Purple Rain album comes out sometime in early 2017.

Purple Rain was such an iconic hit that Rolling Stone magazine tagged it as the second best album in the 1980s, and according to Vanity Fair it’s the best soundtrack of all time.

Purple Rain is one of the few albums in history to have five singles that are top 10 hits. “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” reached the top spot in the U.S. Top 10 hits, while “Purple Rain” reached the No. 2 spot and “I Would Die 4 U” settled at No. 8. “Take Me with U” didn’t make it to the Top 10 but it became a Top 10 hit in the U.K. settling in at the 7th spot in their Top 10 List.

As a tribute to the legacy of the artist, Prince’s Purple Rain album will be released again by NPG/Warner Bros., and according to Pitchfork, the songs in the album will be redesigned according to the late musician’s requests before he passed away.

A passing mourned by everyone

Prince was found dead in his house in Minnesota on April 21 this year. According to police reports, his death was caused by an accidental overdose on fentanyl.

He was discovered unresponsive in his Paisley Park home, and according to the paramedics who rushed to his home, he had been dead for six hours.

Many musicians and fans grieved the loss of an icon but one particular artist perhaps felt the loss the most.

Sheila E., one of Prince’s frequent collaborators, was deeply saddened by his passing, and when she and the rest of the New Power Generation attended the BET Awards earlier this year to pay tribute to their departed friend, it was too much an emotional event that almost kept her from playing.

She said that when she and her former bandmates would play again, it was certain that they’ll start crying, but as soon as she was reunited with the New Power Generation, Sheila E. told her fellow musicians that they need to play first and perhaps cry later.

Sheila E. also spoke about the several fans who came up to her after Prince’s passing just to offer their sympathies. She said that strangers would just approach her on the street and tell them that they also feel her loss when Prince died.

But despite the heartbreak, Sheila E. decided that singing more songs about Prince was the best way to remember him and according to the artist she’ll be playing a new song dedicated to him on Sunday at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

Sheila E. said that her new song “Girl Meets Boy” is about the first time she met Prince, and she’s scheduled to sing it at her upcoming performance at Orchestra Hall. She added that recording the song was painful because she’s still trying to work out the grief of losing someone so dear to her. She almost wasn’t able to finish recording because her voice kept breaking whenever she remembered her departed friend and former fiance.

New songs to be released

Fans of Prince will not only get the remastered version of Purple Rain, but they’ll also get new songs from the iconic artist this November 22.

According to Billboard, a collection of Prince’s greatest hits will come out this November 22. The album is titled Prince 4Ever and it will feature 40 songs including “When Doves Cry,” “1999,” “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and “Diamonds and Pearls.”

The upcoming album will also feature songs that weren’t released before. The song “Moonbeam Levels,” which Prince recorded in 1982 but never released, will be included in Prince 4Ever.

Fans of Prince would get a kick out of this album because it not only features several singles but also features unpublished photos of the musician, which were taken by another iconic artist, famous photographer Herb Ritts.

As for the other album that will come out in 2017, no further details were shared about Prince’s Purple Rain, but according to Pitchfork more information will be released next year.

[Featured Image by Chris O’Meara/AP Images]