Ambassadors For Prince Remember His Uncanny Ability To Nurture Talent & Connect People

When Justin Timberlake honoured Minneapolis' Prince Rogers Nelson at the 2018 Super Bowl, performing I Would Die 4 U to a video projection, devotees were divided. But The Family's "St" Paul Peterson - whom Prince moulded into a star in the '80s - is full of praise.

"I shed a tear," the amiable Peterson shares. "I thought it was incredible. I thought it was beautifully, respectfully done. He couldn't have come in there and not done that. Can you imagine the outrage if he didn't tip his hat to Prince? He was in an absolute no-win situation. I thought, musically, he did a beautiful job."

Since Prince's tragic passing at his beloved Paisley Park Studios in April 2016, there have been successive tributes - many by his proteges and associates who command their own cult fandom, even in Australia. In late 2016, The Family, today known as fDeluxe, hit Melbourne for a residency at Bird's Basement. The New Power Generation (The NPG), Prince's backing band following The Revolution, are Bluesfest headliners. And, this month, a supergroup of Prince "alumni" (including Jellybean Johnson and The New Power Generation stalwarts Cassandra O'Neal and Shelby J) will premiere the Nothing Compares 2 Prince concert with Peterson as musical director. They'll be joined by Tyka Nelson, Prince's younger sister and a musician in her own right, direct from Paisley Park's Celebration 2018 event.

Nelson welcomes exchanges with Prince fans, stressing that she is "approachable". The Minnesotan previously never discerned the depth of Prince's reach. "I think it's the stories," she reflects, her velvet voice surprisingly familiar. "Because to me he's always been just my brother, I didn't realise the impact that he did have on people around the world until he passed. And then I live in his childhood home and so people would come by and they would tell me stories; or when I'd go and travel to the different shows, then people will come up to me and tell me stories. So I've got to see a different side of my brother because, again, he's just my brother to me. But a lot of people have such great stories and inspiring stories. They make me cry, some of them make me laugh, but I've enjoyed each and every one of 'em. I love meeting the fans."

Prince first visited Australia in 1992 behind his Diamonds & Pearls album and last with the intimate Piano & A Microphone Tour in early 2016. "I don't remember him saying 'Australia', although he may have," Nelson notes. "When we would talk, he'd talk kinda fast and he wanted to fill me in on a lot of things."

Peterson speaks of a "common bond" that exists between Prince's various cohorts, all now "ambassadors for his music". Indeed, Prince was so copious that, from the outset, he fostered other acts so as to disseminate more of his work, introducing The Time, Vanity 6 and Sheila E. "Prince had an uncanny ability to not only recognise talent, and develop talent, but he knew how to put people together."

Peterson scored his break when auditioning as keyboardist for The Time, the iconic Minneapolis funk outfit pivoting on Morris Day, groomed to replace Monte Moir. The youngest in a musical family, the multi-instrumentalist had just graduated from high school and was gigging in bars. "I'll tell you what — for me, being this little suburban kid and getting into this great R&B black band, I had a couple of things to learn," Peterson laughs. "They kinda whipped me into shape." He cameoed as part of The Time in Prince's biopic Purple Rain.

The Time dissolved with Day's departure. Prince, a cross-cultural A&R, next conceived The Family: a Euro-funk group comprising The Time's remaining members and fronted by Peterson and Susannah Melvoin, The Purple One's girlfriend (and sister of Wendy, The Revolution's guitarist). In 1985, the band issued their eponymous debut via Prince's Paisley Park Records. In fact, Prince (ghost) wrote and played much of the music with Peterson instructed to study his guide vocals. "Prince had a vision. He had an idea. He had a persona in mind; he had a character he wanted me to step into — that was 'St Paul'," Peterson shares, "who was the guy who wore the smoking jacket, the guy who had Susannah on his side, and that's who he wanted me to be. He didn't want me to be Paul Peterson from Richfield, Minnesota." Later, Irish rocker Sinead O'Connor charted globally with a lavish cover of The Family's album cut Nothing Compares 2 U.

Prince was named after his father John L Nelson's band and his mother Mattie Shaw was a jazz vocalist. He and Tyka both grew up messing around with music, but the industry proclaimed Prince the prodigy. Ironically, Tyka Nelson might yet receive proper props for her artistry. The shy young singer-songwriter debuted with 1988's charming Royal Blue, Prince's future ally Larry Graham assisting in the studio. Pointedly, she didn't ever team up with Prince, determined to be independent. "I already knew that Prince made great music and I had seen him work with other artists," she explains. "Then, when Janet Jackson came out with [former Time members Jimmy Jam &] Terry Lewis, I said, 'Yeah, but can Janet hold it on her own and can I hold it on my own?' It was a fear more than anything. I wanted people to like my music for just my music and not an influence of his. I wouldn't go out to Paisley Park and he kept trying to get me to come. He wanted to go to [my] sessions. I'm like, 'No, you gotta stay away.' So, yeah, it was definitely intentional, even though it kinda, I think, ticked him off a bit 'cause he wanted to help little sister."

Prince was a singer, guitarist, bassist, pianist, drummer, composer, producer, dancer, visualist, actor and director. Perhaps inevitably, some of his talents, too, are overlooked. "I was just thinking about this I think yesterday," Nelson begins. "[One time] I went down to the basement into his room… I had been playing clarinet for quite a few years. [But] I turned the corner and there was a saxophone sitting in there. I'm like, 'What the heck are you doing with this?' And he said, 'I'm playing the saxophone!' I just thought that was kind of odd because I had never seen him play anything [like a wind instrument] — except as a child, one of those little recorder-type things. So I think people don't know that he at one point played saxophone."