It was only last year that Prince was on the stage of the 72nd Golden Globes, presenting the Best Song award to John Legend and Common for Glory (from the movie Selma). Today the news of his death at age 57 came as a shock to fans worldwide. As the world awaits details, music lovers, colleagues, musicians and stars mourn the irreplaceable loss of one of the most eclectic and influential figures in American pop and R&B. The author of modern classics like 1999 and Purple Rain was signed by Warner Bros Records when he was still a teenager, releasing his debut album For You, in 1978.

In 1984 he gained worldwide fame after creating the soundtrack to Purple Rain, the film in which he also starred. The original song fro that film, When Doves Cry, was nominated for a Golden Globe and subsequently won and Academy Award. In 2006 he won a the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for Song of the Heart from George Miller’s Happy Feet.

Prince uniquely interpreted rock, funk and R&B in a thoroughly original way, displaying the same disregard for convention when he adopted the unpronounceable symbol O(+> as a new name, becoming universally famous as “the artist formerly known as Prince”.  Behind the eccentricity was an irrepressible musical genius and virtuoso performer  who collaborated mentored and inspired a generation of musicians – and a beloved member of the Golden Globes family. We shall miss him.