Hillary Scott Reflects on Prince’s Legacy: ‘He Had His Own Symbol, for Crying Out Loud’
Prince's death on Thursday (April 21) rattled the music industry, including many country artists. Hillary Scott was actually in an interview when she heard the news, and she shared her thoughts on the iconic artist's legacy.
“There’s no one comparable to him. He’s his own. I mean, he had his own symbol, for crying out loud, for quite a few years," Scott says, referencing when Prince switched his name to what would come to be known as the "Love Symbol" in the early 1990s. "That’s a really, really sad loss to hear about … but thankfully, we have a lot of really incredible music that we will never have to not have.”
Scott also recalled "one of my most vivid memories with his music," from during Lady Antebellum's We Own the Night Tour, featuring opening act Darius Rucker. Rucker, Scott remembers, closed his set every night with Prince's "Purple Rain."
"One of the last shows of the tour, Charles [Kelley] went out dressed as Prince," Scott explains. "So, obviously, Prince being much smaller in stature than Charles, who's 6′ 6″, it just is one of the most lighthearted, sweet, funny, hilarious moments.”
"Purple Rain" has been an in-concert favorite of Rucker's for many years, but the performance Scott is talking about took place, appropriately, in Minneapolis, Minn.
Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson in Minneapolis on June 7, 1958. He released 29 studio albums throughout his career, won seven Grammys and one Oscar and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. He was 57 at the time of his death.
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