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The Revolution’s Brown Mark remembers Prince: “I don’t think since Mozart there’s ever gonna be anybody else”

by

The Prince Estate. Photographer Nancy Bundt

It’s been two-and-a-half years since Prince passed away, and for Brown Mark, the bass player of the band The Revolution, which recorded the Purple Rain soundtrack, Prince was the greatest musician of our time.

Mark was amazed by how Prince, best known as a guitarist and pianist, could play several instruments at the highest level.

“I’ve never seen anyone grab your instrument and show you how to do something. He had the ability to play everything, and if he wanted to tweak something, or whatever he wanted to do, he could come right over and he could show you what he’s hearing,” the 56-year-old musician says.

“‘Here, let me have that bass,’ and he would show me. He was a phenomenal musician,” Mark continues. “I don’t think since Mozart there’s ever gonna be anybody else. Not in our generation.”   

Mark says that not only was Prince the consummate musician, he was also one of the most versatile vocalists.

“He could sing in two different styles,” Mark remembers. “He’d hit this falsetto like the old Smokey Robinson and Verdine White. He could hit that, but then he could go to this baritone and this real deep thing.”

In addition to recording Purple Rain and appearing with Prince in the film, The Revolution also recorded three more albums with Prince in the ’80s: 1999, Around the World in a Day and Parade. Along with Brown Mark on bass, The Revolution includes guitarist Wendy Melvoin, drummer Bobby Z, and two keyboard players — Lisa Coleman and Dr. Fink.

The Revolution recently wrapped up its fall tour, and will end the year with Texas shows in Austin, Houston and Dallas on December 29, 30 and 31.

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