Mariah Carey chose not to perform a Prince song as a tribute to the late star during her show in Paris, France on Thursday (21Apr16), because he didn’t like cover versions of his tunes.
Hours after news of the music icon’s death was released, Mariah tweeted a picture of herself alongside the Purple Rain singer and added the caption: “Genius, legend, inspiration, friend. The world will miss you. I’ll never get over it.”
She then took the stage at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, as part of her The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour, and took a moment in the middle of her concert to honour Prince, telling the audience, “So it’s a very sad day but we remember the life of somebody who will always be treasured.
“He was a friend to me too and he talked me through some times I really, really needed somebody and he was an incredible person if you didn’t ever get to meet him and I’m sure his music touched every single person in here. So, let’s have a moment of silence for Prince if we could please.”
As fans started to clap and cheer, Mariah suggested they then shout as loud as they could to honour the memory of her deceased friend, before dedicating her chart-topping hit with Boyz II Men, One Sweet Day, to Prince.
After the show, she told Entertainment Tonight she wrestled with the best way to pay tribute to the late superstar.
“I thought that One Sweet Day was an appropriate tribute for him…,” she said. “One thing about him (Prince) that was kinda cool and funny and made me laugh is that he didn’t like when people did his songs… otherwise I would have done something of his, just to do it, but I knew that wasn’t his thing.”
But that didn’t stop Slipknot star Corey Taylor and Bruce Springsteen from performing renditions of Prince’s Purple Rain.
Taylor played the track during a show at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which featured in the Purple Rain film, on Thursday night, while Springsteen covered the tune during a gig on Saturday night (23Apr16).
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