When Prince died of an unintended drug overdose in April 2016, the world misplaced one among music’s most singular skills.
While he’s greatest generally known as a virtuoso guitarist — simply watch his searing electrical guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony — Prince was additionally a formidable multi-instrumentalist who might command bass, drums and keyboards with equal authority.
But the Purple One had one other, far much less publicized present.
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Basketball.
And in line with guitarist Micki Free, Prince’s expertise on the court have been astonishing.
“He was like Michael Jordan,” says Free, who performed electric guitar with Shalamar and counted Prince amongst his associates. “He was a freaking amazing basketball player — which shocked everyone.”
Prince’s supposed dominance on the hardwood turned a part of pop-culture lore due to a legendary story informed by Charlie Murphy — brother of Eddie Murphy — throughout a 2004 sketch on Chappelle’s Show. In the phase, “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories,” Murphy claimed that in 1984 the five-foot-three Prince schooled him and Eddie in a recreation of two-on-two.
But was the story exaggerated for laughs?
Free is aware of the reply — as a result of he was there.
The guitarist had grown near Prince in the mid ’80s after bonding over guitars, trend and nightlife. Both musicians shared a style for flamboyant garments and late-nightclub hopping.
In 1984, Shalamar had simply scored a U.S. Top 20 hit with “Dancing in the Sheets,” which gained much more consideration after it appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Footloose. The group additionally contributed “Don’t Get Stopped in Beverly Hills” to the 1984 Eddie Murphy movie Beverly Hills Cop, incomes Free and the different soundtrack artists a Grammy.
To have a good time the win, Prince invited Free out for an evening on the city.
The night started at a membership the place Prince — performing as DJ — was spinning tracks and testing his new music on the dance ground.
I’d run into him at golf equipment. He’d play songs he was planning to launch and watch the crowd to see if individuals would dance and groove to it.”
— Micki Free
“We would go to clubs together, or I’d run into him at clubs,” Free recollects. “He’d play songs he was planning to release and watch the crowd to see if people would dance and groove to it.”
That evening took an sudden flip when Eddie and Charlie Murphy arrived. Free and Eddie knew one another from their days in New York City, when Murphy was a part of the Saturday Night Live solid.
“Eddie and Charlie show up, and Prince says, ‘Let’s go up to my house in Beverly Hills and hang out,’” Free says.
But as soon as they arrived, Prince had one other concept.
“You know Prince was a very short man,” Free says. “But suddenly he goes, ‘Let’s play basketball!’”
The suggestion left the room surprised.
“Eddie looked at me like, What the fuck?” Free recollects. “And I looked at Eddie like, Man, I don’t know what’s going on!”
Eddie checked out me like, ‘What the fuck?’ And I checked out Eddie like, ‘Man, I don’t know what’s going on!’”
— Micki Free
The Murphy brothers figured that they had nothing to fret about. Prince and Free have been nonetheless dressed for the membership in frilly shirts, flashy garments and high-heeled boots — hardly the apparel of intimidating athletes.
“Charlie Murphy goes, ‘Okay, we’re going to call it the Shirts against the Blouses,’” Free says.
Prince’s bodyguard fetched shorts and basketball footwear for Eddie and Charlie. Prince and Free stayed precisely as they have been.
“I remember thinking, Oh my God, this is not going to be good.”
The groups squared off.
“Eddie and Charlie were laughing at us,” Free says. “‘Yeah, this will be easy.’”
Then the recreation began.
“From the first shot, Prince was nothing but net, net, net,” Free says. “I’m looking at Eddie and Eddie’s looking at me like, What the…?”
Prince took over the total recreation.
“It was that serious,” Free says. “I didn’t even shoot once. Prince shot everything — and we beat the shit out of them.”
The surprised brothers had no alternative however to just accept defeat.
“And when we were done, we went inside,” Free provides. “And Prince’s cook personally made us all blueberry pancakes.”
For Free, the story captures one thing important about Prince: the seemingly limitless vary of his skills.
“He was singular,” Free says. “There’s no doubt about it. I’ve never jammed with or played with a musician who was quite as good as Prince.
“He played everything, man — and he was good on everything he played.”
Even basketball.
