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Prince – obituary  ... Gone far too soon Prince,  who has died aged 57 , was to the pop music of the 1980s what David Bowie had been to that of the previous decade, its sole authentic genius. Certainly, there were singers who sold more records or gained more awards, although his sales would top 100 million and he won seven Grammys as well as an Oscar. There were contemporaries of his who dominated their genres of music to a greater extent, among them Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Madonna. Yet none had as much influence or creativity as he, none broke as many rules as he, nor did so with such effortlessness and such showmanship. Albums such as Purple Rain and Sign O’The Times, and singles which included When Doves Cry, Kiss and Let’s Go Crazy made him a superstar. As astonishing as the often operatic intensity of the music was his versatility, for he often played most of the instruments himself. Prince at the time of his

Song of Myself  (1892 version) Related Poem Content Details BY  WALT WHITMAN 1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself,  And what I assume you shall assume,  For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.  I loafe and invite my soul,  I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.  My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,  Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,  I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,  Hoping to cease not till death.  Creeds and schools in abeyance,  Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,  I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,  Nature without check with original energy.  BBC RADIO - 3 Song of Myself Orson Welles read Whitman's trailblazing poem for the BBC Third Programme in 1953. In a new landmark reading of the poem, Welles'