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ATLANTA - It’s been more than 30 years since Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution topped the music charts, and the soundtrack album remains one of the best-selling of all time. And although Prince passed away in 2016, the Revolution is keeping the music alive with a tour that stops in Atlanta later this month.
The Revolution, including members Wendy, Lisa, Bobby Z, BrownMark and Dr. Fink, will play Atlanta’s Tabernacle on Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m. BrownMark, who plays bass for The Revolution, recently moved to Atlanta and stopped by the FOX 5 Atlanta studios to chat with Good Day Atlanta’s Paul Milliken about his history with Prince and the current tour, mounted in honor of the famed musician.
On seeing Prince for the first time:
"I worked at a restaurant...and all Prince fans know, connoisseur of pancakes. He loved pancakes, right? He came in the restaurant because he was dating the waitress...and I was the cook. She comes running back one day and she's like, you gotta make this order special, and I was like, 'Why?' She says, '[Because] it's for someone special.' You know, I'm jumping up and down trying to look over the counter, and I saw this big old afro, and he looked like a rock star. Always. Prince always had the A-game."
On recording the classic Purple Rain:
"No, I didn't know it was something special. Because from the day I joined Prince's band, recording was an everyday thing. I mean, they had the full-blown studio in the rehearsal facility, and anytime we would get on a hot groove...[Prince ] would say, 'Roll the tape,' you know? So, constantly recording everything that we did."
On the appeal of the music:
"It's universal. Crosses all cultural boundaries. And one thing that resonates with me that I've heard time and time again being on the road, 'You guys were the soundtrack of my life.' And that's a powerful statement because that means we really affected a lot of people's lives."
On response to the current tour:
"At first it was scary, 'cause we didn't really know...what was gonna happen. You know, everyone's grieving, we weren't sure how the fans were gonna take it, that suddenly we're gonna put this thing back together, and we didn't know what we wanted to do, or even why, we just knew we felt bad...That first block of shows was phenomenal. I mean, you heard laughing, screaming, cheering, crying. I mean, there was a section in the show where all you heard was boo-hooing through the whole song, so it was a rollercoaster of emotions and we realized, okay, this is what we gotta do."
For more information on BrownMark and The Revolution, head to the group’s Facebook page here.