Prince would have been 58 today. In honor of his birthday, Alicia Keys pays tribute to her idol.
Happy Birthday, Prince! The one and only. 💜💜💜 Thinking of you today… My tribute to you: https://t.co/V0uGqsjQfmhttps://t.co/0HCvqFcUU8
— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) June 7, 2016
Watch Alicia Keys performs “How Come You Don’t Call Me” during her Tribeca Film Festival performance at the Highline Ballroom on April 22, 2016.
The track is special because she was able to remake it for her 2001 album Songs in A Minor. In the clip, Keys shares an anecdote about how she managed to get the Purple One’s permission to redo the cut.
“[Prince] had never allowed anybody to sing that song before,” she says. “The day came and somehow we arranged a phone call with Prince. At the time, I had never spoken to Prince before. I was so nervous. I was like, ‘What am I gonna say? How am I gonna convince him? I don’t want to beg him. But I kind of want to beg him.’