Boston Mourns: Henry Santoro Remembers Prince

WGBH Morning Edition Host Henry Santoro, a long-time radio and music host on the Boston scene for more than 30-years, reflects on the death of musical talent Prince, who died Thursday, April 21.

Santoro says he saw Prince in concert at least five times, it was a show he would never miss and he calls Prince the "ultimate innovator."

He says Prince performed the best shows ever.

 I've seen him perform in small clubs, Santoro says.  “Before "The House of Blues" on Lansdowne Street existed in its original form, it was a club called METRO, and some of the best shows happened there," he says.  Santoro remembers back in 1981 when he saw Prince on stage at that club. He says at the time, “Prince was coming into his own back then.”  
"I remember it like it was yesterday, and he walked out on stage just wearing a trench coat, and he had on a black leather thong under the trench coat, and that was all he was wearing," says Santoro, who posted the picture on his Twitter page, and Facebook.

It really encapsulates who Prince was at the time, "he was sexual, he was raw, and he was on fire," he walked out in that trench coat and he didn't stay on long. He really just delivered the goods."

"I always said don't ever turn down a ticket to a Prince concert," says Santoro.

Santoro says music fro Prince will live on forever, and he says anyone can listen to his recordings from late 70s and early 80s, and it's still timeless today.

Someone from the BBC called him the "modern day Mozart,” says Santoro, “he’s up there with Freddy Mercury, the best of the best. He could play everything."

Santoro speaks extensively about Prince's musical highlights including the story behind him playing the song, "While my guitar weeps, and collaboration with many, many women including Sheila E and others.

You can listen to Santoro’s extended look back on the life and career of Prince on the audio file above.