President Barack Obama praised pop icon Prince as an “extraordinary” and “original” artist — and said he and his staff listened to the hit “Purple Rain” ahead of a meeting with the British Prime Minister on Friday.
“I love Prince because he put out great music and he was a great performer,” Obama said at a press conference in London. “I didn’t know him well. He came to perform at the White House, and was extraordinary, and creative, and original, and full of energy. So it’s a remarkable loss.”
The musician died unexpectedly Thursday at the age of 57.
“I’m staying at Winfield House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence, and it so happens the ambassador has a turn table. So this morning we played ‘Purple Rain’ and ‘Delirious’ just to get pumped up before we left the house before an important bilateral meeting.”
In a statement released by the White House Thursday, Obama referred to the pop star as “one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time.”