Minneapolis guitarist and pianist Marshall Charloff talked about being a Prince tribute artist in 2011, when Prince was still alive.
“What you couldn’t see (at a Prince performance) is the purple coat (from the ’80s). I don’t think that guy owned a rear view mirror,” Charloff said of Prince’s need for reinvention.
The concept for The Purple Xperience, Charloff said, was a collaboration between him and Matt “Doctor” Fink, the keyboardist of The Revolution. The five-piece Purple Xperience’s keyboardist is Cory Eischen, an alumnus of Prince’s ’90s band, The New Power Generation.
When Prince died, The Purple Xperience were set to play a show in Chicago, and almost canceled it. “It really pulled on me and everybody else in the band,” he said, mentioning his other band mates, bassist Ron Long, drummer Ron Caron and guitarist Tracey Blake.
Charloff taught himself to play the guitar when he was 15, then taught himself piano, bass and drums. He met Prince when he was 18. “I think there’s a little bit of osmosis going on. I was seriously influenced by his musicianship and being a writer, being a producer and playing the parts. I’m not Prince, but … I’m being genuinely me while I’m wearing his outfits. I don’t think the audience thinks it’s an affect. I know that’s what he would do,” Charloff said, making it sound as if singing, playing and dancing like Prince was easy.
“We do hit all the number-ones and we do a bit for the hard-core fans. Sometimes I’ll test them,” he said, referring to an off-the-cuff solo piano interlude that has run the gamut from an Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Prince era hit like “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” the “Purple Rain” track “The Beautiful Ones” and the “1999” B-side “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore.”
According to Charloff, during a recent show in Maryland he started playing “Starfish and Coffee” from 1987’s “Sign ‘O’ the Times,” realized the audience didn’t recognize the song, and “just like Prince would do, (say): ‘Aw, I thought you were fans’.”
Find out what happens next at the Keswick Theatre June 24.
Charloff performed for seven years as a dueling piano player as one-half of The Funkeys, where he honed his impersonation of Prince. “A dueling piano artist, their job is to engage the audience and make it a party. Prince was all about that. I’m reading the room and encouraging the audience to be part of the show,” he said.
Watch the video at www.purplexperience.com, and check out Charloff’s original music at www.marshallcharloff.com.
