In 2014, radio legend Howard Stern turned 60 years old, and SiriusXM threw him a pretty spectacular “Birthday Bash,” which was attended by adoring fans and celebrities alike. Besides just attending, some extremely talented musicians performed for Howard at his epic party, including pop rock band Train and Maroon 5’s lead vocalist, Adam Levine. Among other numbers, Train performed Prince’s “Purple Rain,” for which superstar singer Levine was asked to feature on as lead vocalist and guitarist.
While the performance was extremely impressive at the time, the footage wasn’t actually released for public view until April 22nd, 2016 – just one day after musical legend Prince tragically passed away. Upon hearing the news of Prince’s death, the Howard Stern Show decided to release this collaborative number with Train and Adam Levine. And we are so thankful that they did.
Although this was two years before Prince would pass away, Levine sang the song with an fierce passion, truly feeling the lyrics as he sang them. And while he sang the vocals fantastically (he’s Adam Levine, of course he did), what we were truly impressed by was the guitar solo that Levine completely nailed.
The song starts off nicely, with the audience singing along to the iconic lyrics, and Levine leading Train in the vocals. Finally, a little later in the number, lead singer for Train, Pat Monahan makes an appearance, hitting Prince’s incredibly high, screeching notes effortlessly. Once Monahan arrives to take over on vocals, Levine suddenly launches into an amazing guitar solo which starts at minute 3:45 in the video.
We all know that Levine is a talented performer (his band, Maroon 5, has been making smash hits for decades and he himself is a music icon) but this solo is astonishing. Truly, it is so much more than we were anticipating. The emotion that Levine puts into every riff and the fantastic way his fingers fly over the guitar strings is enough to make my jaw drop.
With the impressive vocals and killer guitar solo, this collaborative number is a really beautiful tribute to this musical legend. We’re very glad the Howard Stern Show decided to release this video – which now has close to 24 million views – to honor Prince with this amazing performance.
This is an especially important video to Adam Levine who, like many modern musicians, was deeply inspired by Prince.
After Prince passed away on April 21, 2016, Levine told People, “[I’ll remember] just the great times that we had and just constantly being inspired by how he did things his way [and] never let anybody deter what he wanted to accomplish creatively and musically. As a musician, I can’t tell you how much that’s rubbed off on me.”
Clearly, Prince was a friend of Levine’s as well as a musical role model. That makes this powerful performance that much more touching.
What do you think of this amazing number by Adam Levine and Train? Did it give you the goosebumps like it did for us? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.