“A God”: the greatest guitarist, according to Prince

At the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Prince stood out during a performance of George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, delivering a solo lasting about three minutes. The performance illustrated his reputation as a remarkable guitarist, a role he said he wanted to be recognised for.

Yet Prince named childhood friend Sonny Thompson as his favourite guitarist of all time, saying Thompson was his hero and taught him much of what he knew. Thompson, later a bassist in Prince’s New Power Generation from 1991 to 1996, recalled that the two grew up together in Minneapolis and played guitar as teenagers; he described Prince as able to reproduce anything he heard.