--- title: Prince Dead: The One Thing the Artist Couldn't Do description: The artist, who has died at 57, talked to TIME in 1984 canonical: https://time.com/4303548/prince-dead-time-interview/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-21T17:43:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:56:27.667Z article:section: History og:title: Prince Was Asked if There Was Anything He Couldn't Do. Here's His Answer og:description: The artist, who has died at 57, talked to TIME in 1984 og:url: https://time.com/4303548/prince-dead-time-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f901b1372fa3b2e/6988903acd1bbab68a700608/prince.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Prince At Wembley og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Was Asked if There Was Anything He Couldn't Do. Here's His Answer twitter:description: The artist, who has died at 57, talked to TIME in 1984 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f901b1372fa3b2e/6988903acd1bbab68a700608/prince.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince Was Asked if There Was Anything He Couldn't Do. Here's His Answer  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 21, 2016 5:43 PM UTC  American pop star Prince performing at Wembley, London, 22nd August 1990\. (Photo by Graham Wiltshire/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) American pop star Prince performing at Wembley, London, 22nd August 1990\. (Photo by Graham Wiltshire/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Graham Wiltshire—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 21, 2016 5:43 PM UTC Prince, the legendary label-defying musician whose [death at 57 ](http://time.com/4303558/prince-dead-died-death-paisley-park/)was confirmed on Thursday, was many things: an icon of music, a voice against corporate strength, the [patron saint of the Minneapolis art scene](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-11-19/page/119/). In 1984, when TIME interviewed the artist about the release of _Purple Rain_, his co-star Apollonia asked Prince a question that stumped him: “Is there anything you can’t do?” His eventual answer was something of a throwaway—”Anything I can’t do? Yeah. I can’t cook.”—but it was still revealing. His aura of supreme confidence was just one of the many things that made Prince stand out. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) And his confidence was well-earned, even so early in his career, as TIME summed up: --- > “” --- **_Read the full interview with Prince from 1984:_** [His Highness of Haze](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-08-06/page/72/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4303548/prince-dead-time-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4303548/prince-dead-time-interview/"},"headline":"Prince Was Asked if There Was Anything He Couldn't Do. 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