An emotional Stevie Wonder talked about Prince with CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday night, hours after the Purple Rain singer died at 57 at his Paisley Park studio residence near Minneapolis, Minn..
Wonder struggled to keep his composure when Anderson Cooper asked if he would perform a Prince song.
“Yeah, I think I would probably break down if I do a song right now,” he said, appearing to choke up. “I’m just glad I was able to say to him ‘I love you’ when I last saw him.”
He also seemed touched by audio of Prince calling the “Superstition” singer as a “role model.”
In another part of the interview, Wonder praised Prince for his versatility: “He could play classical music if he wanted to, he could play jazz if he wanted to , he could play country if he wanted to. He played rock, he played blues…He played everything.”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Why Trump’s Message Worked on Latino Men
- What Trump’s Win Could Mean for Housing
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Sleep Doctors Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives
- Column: Let’s Bring Back Romance
- What It’s Like to Have Long COVID As a Kid
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com