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
- Donald Trump Is TIME's 2024 Person of the Year
- Why We Chose Trump as Person of the Year
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good or Bad for You?
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- The 20 Best Christmas TV Episodes
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com