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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Prince Found Dead in Elevator; Trump to Adopt More "Presidential" Demeanor; Sanders Renews Attacks on Clinton. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired April 22, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That stock, you might have in your portfolio, too, is down 6 percent in the early going here today. So, we will watch and see what happens when the opening bell rings.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yikes, 42 years on jobless claims.
ROMANS: For jobless claims.
Look, you are hearing about the economy is. For the people who are newly laid off, no, the lowest number in years and years.
MARQUEZ: EARLY START continues right now.
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ROMANS: Mourning a music legend. Prince dead at the age of 57. New tributes and celebrations as investigators try to figure out what caused the superstar's death.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez on this gloomy Friday sadly. It is April 22nd, 5:00 a.m. here in the East.
Happening today, an autopsy to find out what killed superstar Prince. All night long, around the world, and especially in his home town of Minneapolis, fans are remembering, listening to his music and paying tribute to the artist now and forever known as Prince. This morning, what we are learning about his death and how fans celebrating his life.
Ryan Young joins us from his Paisley Park Estates and Studios.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, if you look behind me, you can see some of the people who decided to show up here to Paisley Park. We have seen hundreds if not thousands of people standing here at the fence line paying their respects to Prince.
In fact, we have seen several talking amongst themselves just about how this could happen to the 57-year-old. A couple stars have been walking amongst the crowd here. One talking
to me saying he didn't want people to know he was here, but he wanted to pay his respects to an artist and a man who meant so much to the community. Far beyond what people may actually know in terms of what he's done for other people.
One of the things we do know is that Prince was found here around 9:40 in the morning. He was found unresponsive in the elevator. There was a 911 call, and those transcripts show that apparently there was some trouble getting responsive because the person calling 911 did not know the address to this location. Once EMS arrived and tried to do CPR, he was unresponsive and was pronounced dead here on CNN.
An autopsy will happen on Friday, and people are hoping and clamoring, hopefully for more information about what happened to Prince. But that may not happen as quickly as you may want it to happen. All across the city, all across the world, people have been paying their respects to Prince and that will continue over the next few days.
Back to you, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Ryan, thank you for that.
Look at this. This is just a few miles away in downtown Minneapolis at the nightclub where Prince filmed "Purple Rain." This is an all- night dance party in his honor. Still, we're told, going on at this hour.
CNN's Kyung Lah is there for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, it seems all of Minneapolis has come out to pay respects to Prince in the only way he would want. A celebration of his music outside of the very club that he helped put on the map. This is the First Avenue Club.
And what you are seeing outside is an enormous crowd. Hundreds of people and they're packing the street out here in downtown Minneapolis. They are actually waiting to get in. The doors have opened.
This is an all night into the early morning dance party. We can hear his music blaring in the club. There is no charge. Everyone is being allowed to dance the night and day away to Prince's songs.
And what we see outside the club, flowers and personal notes, they've been dropped here throughout the day. People walking through rain to leave some remembrances and notes about what various songs meant for them.
For this city, he's more than just a musician. He's more than just a star. Prince is someone who never gave up on this town. He is their
favorite son. He is a musician that helped unite the city in the 1980s and continued until today -- Christine, Miguel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Thank you, Kyung.
Joining us to discuss Prince's impact on music and his legacy, senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES".
ROMANS: Good morning.
MARQUEZ: Good morning there, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
MARQUEZ: Check it out. All six papers. Even "The Wall Street Journal," "New York Times," and "USA Today". I mean, clearly, this guy goes beyond just the pop and music world.
STELTER: You're right. I cannot think of the last time we've seen that actually from all the papers united, and, of course, all in purple, all tabloids in purple. It's been amazing to see how far we have seen tributes. Even Google changing its logo to purple yesterday.
Of course, that is because we are talking about a one-of-a-kind, one in a generation artist -- someone performing sadly right up until the end. I'm struck by the fact we have been hearing about his last concerts from Atlanta last week and how his health may have taken a turn for the worse after the shows.
[05:05:07] If you guys you don't mind, I'll read the review. This was this time last week. This is the "Atlanta Journal Constitution."
"As he stood silhouetted against -- what else? -- a purple light, with only his puff of hair, diminutive frame and cane visible, the fans in the Fox Theater bounded to their feet as they are welcoming the messiah. For many, Prince is indeed a musical religion, and at the first of his two sold-out concerts Thursday night, he took his disciples to church with a set that resounded intensely."
Now, I can't think of many other artists described that way, taking the fans to church, as being their messiah. We heard about that show, including from CNN folks who were there, who say it had a special feeling at the time. Some even people suggesting he kind of knew this was a special performance and maybe he would not be performing much longer. And, of course, a day or two after the performances in Atlanta, he did have a medical emergency. Having to touchdown on the way home to Minnesota.
But then last weekend, he reemerged at paisley park. He wanted his fans to see him there. He came out last Saturday and made a public appearance. That's when he said people's prayers might be premature, kind of foreshadowing and foreboding words at the time.
ROMANS: You talk about going to church and taking his listeners to church. You know, it's church and sex. This is a guy who could write words about important experiences that define and unite all people. He was sexy, he was weird, but he was cool all together. He was a really cool combination.
MARQUEZ: He crossed every boundary there was.
STELTER: That point is really important, especially in the 1980s. What Prince represented as a sex symbol, not necessarily an average sex symbol, but someone who was able to kind of challenge and redefine identity norms and gender norms.
Think about the lyrics of one of the songs. Am I straight? Am I gay? He would go back and forth.
And then, of course, years later, talking about church and sex, Christine, he became a Jehovah Witness. He became a devout member of that faith, converted I think in the early 2000s. He had a very intriguing (INAUDIBLE) over the years. He was married twice.
He always kept his private life very much private. This is a person who really actually drew a line between his public and private life in a way that many other stars do not, feels like now we know everything about public figures. Not Prince. He was able to keep his private life private.
MARQUEZ: He was so musically gifted being able to pick up instruments and play and compose his own stuff. You think of Mozart, Beethoven, the Beatles, Hendrix, great musicians of all time. I mean, this guy seems to fit right into group across the board.
STELTER: Dozens of instruments he played on various songs. I still find myself using the present tense while talking about him. Unfortunately, you think about the dozens of instruments and hundreds of songs. I believe the number is 40 albums total.
Of course, some of the songs have never been heard by the public. They're in a vault. They're unreleased. A lot of curiosity if they will be shared with the public in the future.
Just give you a look by the numbers. I'm thinking about the films, the various web sites, the various experiments over the years with distribution. You know, At one point, he put his songs in the newspaper to distribute "The Daily Mail." In the 1990s, he had people sign up online future album.
He was experimenting and trying new ways to control his music and release it to fans on his own terms. I think many other artists and musicians had been inspired by that. Some of what we see now from artist like Beyonce is a direct sort of, the descendant so to speak, sort of follows a path that Prince laid years ago.
ROMANS: Yes, 57 is too soon. That's the thing.
MARQUEZ: Amazing.
ROMANS: Thanks so much for that, Brian Stelter.
You know, this right here is Prince on stage with several music legends at his induction in the rock & roll hall of fame. One of his many accomplished. Prince released 16 platinum albums in his career. Platinum, of course, the industry certification for selling a million copies.
He also won seven Grammy Awards and Oscar for "Purple Rain." He is back on top of the charts. The five most downloaded songs in the iTunes store right now, "Purple Rain" number one, followed by "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry", "Kiss" and "Let's Go Crazy."
You can buy his music on iTunes, but you won't be able to stream unless you have a subscription to Tidal.
[05:10:02] That's a service started by Jay-Z. Prince had dropped his deal with Spotify and Apple when he signed an exclusive deal with Tidal. One of the business moves he made to control his brand and his business and his catalog.
MARQUEZ: Now, Prince an advocate as well as an artist, from Black Lives Matter to the songs he wrote by Freddie Gray. We are breaking it all down coming right up.
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MARQUEZ: Well, that was a cue.
Prince was passionate about his music, of course, but he also had strong interest in politics and activism. Just recently, that included Black Lives Matter and Freddie Gray controversy in Baltimore.
Joining us now to talk all about that and Prince's life and, of course, the race for president, CNN's politics reporter Eugene Scott live in our D.C. bureau.
Good morning there, Eugene. Howa are you?
ROMANS: Good morning.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning. How are you?
MARQUEZ: This is -- Prince is somebody you know about. You have written about some of his activism.
[05:15:02] This is a guy who had a long history of being active in politics. Yes?
SCOTT: Yes, yes. He has. We saw most recently, as you mentioned, he released the song "Baltimore" in the wake of the murder Freddie Gray. He spoke about the tense relationship with law enforcement and people of color.
He not only used his lyrics to talk about helps issues, he took the stage at the Grammys to present the album of the year award and infused the statement about Black Lives Matter into that moment. This was a big part of his artistry. We know him as perhaps a key for dance music, but he really wanted to make sure his music was used to communicate messages and things were important that listeners should be aware of.
ROMANS: Listen to a bit of the song if we can pull it up.
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ROMANS: Surprisingly upbeat song. He is somebody who also thought that young people, he watched the Black Lives Matter movement and saw the young people protesting what happened to Freddie Gray. He told our Van Jones, who was acquainted with him, that it's young people who are going to change things. It is young people who are the social activists who really matter here, because he really started his career when he was 17 years old.
He really, really believed that young people were the answer to some of the problems.
SCOTT: Indeed, indeed. And even then back in the early '80s, I believe he had a song "Ronnie Talked to Russia", where he encouraged President Ronald Reagan to be more diplomatic in our relationships with the USSR, opposed to being eager to go to war.
This really was a consistent theme throughout his career, addressing these issues that he believed young people could be leaders in and influential in.
MARQUEZ: From Black Lives Matter to Cold War politics, I'm going to use that as a segue to get back into politics. Hillary Clinton not going after Bernie Sanders these days, but Bernie Sanders -- listen to this -- going after Clinton hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What American politics is about today is candidates running around sitting in mansions of billionaires listening to the terrible problems that the billionaire class has. Oh, my God. I mean, how can you possibly make it on $5 billion or $10 billion right now? These are tough times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: I take it he is not going to let up. Is that a winning strategy?
SCOTT: Well, it's got him this far. I mean, the issues that brought him to the national forefront have been issues regarding corporate greed and income inequality and speaking up for the working class. And he's been very successful.
You see that in the last several months. His fundraising has surpassed that of Hillary Clinton, especially regarding low dollar amounts and individual givers. And so, it would be wise of him to continue to take this path. It's been successful for him thus far.
ROMANS: Let's talk about the Republicans. We're hearing there may be a change in to from the frontrunner Donald Trump. May have been playing a part in the primary season and appear more presidential in the future. Fill us in on this story line on the Republican side.
SCOTT: Well, this is something that Mr. Trump has been referencing for a while. He certainly has shown us moments where he could be more presidential, perhaps surprised us with some of his positions and his approaches to issues and push-back from his opponents.
What we know about Donald Trump is to expect the unexpected. With it being Friday, there's enough time in the week left for him to surprise us.
MARQUEZ: That is true. Truer words have never been spoken.
Eugene Scott for us in D.C., thank you.
ROMANS: Getting up early for us. Love that guy, thanks, Eugene.
All right. The big story this morning. The death of music legend Prince being health on the baseball diamond, in the hard court. How the singer's hometown Minnesota teams are saying farewell.
Coy Wire with this morning's bleacher report, next.
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[05:23:43] ROMANS: The death of Prince being felt around the world, including, of course, in the world of sports.
MARQUEZ: Indeed. Coy Wire has more in the bleacher report. Hello there, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miguel and Christine.
Prince was a big time sports fan. His Minnesota home town teams precious to him like diamonds and pearls, Vikings, T-Wolves, Twins and Links, a lot to cover in a bit of time. Oh, no, let's go, let's go crazy.
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WIRE: He made people party like it's 1999 at the 2007 Super Bowl. Made fans delirious with his guitar riffs, quite possibly the greatest half time of all time. In the pouring down rain, he sang and played "Purple Rain." Oh my goodness.
And in the sign of the times, people took to social media. His hometown Minnesota Twins changing their profile picture lighting Target Field in purple haze, saying, "Fitting that it's raining in Minneapolis today." The Minnesota Timberwolves posted a pic of Prince and said, "When doves cry, wolves cry." Prince was only about five-foot-two, but according to his junior high basketball coach, he could really play. One thing's for sure. No middle schooler ever looked cooler than Prince. The fro, the side eye stare. You look good, sir. You got the look.
Prince was a big NBA fan.
[05:25:00] Just last month, he sat court side at a Warriors game as the guest of Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
The Warriors played the Rockets last night, game three in Houston. Both teams jammed to Prince during pre-game warm ups. It must have inspired James Harden, because he was hotter than a little red Corvette, 35 points and knocking down the game winner with 2.7 seconds left.
Steph Curry did not play. Out with a hurt ankle. Rockets get the win, 97-96.
Finally, we have the first official no hitter of the 2016 season. Cubs ace Jake Arrieta shuts down the Reds with the second career no- no. Strike out, in a 16-0 rout of the Reds.
Arrieta's first no hitter came last year against the Dodgers. They have not forgotten, guys. They tweeted after the game, "Hey, Reds, Arrieta no hitter support group meets on Monday."
You have to love that. Great day for Arrieta and Rockets and an awesome day of tribute to an icon and music legend.
ROMANS: Really is. All right.
MARQUEZ: Coy, you win the award for the most Prince references in a single story, sort of talking on camera. Amazing.
You have inspired me for the weekend.
ROMANS: Thanks. Nice to see you, Coy. Have a great weekend.
WIRE: You too.
MARQUEZ: Mourning an icon. Prince found dead at the age of 57. Overnight tributes as questions surround the surprise death of the music legend.
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