Who is the song about, why did Prince give it to the Family to record as an album track, and what did he really think of Sinéad O’Connor’s smash hit single? Thirty four years ago, when Paul “St Paul” Peterson was the singer in the Family, a band Prince had assembled, he was sitting in his mother’s house in Minneapolis when he received a tape containing Prince’s recording of a song he wanted Peterson to learn for the album he was producing for the group. “I was told to learn Prince’s inflections, his emotions, and the melody line,” the singer remembers, describing how capturing the song’s themes of loss and abandonment meant he had to go “deep”. “So I thought about a girl called Julie, who broke my heart in high school.”It was Nothing Compares 2 U. Prince’s recording went unreleased, the Family’s version became a barely heard album track, but Sinéad O’Connor’s smash 1990 reimagining let the world hear what is now acknowledged as one of Prince’s greatest songs. Today, as Prince’s more electronic, rockier original is finally made public, Peterson – who has been married to Julie for 28 years – is back in his mother’s house. He has just listened to the recording he last heard in 1984 and admits: “I’m freaking out here, man.” Continue reading…

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/19/nothing-compares-2-u-prince-original-sinead-o-connor-family-classic-released