Judith Hill at Paisley Park, Chanhassen, MN (23 March 2015 am)

Judith Hill: Back in Time Read More Judith Hill Opening up the show was Judith Hill, a half-Japanese half-African American singer from Los Angeles. We previously mentioned that she was Michael Jackson's backup singer and can be heard on NBC's "The Voice". …

Paisley Park Studios Exterior

Before further details, here’s a (typical) timeline of the day leading up to going to Prince’s Paisley Park Studios for the evening. With Prince having suspended all his social media accounts late last year, finding news about any opening of Paisley  Park has become trickier.

Earlier that day:  each member of band 3^rd Eye Girl posts that “something amazing is about 2 happen”, getting the purple fan base riled up and speculating as to what it might mean. Meanwhile, the weather turns from bad to worse, with snow and freezing sleet continuing.

3:25pm:  local Fox TV station posts that Paisley Park will be hosting a “closed door session and you are invited”, which spreads quickly throughout the Prince community.

5:23pm: Fox9 backtracks on their original statement to say that it is “invited guests only” (the agenda of which is still unknown), though many of the local purple faithful decide to try and attend anyway.

10:00pm-ish: after being told to stay in their cars, invited media and less than 100 of the curious public are let into the smaller NPG Music Club room, where a DJ is spinning and the movie Oz- The Great and Powerful is looping on the screens.  Still, no one knows why they are there, but all are obviously wishing for a Prince and 3^rd Eye Girl performance.

Midnight: members of the invited media (Star Tribune, Fox9, City Pages, The Current) are escorted back to Paisley’s Studio A, for what turns out to be an introduction to singer Judith Hill, a preview of her new music, and some Q+A.

1:00am: Judith Hill emerges with a six-piece band (including former NPG members Chance Howard, Kip Blackshire and Kirk Johnson), to play a four-song half-hour set, with Prince and 3^rd Eye Girl cheering them on from the back stairs before Prince winds his way through the crowd to watch her side stage.

1:45am: a small and random group of fans are allowed into the studio for a similar listening session, as everyone else gathers around the door and tries to queue in line for the next group.

2:15 am: DJ stops playing and venue security forces everyone to leave- the lucky few inside are still in the studio and it’s obvious there will be no Prince performance this a.m.

So, the evening which was surrounded in the usual “will-they-or-won’t-they play” mystery, ended up being a showcase for Los Angeles singer, Judith Hill, a former contestant on The Voice, who has toured with Josh Groban and John Legend, and was featured in the films 20 Feet from Stardom and Michael Jackson- This Is It.

Hill is undoubtedly talented, has an “analog” soulful sound inspired by Sly and the Family Stone, and had just finished work on her album, Back in Time, which Prince produced.

After getting suggestions from the media, Prince quickly used Live Nation’s email to promote the release of the album via We Transfer, available for free download as WAV files until Mar 25^th at this link:

• judithhill.wetransfer.com
  
  

Will Hill become a backup singer that takes the leap from “twenty feet from stardom” to actual stardom itself, like once-former backup singers Sheryl Crow and Luther Vandross?  Or will she become another Prince “protégé” that turns into a footnote in just a few years?

Hard to say at the moment, but Prince’s help certainly got her noticed and Back in Time is a funkified pleasant introduction- grab it while you can.

Judith Hill photo courtesy of JudithHill.com

john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic