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President Barack Obama addressed the death of American pop icon Prince in London Friday.
Obama described Prince as "creative and full of energy."
President Barack Obama praised pop icon Prince as an “extraordinary” and “original” artist – and said he and his staff listened to the hit “Purple Rain” ahead of a meeting with the British Prime Minister on Friday.
“I love Prince because he put out great music and he was a great performer,” Obama said at a press conference in London. “I didn’t know him well. He came to perform at the White House, and was extraordinary, and creative, and original, and full of energy. So it’s a remarkable loss.”
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The musician died unexpectedly Thursday at the age of 57.
“I’m staying at Winfield House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence, and it so happens the ambassador has a turn table. So this morning we played ‘Purple Rain’ and ‘Delirious’ just to get pumped up before we left the house before an important bilateral meeting.”
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In a statement released by the White House Thursday, Obama referred to the pop star as “one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time.”