April 22--South Side singer-turned-actress Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to Prince by performing "Purple Rain" Thursday on Broadway with "The Color Purple" cast.
"I'm not a speaker by any means ... I did not expect to have to speak on tonight, but God has his way," Hudson said. "As we all know, on today we lost a legend. Ooh, Jesus, we lost a legend who was a good friend of mine: Prince, who was dear to all of us. Every single one of us."
Prince died Thursday at his Minnesota home at the age of 57. Hudson, who made her Broadway debut last year as Shug Avery, said Prince recently reached out to her to attend one of his events.
"He called me while we were here and he asked me to come out, you know, to this event because he was writing his book. And he told me, 'You can bring your cast members along.' ... We were honored to be in his presence one last time and we got to, you know, have that moment," Hudson said.
The "Hamilton" cast also paid tribute to Prince Thursday.
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