 The world lost a musical icon when Prince died, and working people lost a champion. The AFL-CIO Now blog recently reported on Prince's career-spanning fights on behalf of working people. For more than 40 years, Prince was a union member, a long-standing member of both the Twin Cities Musicians Local 30-73 of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and SAG-AFTRA. Beginning with "Ronnie Talk to Russia" in 1981 on through hits like "Sign o' the Times" and later works like "We March" and "Baltimore," Prince's music often reflected the dreams, struggles, fears and hopes of working people. And he wasn't limited to words; his Baltimore concert in the wake of Freddie Gray's death raised funds to help the city recover. Few of America's artists have so well captured the plight of working Americans as Prince, putting him in the line of artists like Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen as working-class heroes. "Prince was not only a talented and innovative musician, but also a true champion of musicians’ rights,” said AFM president Ray Hair.
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