Neal Schon of Journey paid tribute to Prince on what would have been the icon's 61st birthday today (Friday).
He posted an instrumental version of "Purple Rain" on his website as a free download. The track will be on Schon's upcoming solo album,Universe, which is due out this fall. Schon wrote, "Honoring and remembering Prince on his birthday with my guitar soaring high to heaven and carrying his spirit and music on. His music lives forever."
The choice of "Purple Rain" is appropriate, as Prince himself thought the song was too close to Journey's own hit "Faithfully" and played part of it to Jonathan Cain over the phone to get the keyboardist's approval.