40 yrs of The Family INTERVIEW

This episode is dedicated to Jellybean Johnson (Nov. 19, 1956–Nov. 21, 2025). Thank you for giving us decades of your musical talent and laughter!

On Friday, April 11, 2025, at noon EST, members of The Family – St Paul Peterson ‪@stpaulinc‬, Susannah Melvoin, Jellybean Johnson, and Eric "Blow Your Horn" Leeds joined us as our 1st keynote conversation for the #PopLife40 VIRTUAL symposium, celebrating 40 years of Prince’s Around The World In A Day, The Family, and Sheila E.’s Romance 1600, all of which Prince produced, arranged, composed, and performed with the assistance of some amazing musical collaborators!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Jerome Benton will not be able to join us as originally announced and sends his love. We’ll miss having him with us!

NOTE: The keynotes are the only sessions streaming live on YouTube. The other sessions will be on Zoom Events on Saturday and Sunday.

Save the dates and pre-register for FREE at https://poplife40.substack.com for Saturday and Sunday!

Over 3 days, April 11-13, 2025 (Fri-Sun), there will be 40 speakers over 10 total sessions, featuring 13 presentations over 5 presentation panels, 3 lively roundtable discussions, an integrated segment of the weekly, What Did Prince Do This Week? webcast, and this special keynote.

Explore the schedule at a glance, speaker profiles, and more info on the symposium website at: https://poplife.polishedsolid.com

MASSIVE THANKS to our wonderful NYU sponsors!

#PopLife40 is the 9th polished solid Prince symposium and the 14th Prince event, curated by De Angela L. Duff!

#prince #susannahmelvoin #stpaulpeterson #jellybeanjohnson #EricLeeds