Prince's music inspired Barack Obama on day of London engagements
Barack Obama listened to the Prince anthem Purple Rain before carrying out a series of official engagements in the UK, he has revealed.
The president said he listened to that song and Delirious "to get warmed up" at the US ambassador's residence in London at the start of a day which saw him have lunch with the Queen and hold talks with David Cameron.
Mr Obama said Prince, who was pronounced dead aged 57 on Thursday, gave an "extraordinary" performance at the White House.
Speaking at the Foreign Office in a joint press conference with David Cameron, the US president said: "I love Prince because he put out great music and he was a great performer.
"I didn't know him well, he came to perform at the White House last year and was extraordinary and creative and original and full of energy.
"It's a remarkable loss."
He said ambassador Matthew Barzun had a copy of Prince's record at his official residence in London.
"I'm staying at Winfield House, the US ambassador's residence. It so happens our ambassador has a turntable and so this morning we played Purple Rain and Delirious just to get warmed up before we left the house for important bilateral meetings like this."
