“If it’s anything that Prince taught us, it’s to be prepared – and to be funky at all times,” said Garry George “Jellybean” Johnson, acclaimed musician and producer, and original member of The Time.

For years, I heard "Play That Funky Music" as some kind of statement of racial solidarity. The white boy singing the song, Wild Cherry frontman Rob Parissi, knew that nobody would expect a white boy ...