Memories of Prince in Marbella.
With music aficionados around the world mourning the death of Prince, those in Marbella are remembering the days when the rock legend was a familiar sight in the clubs of the upmarket resort. Prince fell in love with the town when he visited to play a gig at the municipal stadium in 1990—so much so that he decided to have a palatial villa built in nearby Benahavís as a wedding gift to his wife Mayte García when they tied the knot in 1996—though they didn’t actually move into the house until 1998. Prince and Mayte spent a year living in Marbella and the rock superstar chose the bullring as the first venue for his 1998 European tour. It was quite a coup for Marbella to have such a global phenomenon at the peak of his fame play there—and it brought welcome spotlight attention to the area. Prince and Mayte kept a relatively low profile during their time on the Costa del Sol, although the Minneapolis native was a frequent visitor to Puerto Banús’ exclusive nightclub Olivia Valere, where he would often take charge of the turntables to play selections of his latest music. Indeed, some of what has been acknowledged as his best work from that period was composed in his Paraiso Hills home. Speaking to UK national newspaper The Daily Telegraph in 2004, Mayte said that the villa was the perfect retreat for the couple. It offered privacy—the extensive 6,000m2 gardens were landscaped specifically to keep the occupants hidden from the long lenses of the paparazzi—and the home seemed to inspire Prince. An inspirational home for Prince It was here that many of the tracks for his 23rd studio album—Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic—were composed. His song The Sun, the Moon and Stars is said by Mayte to have been written on his balcony, where he was often inspired by gazing up at the Mediterranean night sky. This album marked his return to a more ‘commercial’ genre after several years of composing experimental music. The property itself is as glitzy and colourful as Prince was—it certainly reflects the artistic tastes and temperament of the man himself and was a fitting home for a rock musician of his status. He without doubt loved the colour pink—a hue that was chosen inside and out for the 900m2 villa, which also features murals of the couple’s intertwined logos, plus a giant portrait of them that dominates the main hall. The master bedroom can properly be called a boudoir, with its four poster bed, bespoke headboard (with an Egyptian inspired design featuring Prince and Mayte walking hand in hand) and expansive proportions. Although they split up soon after, with Prince heading back to Minneapolis, Mayte kept use of the home until selling it in 2006. The mansion’s opulence rivals that of the finest properties in Marbella—although it must be said that the brash interior décor in pinks and purples is probably not to everyone’s taste—but it undeniably serves as a reminder of the days when this global superstar and his young bride made Marbella their home.
