On April 21st, the world was shocked by the untimely death of Prince Rogers Nelson, 57, better known as simply, Prince. As of this writing, there is no listed cause of death although he had been ill lately, canceling several shows for health concerns.

If you examine the sheer volume of work put out by Prince in the last few years alone, you might have wondered if he somehow knew that his time here on earth was short. Prince kept a frenetic schedule, often sleeping only a few hours every night, and producing buckets of material. He forged a gap between musical genres that made him popular on many fronts. He included pop, jazz, funk, and hip-hop elements-often in the same song-when writing.

As a writer and producer, Prince made his mark on Sheena Easton and Sheila E, former fiance, and drummer for Prince’s band, The Revolution. He collaborated with or wrote for many popular artists, inspired Stevie Nicks hit Stand Back; wrote The Glamorous Life for aforementioned Sheila E. and Manic Monday, The Bangles 1986 chart-topper, to name just a few.

With the loss this year of David Bowie, Keith Emerson, and now, Prince, the music world may be poorer, but if there’s a rock n’ roll heaven, it is really rocking today. RIP Prince.