SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 22, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — It was a last-minute invitation to a Prince concert at the USANA amphitheater and Nevah Stevenson’s penchant for over-dressing that landed her on stage with the music icon in 2004.
“I got the call just hours before the concert and didn’t have time to drum up the perfect Prince-worthy casual look,” says Stevenson. So, she decided to overdress and go with a black column dress and high heels.
“It turned out to be the perfect outfit,” says Stevenson. The bouncers scanning the audience that night were actually looking for ladies to join Prince on stage. Stevenson was selected and ushered backstage with a handful of other women.
“We were told to be respectful – not to touch Prince or get in his way – just to enjoy ourselves and dance,” says Stevenson. And, boy did she dance! In fact, Stevenson says, “I ended up closest to him… about five feet away. We were the same size. He smiled. It was surreal.” It was such an out-of-body moment that Stevenson can’t even remember the song she danced to.
Stevenson, a mom of three boys and director of advancement at St. John the Baptist Catholic Schools, remembers the evening like it was yesterday. She says, “Time kind of stood still. Prince was such a gracious performer and I marveled at my vantage point, watching him sing and move and engage with the crowd.”
The only regret Stevenson has about the evening is the lack of permanent memories on film. “Back then, cell phone pictures were not permitted during the concert, and oddly, people pretty much complied.”
Stevenson says she was able to watch the jumbo screens and Prince interacting with the crowd on them. Looking back on the magical night she says, “I lived in the moment.”
“I can still feel the awkwardness of my feet trying to dance while my head was in the clouds!”
When she later asked why she was picked out of the thousands of ladies at the show to dance on stage with Prince, she says, “I was told that Prince disliked jeans and shorts on stage.”
When Stevenson heard Prince had died on Thursday morning, the memories came flooding back of her dance with royalty when, as she describes it, “the stars aligned just a little bit,” for one special summer evening.
While you are talking about some girl who was randomly pulled up on stage by his security (which I was as well during his second E center performance here in Utah), you missed that I as a Utah native went to his studio in Chanhassen, spent a week there and on the last night sang Manic Monday on the Paisley Park soundstage, with Prince and the NPG as MY backing band! PS even recently Prince didn’t allow cell phones in his shows. My show at Paisley Parl happened to have audio recorded, and yes I have a copy. PS, you can google my name and words Xenophobia and his name and will find a review. I performed the last night. I’m letting you know about this because it wasn’t some random thing. He hand picked me becaue I had been singing in Karaoke contests earlier that week. I miss him very much and was honored to have met him.