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*Pam Warren, the DJ famously known as Pam the Funkstress during her time with Prince and Bay Area rap group The Coup, died Friday (Dec. 22) at age 51.
After being hospitalized for the past month following organ transplant surgery, Warren suffered organ failure, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
She briefly served as Prince’s personal DJ for several months before his death in 2016, when the music legend nicknamed her “Purple Pam.”
As a member of The Coup, Warren contributed to 1993’s “Kill My Landlord,” 1994’s “Genocide & Juice,” 1998’s “Steal This Album,” 2001’s “Party Music” and 2006’s “Pick a Bigger Weapon.”
Via San Francisco Chronicle:
“I’m old school,” Warren told The Chronicle last year. “I grew up listening to the Spinners. My daddy loved Bobby Womack and Patti LaBelle. My mom loved Isley Brothers, Gap Band, Charlie Wilson, Cameo.”
After gaining popularity as a party DJ in the early ’90s, she was recruited by Boots Riley of the Coup in 1994. Warren was an excellent fit, dropping funky 1970s-laced beats that paired well with Riley’s urgent lyrics and throwback vibe.
She had worked three straight nights in the clubs in February 2016 — plus her day job running the kitchen at Piccadilly Catering — when a promoter called, telling her that Prince was looking for a female DJ to work an after-party.
Warren, a lifetime Prince fan who once saved her allowance to buy a $29.99 VHS of “Purple Rain,” showed up at the South of Market nightclub 1015 Folsom and by all accounts blew Prince away.
“When we first met, I was like, ‘OK, Pam, don’t act a fool,’” Warren recalled. “I was trying to keep my composure, because this is fricking Prince. It’s like Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson. It doesn’t get any higher than that.”
She traveled with Prince as his DJ for two months, and was ready to fly to his studio in Minnesota for another party, when she got a call on April 21, 2016, that Prince had died. Warren DJed several popular Prince tribute shows after that, going by the name the artist gave her: Purple Pam.
Warren was also an excellent cook, making soul food by the pound in her hometown Foster City even while working as a DJ and band member. Warren told The Chronicle that she considered her work as a caterer and as a DJ to be intertwined.
“I’m cooking up the beats in the kitchen, and I’m stirring up the beats on the turntable,” Warren says.
While Warren was in recovery from the surgery in November, her family and friends, including Bay Area rapper and “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs, asked fans for their support via social media and through a GoFundMe campaign. When news got around that Warren had died, social media feeds were again filled with love for her.
Longtime friend and fellow DJ Sterling James posted on Facebook the emoji of a purple umbrella with rain falling on it and wrote: “Dear Queen, Sister, Friend … I will miss you so.”
“Prince just needed his DJ,” DJ Styles posted on Twitter. “I’ll see you again my friend.”
A memorial service is being planned.
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