Morris Hayes, the longtime musical director for Prince's backing band, New Power Generation, is reeling after a September 14 fire ripped through his home outside of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Hayes posted about the fire on Thursday.
Hayes, who worked closely alongside Prince for 20+ years as his keyboard player, lost his home recording studio and most likely much of his personal memorabilia in the fire.
Fellow NPG band member Tony Mosley and his wife, Deanna, started a GoFundMe campaign on Thursday with a goal to "bring the funk back." So far, it's raised over $23,500 and is rapidly approaching the $25,000 goal.
No one was hurt in the fire and it's unclear how the fire started. In a news release from NPG, Hayes stated, "“It could have been worse. People might be talking about me today in the past tense, about what a nice guy I was.”
Hayes was preparing for the Concert on the Lawn in Maple Grove and was in the Twin Cities at the time of the fire.
New Power Generation formed in 1990 after The Revolution disbanded in 1986.