History[edit]
The act originated out of The Mothership Connection, a 1970s funk tribute band in which Tenner played in the mid-1990s.[1] Tenner was inspired to begin incorporating Prince's music into the band's act after he dressed as the musician for Halloween in 1996 and received positive feedback on the resemblance.[1] He and other members of The Mothership Connection formed Purple Reign as a band in 1997.[1][2] It was named after Prince's 1984 hit song, "Purple Rain", and the film of the same name.[3] The group performed regularly at Tom and Jerry's, a bar near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.[4][5]
In 2001, the band was hired to perform nightly in the lounge at the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.[1][6] They soon added impersonators of Prince associates Morris Day and Jerome Benton to the lineup.[1][6] The band remained at the Boardwalk until the hotel closed in 2006.[7] For the next few years, the band performed weekly gigs at various casinos, including Santa Fe Station, Mandalay Bay, and the Monte Carlo.[8][9][10] They made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2008.[10]
In 2009, Purple Reign made its transition to being a ticketed show, rather than a band playing in open casino lounges; it was signed as a weekend headliner act at the Hooters Casino Hotel.[11][12] The show moved to The D casino in Downtown Las Vegas in 2012.[13] When the D's showroom closed for renovations eight months later, the show moved back to Hooters and then had a short run at the Planet Hollywood casino, before returning to the D in June 2014.[14][15][16][17]
Tenner moved his show to the Shimmer Cabaret at the Westgate Las Vegas in October 2014.[18] After Prince's death in April 2016, the show gained extra attention, and moved into the hotel's main theater, where a more elaborate stage production was developed.[19][20][21] A tribute to Vanity 6, a female vocal group assembled by Prince, was added to the show.[20][22] Tenner found that the larger venue was too expensive to make the show profitable, however, so he left in October 2017.[21] Purple Reign reopened at the Tropicana Las Vegas the following month.[22]
In March 2024, with the Tropicana preparing to close, the show moved to the V Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops.[23][24]