On August 3, 1983, Prince live debuted one of the greatest songs in music history, "Purple Rain," that would catapult his already flourishing career, sell millions of records, fill arenas with fans basking in his incredible live show, and earn him countless awards.

The performance that night was also a perfect storm of sorts. It was the first time all of the members of The Revolution would play together in front of an audience.

And that dearly beloved audience would be gathered in the legendary Minneapolis staple, First Avenue, where much of the performance elements of the film, Purple Rain, would take place.

"Purple Rain" began as a 10-minute instrumental that Prince had difficulty finding words for. In the early '80s, his good friend Stevie Nicks called him and informed him "Little Red Corvette" had influenced her so much while writing "Stand Back" on her wedding day that she wanted to give him half the royalties.

Not only did Prince agree, but he also took her up on her plea to play keyboards on the tune that would go to #5 on the charts in 1983 and do wonders for her solo career.

Afterwards Nicks told Prince she'd actually love to write a song with him one day. He sent her a tape of the music for "Purple Rain," and she ended up balking on figuring out what words would fit.

"It was so overwhelming, that 10-minute track, that I listened to it and I just got scared," Nicks told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I called him back and said, 'I can't do it. I wish I could. It's too much for me.' I'm so glad that I didn't, because he wrote it, and it became 'Purple Rain.'"

The instrumental Nicks got was similar to the one Prince brought to his band, The Revolution. Its newest member, Wendy Melvoin, was brought into the fold when the previous guitarist, Dez Dickerson, left to go in a more spiritual direction.

When Dez bailed, keyboardist Lisa Coleman told Prince her 19-year-old sweetie was pretty great at the guitar. Wendy was asked to play "Controversy," for the Purple One and passed the audition with flying colors.

But a new test came when Prince asked the band to do something with this country instrumental.

"He said, 'I have this song idea, and it goes a little something like this,'" Wendy said in an interview recently. "And it was like this little country tune. He played the like triads on the piano, but he had the melody and he had words, and he said, 'What are you all going to come with? What can you do?'

"And I thought to myself, how do I make it bloom? How do I make those chords bloom with this very simple melody?" she recalled.

Prince loved what the young musician did and when they played it that night at First Avenue, he let his newest band member glow in the spotlight.

"I just had a feeling that this [song] wasn't gonna just go away," Wendy continued. "I just had this feeling that this is bigger than all of us especially when we started working out all of our parts to 'Purple Rain.'

"This iconic intro came out of me, and we just knew. And I knew it in Prince's face too, because he kept having me play it longer and longer and longer. The first time we ever played it live, there's video footage of it where he has me playing it for like 10 minutes before he comes back on stage and starts the song. So we knew it was something," she said.

What's incredible about that show in '83 at First Ave is "Purple Rain" wasn't the only live debut that night. It was basically a Purple Rain dress rehearsal for 1,000 fans to benefit the Minnesota Dance Theater who had asked Prince if he could help them in any way.

"Let's Go Crazy" kicked off the festivities that night. "I Would Die 4 U," "Computer Blue," "Baby I'm A Star," and the quickly discarded "Electric Intercourse" also got their live debuts.

Three tunes into the show Prince shifted gears and covered Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" for the first time.

The tune off her classic Blue album is one he performed 80 times over his career.

Blue is probably how the Purple One felt when he saw the title track of his perfect album get stymied at #2 on the charts first by a Brit and then by two dudes from Philly.

First it was blocked by Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” which for many would be humiliating, but at least that one is an '80s banger that'll live forever, weirdly.

But then Daryl Hall and John Oates’ “Out of Touch” leapfrogged it, proving nothing makes sense sometimes.

Worse: the Grammys passed it over for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television. The Recording Academy voted for Stevie Wonder's “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from The Woman in Red.

The Oscars, though, did the right thing and awarded Prince with the statuette for Original Song Score.

When he accepted the trophy, the first thing he said was, "Thank you very much. This is Lisa and this is Wendy."