Joe Jonas pays tribute to 'huge influence' Prince

Joe Jonas has paid tribute to Prince, citing the performer as one of his major musical influences.

The 26-year-old singer first found fame as one third of The Jonas Brothers, before going on to form new band DNCE. The latter have been performing Prince's hit Kiss as part of their set in recent months, and following the tragic death of the music legend on Thursday (21Apr16), Joe revealed just how much he has been influenced by the singer, who was just 57 when he died.

"We’ve been covering one of his songs, Kiss, in one of our sets and it’s very sad," Joe said during an interview on British television show Good Morning Britain on Friday (22Apr16). "He’s a huge influence for probably every musician but for us individually, we love him. And he’s going to be greatly missed and his legacy is going to live on for a very long time."

Joe actually met Prince once, and has seen him perform live on numerous occasions. He added that one of the things that made Prince so unique was his ability to make everyone feel as though they knew him.

"Briefly I saw him at a Grammy party years ago and I was just in shock. And we have a lot of mutual friends who have worked with him or performed with him and so all of us feel like we know him in a way, even if you’ve never met him," he said. "We got to see him live plenty of times and I think the Super Bowl performance was one of the best, so he’ll be greatly missed."

Joe appeared on the show alongside his DNCE bandmate Cole Whittle to talk about the group's catchy summer track Cake by the Ocean. The tune has already gone platinum in the United States and looks to be equally successful in the United Kingdom, but the duo admit they have been overwhelmed by the reaction to the song.

"The time was right to start a band," Joe explained. "We just started creating this music and we’ve been off to the races. This song, Cake by the Ocean, has been huge for us and now, here (in the U.K.), it’s been amazing to meet the fans and hear it on the radio."