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Prince (musician)

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Prince
Prince performing in August 1983
BornPrince Rogers Nelson June 7, 1958 Minneapolis, Minnesota , U.S.
DiedApril 21, 2016 (aged 57) Chanhassen, Minnesota , U.S.
Cause of deathAccidental fentanyl  overdose
Other names
  •  ("Love Symbol")
  • Alexander Nevermind
  • The Artist
  • The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAFKAP)
  • Christopher Tracy
  • Jamie Starr
  • Joey Coco
  • Tora Tora
  • The Kid
OccupationSinger, songwriter, musician, record producer, filmmaker
Years active1975–2016
Height5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Spouse(s) Mayte Garcia (m. 1996; div. 2000) Manuela Testolini (m. 2001; div. 2006)
Children1
Parent(s)John L. Nelson  and Mattie Della (née Shaw)
RelativesTyka Nelson  (sister)
Musical career
Genres
  • Pop
  • funk
  • rock
  • R&B
  • soul
  • Minneapolis sound
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Labels
  • Warner Bros.
  • Paisley Park
  • NPG
  • EMI
  • Columbia
  • Arista
  • Universal
Associated acts
  • 94 East
  • the Time
  • Vanity 6
  • Apollonia 6
  • the Revolution
  • the Family
  • Wendy & Lisa
  • Mazarati
  • Sheena Easton
  • Sheila E.
  • Madhouse
  • the New Power Generation
  • Chaka Khan
  • 3rdeyegirl
Websiteofficialprincemusic.com

Prince Rogers Nelson  (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016), was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and filmmaker. Prince was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant fashion sense and use of makeup, and wide vocal range . Prince was also a multi-instrumentalist[1] [2]  who was considered a guitar virtuoso; he was also skilled at playing the drums, percussion, bass, keyboards, and synthesizer.[3]  His innovative music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk , rock , R&B , new wave , soul , psychedelia , and pop .

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota , Prince developed an interest in music as a young child and wrote his first song at the age of seven.[4]  He signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records  at the age of 17, and released his debut album For You  in 1978. His 1979 album Prince  went platinum , and his next three albums—Dirty Mind  (1980), Controversy  (1981), and 1999  (1982)—continued his success, showcasing his prominently explicit lyrics and blending of funk, dance, and rock music.[5]  In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as the Revolution  and released Purple Rain , the soundtrack album to his film debut. It quickly became his most critically and commercially successful release, spending 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard  200 [6]  and selling over 20 million copies worldwide.[7]  After releasing the albums Around the World in a Day  (1985) and Parade  (1986), The Revolution disbanded, and Prince released the double album Sign o' the Times (1987) as a solo artist. He released three more solo albums before debuting The New Power Generation  band in 1991. In 1993, while in a contractual dispute with Warner Bros., he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol ( ), also known as the "Love Symbol", and began releasing new albums at a faster rate to remove himself from contractual obligations. He released five records between 1994 and 1996 before signing with Arista Records  in 1998. In 2000, he began referring to himself as "Prince" again. He released 16 albums after that, including the platinum-selling Musicology  (2004). His final album, Hit n Run Phase Two , was first released on the Tidal  streaming service on December 2015. Five months later, at the age of 57, Prince died of an accidental fentanyl  overdose at his Paisley Park  recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota .

Prince has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time .[8]  He won eight Grammy Awards ,[9]  six American Music Awards ,[10]  a Golden Globe Award ,[11]  and an Academy Award  for the 1984 film Purple Rain .[12]  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  in 2004.[13]

 

Early life [ edit ]

The Minneapolis house where Prince stayed with André Cymone 's family, pictured in August 2017[14]

Prince Rogers Nelson was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota , the son of jazz  singer Mattie Della (née  Shaw) and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson .[15]  His parents were both African American  and his ancestry is centered in Louisiana , with all four of his grandparents hailing from that state.[16]  Prince was given his father's stage name, Prince Rogers, which his father used while performing with his mother in a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio.[17]  In 1991, Prince's father told A Current Affair  that he named his son Prince because he wanted Prince "to do everything I wanted to do".[18]  Prince was not fond of his name and wanted people to instead call him Skipper, a name which stuck throughout his childhood.[17] [19] [20]  Prince has said he was "born epileptic " and had seizures when he was young. He stated, "My mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said, 'Why?' and I said, 'Because an angel told me so.'"[21]

Prince's younger sister, Tyka , was born on May 18, 1960.[22] [23]  Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, which was encouraged by their father.[24]  Prince wrote his first song, "Funk Machine", on his father's piano when he was seven.[24]  Prince's parents divorced when he was 10, and his mother remarried to Hayward Baker, with whom she had a son named Omarr; Prince had a troubled relationship with Baker, causing him to repeatedly switch homes, sometimes living with his father and sometimes with his mother and stepfather.[24] [25]  Baker took Prince to see James Brown  in concert, and Prince credited Baker with improving the family's finances. After a brief period of living with his father, who bought him his first guitar, Prince moved into the basement of the Anderson family, his neighbors, after his father kicked him out. He befriended the Andersons' son, Andre, who later collaborated with Prince and became known as André Cymone .[26] [27]

Prince attended Minneapolis' Bryant Junior High and then Central High School, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was a student at the Minnesota Dance Theatre  through the Urban Arts Program of Minneapolis Public Schools .[28]  He played on Central's junior varsity basketball team, and continued to play basketball recreationally as an adult.[29] [30]  Prince met Jimmy Jam  in 1973 in junior high, and impressed Jimmy with his musical talent, early mastery of a wide range of instruments, and work ethic.[31]

Career [ edit ]

1975–1984: Beginnings and breakthrough [ edit ]

In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin Shauntel, formed the band 94 East  with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry, hiring André Cymone and Prince to record tracks.[citation needed ] Willie wrote the songs, and Prince contributed guitar tracks, and Prince and Willie co-wrote the 94 East song, "Just Another Sucker".[citation needed ] The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings .[citation needed ]

In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon, in Moon's Minneapolis studio.[citation needed ] Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Owen Husney, a Minneapolis businessman, who signed Prince, age 19, to a management contract, and helped him create a demo at Sound 80  Studios in Minneapolis (with producer/engineer David Z).[citation needed ] The demo recording, along with a press kit  produced at Husney's ad agency, resulted in interest from several record companies including Warner Bros. Records , A&M Records , and Columbia Records .[32]

With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. The record company agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights.[33] [34]  Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California , where Prince's first album, For You , was recorded at Record Plant  Studios. The album was mixed in Los Angeles and released on April 7, 1978.[35]  According to the For You  album notes, Prince wrote, produced, arranged, composed, and played all 27 instruments on the recording, except for the song "Soft and Wet ", whose lyrics were co-written by Moon. The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co.  to publish  his songs. "Soft and Wet" reached No. 12 on the Hot Soul Singles  chart and No. 92 on the Billboard  Hot 100 . The song "Just as Long as We're Together " reached No. 91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

Ticket to Prince's first performance with his band in January 1979

In 1979, Prince created a band with André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson  on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink  on keyboards, and Bobby Z.  on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.[36] [page needed ] In October 1979, Prince released the album Prince , which was No. 4 on the Billboard  Top R&B/Black Albums  charts and No. 22 on the Billboard  200 , and went platinum . It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? " and "I Wanna Be Your Lover ", which sold over a million copies, and reached No. 11 on the Billboard  Hot 100 and No. 1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980, on American Bandstand . On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI .[37]

In 1980, Prince released the album Dirty Mind , which contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, "Head", and the song "Sister", and was described by Stephen Thomas Erlewine  as a "stunning, audacious amalgam of funk, new wave , R&B, and pop, fueled by grinningly salacious sex and the desire to shock."[38] Recorded in Prince's own studio, this album was certified gold , and the single "Uptown " reached No. 5 on the Billboard  Dance chart and No. 5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince was also the opening act for Rick James ' 1980 Fire It Up  tour.

In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live , performing "Partyup". In October 1981, Prince released the album, Controversy . He played several dates in support of it, as the first of three opening acts for the Rolling Stones , on their US tour. In Los Angeles, Prince was forced off the stage after just three songs by audience members throwing trash at him.[39]  He began 1982 with a small tour of college towns where he was the headlining act. The songs on Controversy  were published by Controversy Music [40]  – ASCAP , a practice he continued until the Emancipation  album in 1996. By 2002, MTV News noted that "[n]ow all of his titles, liner notes and Web postings are written in his own shorthand spelling, as seen on 1999's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic , which featured 'Hot Wit U.'"[41]

In 1981, Prince formed a side project band called the Time . The band released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals (sometimes credited under the pseudonyms "Jamie Starr" or "The Starr Company"), with lead vocals by Morris Day .[42] [43]  In late 1982, Prince released a double album, 1999 , which sold over three million copies.[44]  The title track  was a protest against nuclear proliferation  and became Prince's first top 10 hit in countries outside the US. Prince's "Little Red Corvette " was one of the first two videos by black artists (along with Michael Jackson 's "Billie Jean ") played in heavy rotation on MTV , which had been perceived as  against "black music" until CBS President Walter Yetnikoff  threatened to pull all CBS videos.[45] [46]  Prince and Jackson had a competitive rivalry, not just on musical success, but also athletically too.[47]  The song "Delirious " also placed in the top ten on the Billboard  Hot 100 chart. "International Lover " earned Prince his first Grammy Award  nomination at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards .[48]

1984–1987: The Revolution, Purple Rain , and subsequent releases [ edit ]

During this period Prince referred to his band as the Revolution .[49] [50]  The band's name was also printed, in reverse, on the cover of 1999  inside the letter "I" of the word "Prince".[51]  The band consisted of Lisa Coleman  and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums, Brown Mark  on bass, and Dez Dickerson  on guitar. Jill Jones, a backing singer, was also part of the lineup for the 1999  album and tour.[51]  Following the 1999 Tour , Dickerson left the group for religious reasons.[52]  In the book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince  (2003), author Alex Hahn says that Dickerson was reluctant to sign a three-year contract and wanted to pursue other musical ventures. Dickerson was replaced by Coleman's friend Wendy Melvoin .[49]  At first the band was used sparsely in the studio, but this gradually changed during 1983.[51] [52] [53]

According to his former manager Bob Cavallo , in the early 1980s Prince required his management to obtain a deal for him to star in a major motion picture , despite the fact that his exposure at that point was limited to several pop and R&B hits, music videos and occasional TV performances. This resulted in the hit film Purple Rain  (1984), which starred Prince and was loosely autobiographical, and the eponymous studio album , which was also the soundtrack to the film.[50]  The Purple Rain  album sold more than 13 million copies in the US and spent 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard  200 chart. The film won Prince an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score [54]  and grossed over $68 million in the US ($160 million in 2017 dollars[55] ).[56] [57]  Songs from the film were hits on pop charts around the world; "When Doves Cry " and "Let's Go Crazy " reached No. 1, and the title track  reached No. 2 on the Billboard  Hot 100.[58]  At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the No. 1 album, single, and film in the US;[59]  it was the first time a singer had achieved this feat.[60]  The Purple Rain  album is ranked 72nd in Rolling Stone' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ;[61]  it is also included on the list of Time  magazine's All-Time 100 Albums.[62]  The album also produced two of Prince's first three Grammy Awards earned at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards —Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.[48]

In late 1984, pop artist Andy Warhol  created the painting, Orange Prince (1984) . Vanity Fair  reproduced Warhol's portrait to accompany an article Purple Fame  in the November 1984 edition, and claimed that the silkscreen image with its pop colors captured the recording artist "at the height of his powers". The 1984 Vanity Fair  article was one of the first global media pieces written as a critical appreciation of the musician, which coincided with the start of the 98-date Purple Rain Tour .[63]

Prince performing in Brussels during the Hit N Run Tour  in 1986

After Tipper Gore  heard her 11-year-old daughter Karenna  listening to Prince's song "Darling Nikki " (which gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics and a reference to masturbation), she founded the Parents Music Resource Center .[64]  The center advocated the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory : Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors . The recording industry later voluntarily complied with this request.[65]

In 1985, Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording, Around the World in a Day  (1985), held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard  200 for three weeks. From that album, the single "Raspberry Beret " reached No. 2 on the Billboard  Hot 100, and "Pop Life " reached No. 7.[58]

In 1986, his album Parade  reached No. 3 on the Billboard  200 and No. 2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss ", with the video choreographed by Louis Falco , reached No. 1 on the Billboard  Hot 100.[58]  (The song was originally written for a side project called Mazarati .) In the same year, the song "Manic Monday ", written by Prince and recorded by the Bangles , reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart. The album Parade  served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon  (1986). Prince directed and starred in the movie, which also featured Kristin Scott Thomas . Although the Parade  album went platinum and sold two million copies,[66] [67]  the film Under the Cherry Moon  received a Golden Raspberry Award  for Worst Picture (tied with Howard the Duck ), and Prince received Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director, Worst Actor, and Worst Original Song (for the song "Love or Money").[68] [69]

In 1986, Prince began a series of live performances called the Hit n Run – Parade Tour . After the tour Prince disbanded the Revolution and fired Wendy & Lisa .[50]  Brown Mark quit the band; keyboardist Doctor Fink remained. Prince recruited new band members Miko Weaver  on guitar, Atlanta Bliss  on trumpet, and Eric Leeds  on saxophone.[52]

1987–1991: Solo again, Sign o' the Times [ edit ]

Prior to the disbanding of the Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects, the Revolution album Dream Factory  and a solo effort, Camille .[70]  Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory  included input from the band members and featured songs with lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa.[70]  The Camille  project saw Prince create a new androgynous  persona primarily singing in a sped-up, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of the Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball .[71]  Warner Bros. forced Prince to trim the triple album to a double album, and Sign o' the Times  was released on March 31, 1987.[72]

The album peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard  200 albums chart.[72]  The first single, "Sign o' the Times ", charted at No. 3 on the Hot 100.[73]  The follow-up single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend ", charted at No. 67 on the Hot 100 but went to No. 12 on R&B chart.[73]  The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton , "U Got the Look ", charted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and No. 11 on the R&B chart,[73]  and the final single, "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man ", finished at No. 10 on Hot 100 and No. 14 on the R&B chart.[73]

It was named the top album of the year by the Pazz & Jop  critics' poll and sold 3.2 million copies.[74]  In Europe it performed well, and Prince promoted the album overseas with a lengthy tour. Putting together a new backing band from the remnants of the Revolution, Prince added bassist Levi Seacer Jr. , keyboardist Boni Boyer, and dancer/choreographer Cat Glover [75]  to go with new drummer Sheila E [76]  and holdovers Miko Weaver, Doctor Fink, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and the Bodyguards (Jerome, Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks) for the Sign o' the Times Tour .

The Sign o' the Times tour was a success overseas, and Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanted to bring it to the US to promote sales of the album;[77] [78]  Prince balked at a full US tour, as he was ready to produce a new album.[77]  As a compromise, the last two nights of the tour were filmed for release in movie theaters. The film quality was deemed subpar, and reshoots were performed at Prince's Paisley Park  studios.[77]  The film Sign o' the Times  was released on November 20, 1987. The film got better reviews than Under the Cherry Moon , but its box-office receipts were minimal, and it quickly left theaters.[78]

The next album intended for release was The Black Album .[79]  More instrumental and funk- and R&B-themed than recent releases,[80]  The Black Album  also saw Prince experiment with hip hop  on the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It". Prince was set to release the album with a monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number printed, but after 500,000 copies had been pressed,[81]  Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled.[82]  It was later released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album in 1994.

Prince went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy . Released on May 10, 1988, Lovesexy  serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark The Black Album .[83]  Every song is a solo effort by Prince, except "Eye No", which was recorded with his backing band at the time. Lovesexy  reached No. 11 on the Billboard  200 and No. 5 on the R&B albums chart.[84]  The lead single, "Alphabet St. ", peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on the R&B chart;[72]  it sold 750,000 copies.[85]

Prince again took his post-Revolution backing band (minus the Bodyguards) on a three leg, 84-show Lovesexy World Tour ; although the shows were well-received by huge crowds, they failed to make a net profit due to the expensive sets and props.[86] [87]

Prince performing during his Nude Tour  in 1990

In 1989, Prince appeared on Madonna 's studio album Like a Prayer , co-writing and singing the duet "Love Song" and playing electric guitar (uncredited) on the songs "Like a Prayer ", "Keep It Together ", and "Act of Contrition". He also began work on several musical projects, including Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic  and early drafts of his Graffiti Bridge  film,[88] [89]  but both were put on hold when he was asked by Batman  (1989) director Tim Burton  to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warner Bros. released on June 20, 1989. Batman  peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard  200,[90]  selling 4.3 million copies.[91]  The single "Batdance " topped the Billboard  Hot 100 and R&B charts.[72]

The single "The Arms of Orion ", with Sheena Easton, charted at No. 36, and "Partyman " (also featuring the vocals of Prince's then-girlfriend, nicknamed Anna Fantastic ) charted at No. 18 on the Hot 100 and at No. 5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad "Scandalous! " went to No. 5 on the R&B chart.[72]  Prince had to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to Warner Bros. as part of the deal to do the soundtrack.

In 1990, Prince went back on tour with a revamped band for his back-to-basics Nude Tour . With the departures of Boni Boyer, Sheila E., the horns, and Cat, Prince brought in keyboardist Rosie Gaines , drummer Michael Bland , and dancing trio the Game Boyz (Tony M. , Kirky J., and Damon Dickson). The European and Japanese tour was a financial success with a short, greatest hits setlist.[92]  As the year progressed, Prince finished production on his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge  (1990), and the 1990 album of the same name . Initially, Warner Bros. was reluctant to fund the film, but with Prince's assurances it would be a sequel to Purple Rain  as well as the involvement of the original members of the Time, the studio greenlit the project.[93]  Released on August 20, 1990, the album reached No. 6 on the Billboard  200 and R&B albums chart.[94]  The single "Thieves in the Temple " reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the R&B chart;[72]  "Round and Round " placed at No. 12 on the US charts and No. 2 on the R&B charts. The song featured the teenage Tevin Campbell  (who also had a role in the film) on lead vocals. The film, released on November 20, 1990, was a box-office flop, grossing $4.2 million.[95]  After the release of the film and album, the last remaining members of the Revolution, Miko Weaver and Doctor Fink, left Prince's band.

1991–1994: The New Power Generation, Diamonds and Pearls , and name change [ edit ]

Prince's Yellow Cloud Guitar at the Smithsonian Institution Building The unpronounceable symbol (later dubbed "Love Symbol #2")

1991 marked the debut of Prince's new band, the New Power Generation . With guitarist Miko Weaver and long-time keyboardist Doctor Fink gone, Prince added bass player Sonny T. , Tommy Barbarella  on keyboards, and a brass section known as the Hornheads to go along with Levi Seacer (taking over on guitar), Rosie Gaines , Michael Bland , and the Game Boyz. With significant input from his band members, Diamonds and Pearls  was released on October 1, 1991. Reaching No. 3 on the Billboard  200 album chart,[96]  Diamonds and Pearls  saw four hit singles released in the United States. "Gett Off " peaked at No. 21 on the Hot 100 and No. 6 on the R&B charts, followed by "Cream ", which gave Prince his fifth US No. 1 single. The title track "Diamonds and Pearls " became the album's third single, reaching No. 3 on the Hot 100 and the top spot on the R&B charts. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night " peaked at No. 23 and No. 14 on the Hot 100 and R&B charts respectively.[97]

In 1992, Prince and the New Power Generation released his twelfth album , bearing only an unpronounceable symbol on the cover (later copyrighted as "Love Symbol #2") as its title.[98]  The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard  200.[99]  The symbol was explained as being a combination of the symbols  for male (♂) and female (♀).[98]  The label wanted "7 " to be the first single, but Prince fought to place "My Name Is Prince " in that slot, as he "felt that the song's more hip-hoppery would appeal to the same audience" that had purchased the previous album.[100]  Prince got his way, but "My Name Is Prince" reached No. 36 on the Billboard  Hot 100 and No. 23 on the R&B chart. The follow-up single "Sexy MF " charted at No. 66 on the Hot 100 and No. 76 on the R&B chart. The label's preferred lead single choice "7" reached No. 7.[97]  The album, which would later be referred to as Love Symbol , went on to sell 2.8 million copies worldwide.[100]

After two failed attempts in 1990 and 1991,[101]  Warner Bros. released a greatest hits  compilation with the three-disc The Hits/The B-Sides  in 1993. The first two discs were also sold separately as The Hits 1  and The Hits 2 . The collection features the majority of Prince's hit singles (with the exception of "Batdance " and other songs that appeared on the Batman  soundtrack), and several previously hard-to-find recordings, including B-sides  spanning the majority of Prince's career, as well as some previously unreleased tracks such as the Revolution-recorded "Power Fantastic" and a live recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U " with Rosie Gaines. Two new songs, "Pink Cashmere " and "Peach ", were chosen as promotional singles to accompany the compilation album.

In 1993, in rebellion against Warner Bros., which refused to release Prince's enormous backlog of music at a steady pace,[102] [103]  Prince officially adopted the aforementioned "Love Symbol" as his stage name.[98]  In order to use the symbol in print media, Warner Bros. had to organize a mass mailing of floppy disks  with a custom font.[104]  At this time, Prince was alternatively referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" or simply "The Artist".[105]

1994–2000: The Gold Experience , Emancipation  and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic [ edit ]

In 1994, Prince began to release albums in quick succession as a means of releasing himself from his contractual obligations to Warner Bros. He also began appearing with the word "slave" written on his face.[106]  The label, he believed, was intent on limiting his artistic freedom by insisting that he release albums more sporadically. He also blamed Warner Bros. for the poor commercial performance of Love Symbol , claiming they had marketed it insufficiently. It was out of these developments that the aborted The Black Album  was officially released, seven years after its initial recording. The "new" release was already in wide circulation as a bootleg . Warner Bros. then succumbed to Prince's wishes to release an album of new material, to be entitled Come .[citation needed ]

Prince pushed to have his next album The Gold Experience  released simultaneously with Love Symbol -era material. Warner Bros. allowed the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World " to be released via a small, independent distributor, Bellmark Records , in February 1994. The release reached No. 3 on the US Billboard  Hot 100 and No. 1 in many other countries, but it did not prove to be a model for subsequent releases. Warner Bros. still resisted releasing The Gold Experience , fearing poor sales and citing "market saturation " as a defense. When released in September 1995, The Gold Experience  reached the top 10 of the Billboard  200 initially. The album is now out of print.

Chaos and Disorder , released in 1996, was Prince's final album of new material for Warner Bros., as well as one of his least commercially successful releases. Prince attempted a major comeback later that year when, free of any further contractual obligations to Warner Bros., he released Emancipation , a 36-song, 3-CD set (each disc was exactly 60 minutes long). The album was released via his own NPG Records  with distribution through EMI . To publish his songs on Emancipation , Prince did not use Controversy Music  – ASCAP , which he had used for all his records since 1981, but rather used Emancipated Music Inc. [107]  – ASCAP .

Certified Platinum  by the RIAA , Emancipation  is the first record featuring covers  by Prince of songs of other artists: Joan Osborne 's top ten hit song of 1995 "One of Us ";[108]  "Betcha by Golly Wow! " (written by Thom Bell  and Linda Creed );[109]  "I Can't Make You Love Me " (written by James Allen Shamblin II and Michael Barry Reid);[110]  and "La-La (Means I Love You) " (written by Thom Bell  and William Hart ).[111]

Prince released Crystal Ball , a five-CD collection of unreleased material, in 1998. The distribution of this album was disorderly, with some fans pre-ordering the album on his website up to a year before it was shipped; these pre-orders were delivered months after the record had gone on sale in retail stores. The retail edition has only four discs, as it is missing the Kamasutra  disc. There are also two different packaging editions for retail; one is a four-disc sized jewel case with a white cover and the Love Symbol in a colored circle while the other contains all four discs in a round translucent snap jewel case. The discs are the same, as is the CD jacket. The Newpower Soul  album was released three months later. His collaborations on Chaka Khan 's Come 2 My House  and Larry Graham 's GCS2000 , both released on the NPG Records  label around the same time as Newpower Soul , were promoted by live appearances on Vibe with Sinbad  and the NBC  Today  show's Summer Concert Series.

In 1999, Prince once again signed with a major label, Arista Records , to release a new record, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic . A few months earlier, Warner Bros. had also released The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale , a collection of unreleased material recorded by Prince throughout his career.[112]

The pay-per-view concert, Rave Un2 the Year 2000 , was broadcast on December 31, 1999 and consisted of footage from the December 17 and 18 concerts of his 1999 tour. The concert featured appearances by guest musicians including Lenny Kravitz , George Clinton , Jimmy Russell, and The Time. It was released to home video the following year.

2000–2007: Turnaround, Musicology , label change, and 3121 [ edit ]

On May 16, 2000, Prince stopped using the Love Symbol moniker as his name, after his publishing contract with Warner/Chappell  expired. In a press conference, he stated that, after being freed from undesirable relationships associated with the name "Prince", he would revert to using his real name. Prince continued to use the symbol as a logo and on album artwork and to play a Love Symbol-shaped guitar. For several years following the release of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic , Prince primarily released new music through his Internet subscription service, NPGOnlineLtd.com (later NPGMusicClub.com).[113]

In 2002, Prince released his first live album, One Nite Alone... Live! , which features performances from the One Nite Alone...Tour . The 3-CD box set also includes a disc of "aftershow" music entitled It Ain't Over! . During this time, Prince sought to engage more effectively with his fan base via the NPG Music Club , pre-concert sound checks, and at yearly "celebrations" at Paisley Park, his music studios. Fans were invited into the studio for tours, interviews, discussions and music-listening sessions. Some of these fan discussions were filmed for an unreleased documentary , directed by Kevin Smith .

On February 8, 2004, Prince appeared at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards  with Beyoncé .[114] [115]  In a performance that opened the show, they performed a medley of "Purple Rain ", "Let's Go Crazy ", "Baby I'm a Star ", and Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love ".[116]  The following month, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .[117]  The award was presented to him by Alicia Keys along with Big Boi  and André 3000  of OutKast .[118]  As well as performing a trio of his own hits during the ceremony, Prince also participated in a tribute to fellow inductee George Harrison  in a rendering of Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps ", playing a two-minute guitar solo that ended the song.[119] [120] [121]  He also performed the song "Red House " as "Purple House" on the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix .[122]

In April 2004, Prince released Musicology  through a one-album agreement with Columbia Records . The album rose as high as the top five on some international charts (including the US, UK, Germany, and Australia). The US chart success was assisted by the CDs being included as part of the concert ticket purchase, thereby qualifying each CD (as chart rules then stood) to count toward US chart placement.[123]  Three months later, Spin  named him the greatest frontman  of all time.[124]  That same year, Rolling Stone  magazine named Prince as the highest-earning musician in the world, with an annual income of $56.5 million,[125]  largely due to his Musicology Tour , which Pollstar  named as the top concert draw among musicians in the US. He played 96 concerts; the average ticket price for a show was US$61 (equivalent to $79 in 2017). Musicology  went on to receive two Grammy wins, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance  for "Call My Name " and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the title track . Musicology  was also nominated for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album, and "Cinnamon Girl " was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance . Rolling Stone  ranked Prince No. 27 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time .[126]

In April 2005, Prince played guitar (along with En Vogue  singing backing vocals) on Stevie Wonder 's single "So What the Fuss ", Wonder's first since 1999.

In late 2005, Prince signed with Universal Records  to release his album, 3121 , on March 21, 2006. The first single was "Te Amo Corazón ", the video for which was directed by actress Salma Hayek  and filmed in Marrakech , Morocco, featuring Argentine actress and singer Mía Maestro . The video for the second single, "Black Sweat ", was nominated at the MTV VMAs  for Best Cinematography. The immediate success of 3121  gave Prince his first No. 1 debut on the Billboard  200 with the album.

To promote the new album, Prince was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live  on February 4, 2006, 17 years after his last SNL  appearance on the 15th anniversary special, and nearly 25 years since his first appearance on a regular episode in 1981.[127]

At the 2006 Webby Awards  on June 12, Prince received a Webby  Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his "visionary use of the Internet to distribute music and connect with audiences", exemplified by his decision to release his album Crystal Ball  (1998) exclusively online.[128] [129]

In July 2006, weeks after winning a Webby Award, Prince shut down his NPG Music Club  website, after more than five years of operation.[130] [131]  On the day of the music club's shutdown, a lawsuit was filed against Prince by the British company HM Publishing (owners of the Nature Publishing Group , also NPG). Despite these events occurring on the same day, Prince's attorney stated that the site did not close due to the trademark dispute.[130]

Prince appeared at multiple award ceremonies in 2006: on February 15, he performed at the 2006 Brit Awards , along with Wendy & Lisa  and Sheila E. ,[132]  and on June 27, Prince appeared at the 2006 BET Awards , where he was awarded Best Male R&B Artist. Prince performed a medley of Chaka Khan  songs for Khan's BET Lifetime Achievement Award.[133]

In November 2006, Prince was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame ;[115]  he appeared to collect his award but did not perform. Also in November 2006, Prince opened a nightclub called 3121, in Las Vegas  at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino . He performed weekly on Friday and Saturday nights until April 2007, when his contract with the Rio ended.[citation needed ] On August 22, 2006, Prince released Ultimate Prince . The double-disc set contains one CD of previous hits, and another of extended versions and mixes of material that had largely only previously been available on vinyl record B-sides. That same year, Prince wrote and performed a song for the hit animated film Happy Feet  (2006). The song, "The Song of the Heart ", appears on the film's soundtrack , which also features a cover of Prince's earlier hit "Kiss", sung by Nicole Kidman  and Hugh Jackman . In January 2007, "The Song of the Heart" won a Golden Globe  for Best Original Song.[134]

2007–2010: Super Bowl XLI, Planet Earth , and Lotusflower [ edit ]

Prince's stage set for the Earth Tour in 2007

On February 2, 2007, Prince played at the Super Bowl XLI  press conference, and the Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show  in Miami, Florida on February 4, 2007, on a large stage shaped like his symbol. The event was carried to 140 million television viewers, his biggest ever audience.[135]  In 2015, Billboard.com ranked the performance as the greatest Super Bowl performance ever.[136]

Prince played 21 concerts in London during mid-2007. The Earth Tour  included 21 nights at the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena , with Maceo Parker  in his band. Tickets for the O2 Arena were capped by Prince at £31.21 ($48.66). The residency at the O2 Arena was increased to 15 nights after all 140,000 tickets for the original seven sold out in 20 minutes.[137]  It was then further extended to 21 nights.[138]

Prince performed with Sheila E. at the 2007 ALMA Awards . On June 28, 2007, the Mail on Sunday  stated that it had made a deal to give Prince's new album, Planet Earth , away for free with the paper, making it the first place in the world to get the album. This move sparked controversy among music distributors and also led the UK arm of Prince's distributor, Sony BMG , to withdraw from distributing the album in UK stores.[139]  The UK's largest high street music retailer, HMV , stocked the paper on release day due to the giveaway. On July 7, 2007, Prince returned to Minneapolis to perform three shows. He performed concerts at the Macy's  Auditorium (to promote his new perfume "3121") on Nicollet Mall , the Target Center  arena, and First Avenue .[140]  It was the first time he had played at First Avenue (the club appeared in the film Purple Rain ) since 1987.[141]

From 2008, Prince was managed by UK-based Kiran Sharma.[142]  On April 25, 2008, Prince performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , where he debuted a new song, "Turn Me Loose". Days after, he headlined the 2008 Coachella Festival . Prince was paid more than $5 million for his performance at Coachella, according to Reuters .[143]  Prince cancelled a concert, planned at Dublin's Croke Park  on June 16, 2008, at 10 days' notice. In October 2009 promoters MCD Productions  went to court to sue him for €1.6 million to refund 55,126 tickets. Prince settled the case out of court in February 2010 for $2.95 million.[144] [145]  During the trial, it was said that Prince had been offered $22 million for seven concerts as part of a proposed 2008 European tour.[146]  In October 2008, Prince released a live album entitled Indigo Nights , a collection of songs performed live at aftershows in the IndigO2.

Prince at the Coachella Festival  in 2008

On December 18, 2008, Prince premiered four songs from his new album on LA's Indie rock radio station Indie 103.1 .[147]  The radio station's programmers Max Tolkoff and Mark Sovel  had been invited to Prince's home to hear the new rock-oriented music. Prince gave them a CD with four songs to premiere on their radio station. The music debuted the next day on Jonesy's Jukebox, hosted by former Sex Pistol  Steve Jones .[148]

On January 3, 2009, the new website LotusFlow3r.com was launched, streaming and selling some of the recently aired material and concert tickets. On January 31, Prince released two more songs on LotusFlow3r.com: "Disco Jellyfish", and "Another Boy". "Chocolate Box", "Colonized Mind", and "All This Love" were later released on the website. Prince released a triple album set containing Lotusflower , MPLSoUND , and an album credited to Bria Valente , called Elixer , on March 24, 2009, followed by a physical release on March 29.

On July 18, 2009, Prince performed two shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival , backed by the New Power Generation  including Rhonda Smith, Renato Neto and John Blackwell . On October 11, 2009, he gave two surprise concerts at the Grand Palais .[149]  On October 12, he gave another surprise performance at La Cigale . On October 24, Prince played a concert at Paisley Park.[150]

Illness and death

[ edit ]

Following his death, fans left flowers, purple balloons, and other mementos beneath Prince's star painted on the front of the First Avenue  nightclub.

Prince saw Michael T. Schulenberg, a Twin Cities specialist in family medicine , in Excelsior  on April 7, 2016, and again on April 20.[187]  On April 7, Prince postponed two performances at the Fox Theatre  in Atlanta  from his Piano & A Microphone Tour ; the venue released a statement saying he had influenza .[188]  Prince rescheduled and performed the show on April 14, even though he still was not feeling well.[189] [190]  While flying back to Minneapolis early the next morning, he became unresponsive, and his private jet made an emergency landing at Quad City International Airport  in Moline, Illinois , where he was hospitalized and received Narcan . Once he became conscious he left against medical advice .[191] [192]  Representatives said he suffered from dehydration and had influenza for several weeks.[189]  Prince was seen bicycling the next day in his hometown of Chanhassen .[193]  He shopped that evening at the Electric Fetus  in Minneapolis for Record Store Day  and made a brief appearance at an impromptu dance party at his Paisley Park recording studio complex, stating that he was feeling fine.[190] [194]  On April 19, he attended a performance by singer Lizz Wright  at the Dakota Jazz Club .[195]

On April 20, Prince's representatives called Howard Kornfeld, a California specialist in addiction medicine  and pain management , seeking medical help for Prince. Kornfeld scheduled to meet with Prince on April 22, and he contacted a local physician who cleared his schedule for a physical examination on April 21.[191] [196]  On April 21, at 9:43 am, the Carver County  Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1  call requesting that an ambulance be sent to Prince's home at Paisley Park. The caller initially told the dispatcher that an unidentified person at the home was unconscious, then moments later said he was dead, and finally identified the person as Prince.[197]  The caller was Kornfeld's son, who had flown in with buprenorphine  that morning to devise a treatment plan for opioid addiction .[191]  Emergency responders found Prince unresponsive in an elevator and performed CPR , but a paramedic said he had been dead for about six hours,[198]  and they were unable to revive him. They pronounced him dead at 10:07 am, 19 minutes after their arrival.[191]  There were no signs of suicide or foul play.[191]  A press release from the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Anoka County  on June 2 stated that Prince had died of an accidental overdose  of fentanyl ,[199]  at the age of 57.[200]

It is not yet known whether Prince obtained the fentanyl by a prescription or through an illicit channel.[201]  The question of how and from what source Prince obtained the drug which led to his death has been the subject of investigations by several law enforcement agencies.[192] [196] [198]  A sealed search warrant  was issued for his estate,[202]  and another, unsealed, warrant was issued for the local Walgreens  pharmacy.[203]  On April 19, 2018, the Carver County Attorney announced that the multi-agency investigation related to the circumstances of Prince's death had ended with no criminal charges filed.[204] [205]

Following an autopsy, his remains were cremated .[206]  On April 26, 2016, Prince's sister and only full sibling Tyka Nelson filed court documents in Carver County, to open a probate  case, stating that no will had been found. Prince's five half-siblings also have a claim to his estate, which totals millions of dollars and includes real estate, stocks, and cars.[207] [208]  As of three weeks after his death, 700 people claimed to be half-siblings or descendants.[209]  Bremer Trust  was given temporary control of his estate, had his vault drilled open,[210]  and was authorized to obtain a blood sample for DNA profiling .[211]

Prince's ashes were placed into a custom, 3D printed  urn shaped like the Paisley Park estate.[212]  The urn was placed on display in the atrium of the Paisley Park complex in October 2016.[213]

Remembrances [ edit ]

Lowry Bridge  illuminated in purple, his favourite colour, in remembrance of Prince

Numerous musicians and cultural figures reacted to Prince's death.[214] [215]  President  Barack Obama  mourned him,[216]  and the United States Senate  passed a resolution praising his achievements "as a musician, composer, innovator, and cultural icon".[217]  Cities across the US held tributes and vigils, and lit buildings, bridges, and other venues in purple.[218] [219] [220]  In the first five hours after the media reported his death, "Prince" was the top trending term on Twitter, and Facebook had 61 million Prince-related interactions.[221]  MTV  interrupted its programming to air a marathon of Prince music videos and Purple Rain .[222]  AMC Theatres  and Carmike Cinemas  screened Purple Rain  in select theaters over the following week.[223]  Saturday Night Live  aired an episode in his honor titled "Goodnight, Sweet Prince", featuring his performances from the show.[224]

Nielsen Music  reported an initial sales spike of 42,000 percent.[225]  Prince's catalog sold 4.41 million albums and songs from April 21 to 28, with five albums simultaneously in the top ten of the Billboard  200 , a first in the chart's history.[226]  At the 59th Grammy Awards , Morris Day  with the Time  and Bruno Mars  performed a tribute to him.[227]

In June 2016 Vanity Fair /Condé Nast , released a special edition commemorative magazine, The Genius of Prince . The magazine was a celebration of Prince's life and achievements, with new photography and archive articles, including the original Vanity Fair article from Nov 1984, written in the wake of Prince's breakout success, with other content from Vanity Fair , The New Yorker , Wired , and Pitchfork . The cover of The Genius of Prince  featured a portrait by Andy Warhol, Orange Prince (1984) .[228] [229] [230]  Casts of the musicals The Color Purple  and Hamilton  paid tribute to Prince during their curtain calls  with "Purple Rain " and "Let's Go Crazy " respectively [231]

Posthumous projects [ edit ]

On August 21, 2016, Prince was posthumously inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame .[232]

The first album released following Prince's death was a greatest hits album, 4Ever , which was released on November 22, 2016. The album contains one previously unreleased song: "Moonbeam Levels", recorded in 1982 during the 1999  sessions.[233]

On April 19, 2017, an EP featuring six unreleased Prince recordings, titled Deliverance , was announced, with an expected release date for later that week.[234]  The next day, Prince's estate was granted a temporary restraining order against George Ian Boxill – an engineer who co-produced the tracks and was in possession of the master tapes – and halted the release of the EP.[235]

On February 9, 2017, Prince's estate signed a distribution deal with Universal Music Group , which includes the post-1995 recordings on his NPG Records label and unreleased tracks from his vault.[236]  On June 27, Comerica  (acting on behalf of the estate) requested that Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide cancel the estate's deal with Universal, as UMG's contract would interfere with a contract with Warner Music Group  that Prince signed in 2014. After Universal's attorneys were granted access to the Warner contract, the attorneys also offered to cancel the deal.[237]  On July 13, the court voided Universal's deal with Prince's estate, though Universal will continue to administer Prince's songwriting credits and create merchandise.[238]

On June 23, 2017, Purple Rain  was re-released as the Deluxe and Deluxe Expanded editions. It is the first Prince album to be remastered and reissued.[239]  The Deluxe edition consists of two discs, the first being a remaster of the original album made in 2015 overseen by Prince himself and a bonus disc of previously unreleased songs, called From the Vault & Previously Unreleased . The Deluxe Expanded edition consists of two more discs, a disc with all the single edits, maxi-single edits and B-sides from the Purple Rain  era, and a DVD with a concert from the Purple Rain Tour  filmed in Syracuse, New York  on March 30, 1985, previously released on home video in 1985.[240]  The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard  200 and at No. 1 on both the Billboard  R&B Albums and Vinyl Albums charts.[239]

On April 19, 2018, the previously unreleased original recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U " from 1984 was released as a single by Warner Bros. Records  in conjunction with Prince's estate.[241]  In addition, the Prince version was given its own music video, released in conjunction with the single; the video consists of edited rehearsal footage for the Purple Rain  tour, shot in the summer of 1984.[242]  Troy Carter, adviser for Prince's estate, later announced in an interview with Variety  that a full-length album is planned for release on September 28, 2018.[243]

In May 2018, it was announced that a second album of new material is set for release in 2019 on Tidal . This album is rumored to be Prince's planned follow-up to Hit n Run Phase Two , as part of his original deal with the streaming service. It has also been announced for a worldwide physical CD release a month after.[244]

In June 2018, the Prince estate signed a distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment , which includes the rights to all of Prince's studio albums, plus unreleased music, remixes, live recordings, music videos and B-sides from before 1995. The deal will immediately include Prince's albums from 1995 to 2010.[245]  Beginning in 2021, Prince's Warner Bros. albums from 1978–1996 will become distributed by Sony/Legacy Recordings  in the United States, with Warner Music Group  still controlling the international rights.[246]

On July 11, 2018, Heritage Auctions  announced the auction of Prince's personal possessions to be conducted in Dallas, Texas on July 21, 2018. Total of 27 items was announced to be put in the auction, including Prince's bible, stage worn clothing, and some personal documents.[247] [248]

On August 17, 2018, NPG Records  released all 23 post-Warner Bros. albums by Prince digitally on streaming platforms like Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, together with a new compilation album named Anthology: 1995–2010 , containing 37 tracks.[249]

On September 21, 2018, the album Piano and a Microphone 1983  was released on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. It is the first album released by the Prince estate with material from his archive, the Vault.[250]

The Prince Estate announced, in December 2018, that the Sony/Legacy reissues will begin in February 2019. The first three releases are to be Musicology , 3121  and Planet Earth  on limited edition Purple Vinyl, and standard CD formats.

Artistry and legacy [ edit ]

Music and image [ edit ]

A costume worn by Prince and associated memorabilia, displayed at a Hard Rock Cafe in Australia

The Los Angeles Times  called Prince "our first post-everything pop star, defying easy categories of race, genre and commercial appeal."[251]  Jon Pareles  of The New York Times  described him as "a master architect of funk, rock, R&B and pop", and highlighted his ability to defy labels.[252]  Los Angeles Times  writer Randall Roberts called Prince "among the most versatile and restlessly experimental pop artists of our time," writing that his "early work connected disco  and synthetic funk [while his] fruitful mid-period merged rock, soul, R&B and synth-pop ."[253]  Simon Reynolds  called him a "pop polymath, flitting between funkadelia , acid rock , deep soul, schmaltz —often within the same song".[254]  AllMusic  wrote that, "With each album he released, Prince showed remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres [...] no other contemporary artist blended so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole."[255]  Rolling Stone  ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists, "the most influential artists of the rock & roll era".[126]

As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant style and showmanship.[252]  He came to be regarded as a sex symbol  for his androgynous , amorphous sexuality,[256]  play with signifiers of gender ,[257] [258]  and defiance of racial stereotypes .[259]  His "audacious, idiosyncratic" fashion sense made use of "ubiquitous purple, alluring makeup and frilled garments."[251]  His androgynous look has been compared to that of Little Richard [256] [260] [261]  and David Bowie .[1]  In 2016, Reynolds described it as "Prince's '80s evasion of conventional gender definitions speaks to us now in this trans-aware moment. But it also harks backwards in time to the origins of rock 'n' roll in racial mixture and sexual blurring".[262]

Prince also wore high-heeled shoes and boots both on- and off-stage. Prince had needed double hip replacement surgery since 2005 and the condition was reportedly caused by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots.[263]  Prince had been using canes as part of his outfit from the early 1990s onwards; towards the end of his life he regularly walked with a cane in public engagements, which led to speculation that it resulted from his not having undergone the surgery.[264]

Prince was known for the strong female presence in his bands and his support for women in the music industry throughout his career.[265]  Slate  said he worked with an "astounding range of female stars" and "promised a world where men and women looked and acted like each other."[266]

In August 2017, Pantone  Inc. introduced a new shade of purple in their color system in honor of Prince. The shade is called Love Symbol #2  and is defined as Pantone color number 19-3528, web palette  #4F3D63 or RGB  79,61,99.[267] [268] [269] [270]

Influences and musicianship [ edit ]

Prince's music synthesized a wide variety of influences,[252]  and drew inspiration from a range of musicians, including James Brown ,[271] [272] [273] [1]  George Clinton ,[271] [272] [1]  Joni Mitchell ,[271]  Duke Ellington ,[274]  Jimi Hendrix ,[271] [1]  the Beatles ,[271] [1]  Chuck Berry ,[271]  David Bowie ,[271]  Earth, Wind & Fire ,[271]  Mick Jagger ,[271]  Rick James ,[271] Jerry Lee Lewis ,[271]  Little Richard ,[271]  Curtis Mayfield ,[271] [275]  Elvis Presley ,[271]  Todd Rundgren ,[276]  Carlos Santana ,[271]  Sly Stone ,[271] [277] [272] [1] [278]  Jackie Wilson ,[271]  and Stevie Wonder .[278] [279] [280]  Prince has been compared with jazz  great Miles Davis  in regard to the artistic changes throughout his career.[271] [281]  Davis said he regarded Prince as an otherworldly blend of James Brown , Jimi Hendrix , Marvin Gaye , Sly Stone , Little Richard , Duke Ellington , and Charlie Chaplin .[282] [274] [283]  Prince and Miles Davis performed together for a Charity Event at Paisley Park. This performance was viewed as the pinnacle of their on-again, off-again partnership.[17]

Journalist Nik Cohn  described him as "rock's greatest ever natural talent".[284]  His singing abilities encompassed a wide range from falsetto  to baritone  and rapid, seemingly effortless shifts of register .[5]  Prince was also renowned as a multi-instrumentalist.[1] [2]  He is considered a guitar virtuoso and a master of drums, percussion, bass, keyboards, and synthesizer.[3]  On his first five albums, he played nearly all the instruments,[285]  including 27 instruments on his debut album,[286]  among them various types of bass, keyboards and synthesizers. Prince was also quick to embrace technology in his music,[287]  making pioneering use of drum machines  like the Linn LM-1  on his early '80s albums and employing a wide range of studio effects.[288]  The LA Times  also noted his "harnessing [of] new-generation synthesizer  sounds in service of the groove," laying the foundations for post-'70s funk music.[253]  Prince was also known for his prolific and perfectionist tendencies, which resulted in him recording large amounts of unreleased material.[289]

Prince also wrote songs for other artists, and some songs of his were covered by musicians, such as the hit songs "Manic Monday” (performed by The Bangles), "I Feel For You ", originally on Prince's self-titled second album from 1979, covered by Chaka Khan , and "Nothing Compares 2 U ", written for Prince's side project the Family , and covered very successfully by Sinead O'Connor . Neither "I Feel For You" nor "Nothing Compares 2 U" were actually written for the singers who made them famous. Prince co-wrote "Love... Thy Will Be Done " with singer Martika , for her second album Martika's Kitchen , and also gifted Celine Dion  a song for her second album, Celine Dion , titled "With This Tear"; a song Prince had written specifically for her.[290] Prince also wrote "U" for Paula Abdul , appearing on her 1991 release Spellbound .

Equipment [ edit ]

show Signature and custom guitars

As a guitar virtuoso, Prince was also known to have a very stylish and flamboyant custom guitar collection, which consisted of 121 guitars.[291]  [292]  Some of his flamboyant guitars consists of the Cloud Guitars, which were commissioned and released in colored versions of white, yellow, and purple. The white-colored version is prominently shown in both the Purple Rain film and the Raspberry Beret video.[293] [294]  Other notable guitars are The Love Symbol guitars, which were designed in the separate colors of gold and purple. The guitar that was used for the majority of Prince's music career was the H.S. Anderson Madcat guitar - a Telecaster  copy created by Hohner . Several versions of the guitar was used throughout his career - due to one being donated for charitable reasons, while one or more were stolen.[295] [296]  Other two noteworthy guitars are the G1 Purple Special, and the black-and-gold Gus G3 Prince bass, which would become the last two guitars to ever be made for the artist.[297] [298] [299] [300]

Impact [ edit ]

Many artists have also drawn inspiration from Prince, including Alicia Keys , Usher , Janelle Monáe , The Weeknd , Justin Timberlake , Lenny Kravitz , Andre 3000 , and Frank Ocean .[301] [302]

Legal issues [ edit ]

Pseudonyms [ edit ]

In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of The Gold Experience , a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of his musical output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek.[303]  He explained that he had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to emancipate himself from his contract with Warner Bros., and that he had done it out of frustration because he felt his own name now belonged to the company.[304] [305]

Prince sometimes used pseudonyms to separate himself from the music he had written, produced, or recorded, and at one point stated that his ownership and achievement were strengthened by the act of giving away ideas.[105]  Pseudonyms he adopted, at various times, include: Jamie Starr  and The Starr Company  (for the songs he wrote for the Time  and many other artists from 1981 to 1984), Joey Coco  (for many unreleased Prince songs in the late 1980s, as well as songs written for Sheena Easton  and Kenny Rogers ), Alexander Nevermind  (for writing the song "Sugar Walls " (1984) by Sheena Easton), and Christopher  (used for his song writing credit of "Manic Monday " (1986) for the Bangles ).

Copyright issues [ edit ]

On September 14, 2007, Prince announced that he was going to sue YouTube  and eBay , because they hosted his copyrighted material, and he hired the international Internet policing company Web Sheriff .[306] [307]  In October, Stephanie Lenz filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group  claiming that they were abusing copyright law after the music publisher had YouTube take down Lenz's home movie in which the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy " played faintly in the background.[308] [309]  On November 5, several Prince fan sites formed "Prince Fans United" to fight back against legal requests which, they claim, Prince made to prevent all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers, and anything linked to his likeness.[310]  Prince's lawyers claimed that this constituted copyright infringement ; the Prince Fans United said that the legal actions were "attempts to stifle all critical commentary about Prince". Prince's promoter AEG  stated that the only offending items on the three fansites were live shots from Prince's 21 nights in London at the O2 Arena  earlier in the year.[311]

On November 8, Prince Fans United received a song named "PFUnk", providing a kind of "unofficial answer" to their movement. The song originally debuted on the PFU main site,[312]  was retitled "F.U.N.K. ", but this is not one of the selected songs available on the iTunes Store . On November 14, the satirical website b3ta.com  pulled their "image challenge of the week" devoted to Prince after legal threats from the star under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act  (DMCA).[313]

At the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival  ("Coachella Festival"), Prince performed a cover of Radiohead 's "Creep ", but immediately afterward he forced YouTube and other sites to remove footage that fans had taken of the performance, despite Radiohead's request to leave it on the website.[314]  Days later, YouTube reinstated the videos, as Radiohead said: "it's our song, let people hear it." In 2009, Prince put the video of the Coachella performance on his official website.

In 2010 he declared "the internet is completely over", elaborating five years later that "the internet was over for anyone who wants to get paid, tell me a musician who's got rich off digital sales".[5]

In 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation  granted to Prince the inaugural "Raspberry Beret Lifetime Aggrievement Award"[315]  for what they said was abuse of the DMCA takedown process.[316]

In January 2014, Prince filed a lawsuit titled Prince v. Chodera  against 22 online users for direct copyright infringement, unauthorized fixation, contributory copyright infringement, and bootlegging .[317]  Several of the users were fans who had shared links to bootlegged versions of Prince concerts through social media  websites like Facebook .[318] [319]  In the same month, he dismissed the entire action without prejudice.[320]

Prince was one of a small handful of musicians to deny "Weird Al" Yankovic  permission to parody his music. By Yankovic's account, he'd done so "about a half-dozen times" and has been the sole artist not to give any explanation for his rejection beyond a flat "no".[321]

Personal life [ edit ]

Prince's home and recording studio, Paisley Park , in Chanhassen, Minnesota

Prince was romantically linked with many celebrities over the years, including Kim Basinger , Madonna , Vanity , Sheila E. , Carmen Electra , Susanna Hoffs , Anna Fantastic ,[18]  Sherilyn Fenn ,[322]  and Susan Moonsie .[323]  He was engaged to Susannah Melvoin  in 1985.[324]  In 1990, he met 16-year-old Mayte Garcia  backstage in Germany after he saw a tape of her dancing. She moved into his Paisley Park home and he became her guardian.[325]  After graduating high school, she began working as one of his backup singers and dancers. When she was 19, he instructed her to get on birth control, thus beginning their sexual relationship.[325]  They were married on February 14, 1996; he was 37 and she was 22. They had a son named Amiir Nelson, who was born on October 16, 1996 and died a week later on October 23 after suffering from Pfeiffer syndrome .[326]  The distress of losing a child and a subsequent miscarriage took a toll on the marriage, and the couple divorced in 2000. In 2001, Prince married Manuela Testolini in a private ceremony. They separated in 2005 and divorced in May 2006.[327]

Prince was an animal rights  activist who followed a vegan  diet for part of his life, but later described himself as vegetarian .[328] [329] [330] [331] [332]  The liner notes  for his album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic  (1999) featured a message about the cruelty involved in wool  production.[333]  He became a Jehovah's Witness  in 2001, following a two-year debate with bassist Larry Graham  who became his mentor and a close friend at this time. Prince said that he did not consider it a conversion, but a "realization", comparing it to "Morpheus  and Neo  in The Matrix ". Prince attended meetings at a local Kingdom Hall  and occasionally knocked on people's doors to discuss his faith.[334] [335]

Prince had needed double hip replacement surgery since 2005. A false rumor was spread by the tabloids[336]  that he would not undergo the operation because of his refusal to have blood transfusions . The Star Tribune  reported[337]  that Graham "denied claims that Prince couldn't have hip surgery because his faith prohibited blood transfusions" and put the false rumor to rest as hip surgery does not require blood transfusions.[338] [339] [340]  According to Morris Day, Prince in fact had the hip surgery in 2008.[341]

Prince did not speak publicly about his charitable endeavors; the extent of his activism, philanthropy, and charity was publicized after his death.[342]  In 2001, Prince donated $12,000 anonymously to the Louisville Free Public Library  system to keep the historic Western Branch Library , the first full service library for African Americans  in the country, from closure.[343]  Also in 2001, he anonymously paid off the medical bills of drummer Clyde Stubblefield , who was undergoing cancer treatment.[344]  In 2015, he conceived and launched YesWeCode , paying for many hackathons  outright and performing at some of them.[342] [345]  He also helped fund Green for All .[342]

In late March 2016, Prince told an audience he was writing a memoir , tentatively titled The Beautiful Ones [346]  but due to his untimely death only a few weeks later this project never came to fruition.

Awards and nominations [ edit ]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Prince

Discography [ edit ]

Main articles: Prince albums discography , Prince singles discography , The New Power Generation , and Madhouse (band)

In his life Prince released 39 studio albums:

  • For You  (1978)
  • Prince  (1979)
  • Dirty Mind  (1980)
  • Controversy  (1981)
  • 1999  (1982)
  • Purple Rain  (1984)
  • Around the World in a Day  (1985)
  • Parade  (1986)
  • Sign o' the Times  (1987)
  • Lovesexy  (1988)
  • Batman  (1989)
  • Graffiti Bridge  (1990)
  • Diamonds and Pearls  (1991)
  • Love Symbol Album  (1992)
  • Come  (1994)
  • The Black Album  (1994)
  • The Gold Experience  (1995)
  • Chaos and Disorder  (1996)
  • Emancipation  (1996)
  • Crystal Ball  (1998)
  • The Truth  (1998)
  • The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale  (1999)
  • Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic  (1999)
  • The Rainbow Children  (2001)
  • One Nite Alone...  (2002)
  • Xpectation  (2003)
  • N·E·W·S  (2003)
  • Musicology  (2004)
  • The Chocolate Invasion  (2004)
  • The Slaughterhouse  (2004)
  • 3121  (2006)
  • Planet Earth  (2007)
  • Lotusflow3r  (2009)
  • MPLSound  (2009)
  • 20Ten  (2010)
  • Plectrumelectrum  (2014)

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