Prince (singer)

Prince (born June 7 , 1958 ),full name Prince Rogers Nelson, is a popular musician. His music draws on a bevy of styles including funk , rhythm and blues , psychedelia and rock androll . Prince is generally considered a brilliant guitarist , songwriter and composer , but is also acapable pianist , recordproducer , film director and actor .

Uptown - Early Years

He was born in Minneapolis at Mount Sinai Hospitalon June 7, 1958, to John Nelson and Mattie Shaw, both jazz musicians. Amazingly, Princesomehow managed to keep his real name a secret from everybody throughout the eighties. By 1990, his real named began to getpublicly leaked. He wanted everyone to believe that his real name was Prince Rogers Nelson after the Prince Rogers Trio, hisfather's jazz band. The truth is that his real name is simply Roger Nelson. As a boy, he was called Skipper.

There were a number of other myths that he spread about himself, too. For some reason, he wanted everybody to think that he ishalf African-American and half Italian -- he is not. Though he may be part Italian, sources who have met his father haveconfirmed that he definitely isn't half Italian.

Prince's parents separated and he had a troubled relationship with his stepfather causing him to run away from home. He livedbriefly with his father who brought him his first guitar. Later, he was adopted by the Andersons and he became friends with theirson Andre Anderson later AndreCymone .

Prince and Anderson joined Anderson's cousin Charles Smith in a band called Grand Central formed in junior highschool. By the time, Prince had entered high school Grand Central evolved into Champagne and started playingplaying original music already drawing on a range of influences including Sun Ra , Sly Stone , James Brown , Jimi Hendrix , CarlosSantana and Joni Mitchell .

Prince became a central figure of "Uptown" a 1970s underground funk scene in Minneapolis which also included Flyte Time , Jellybean Johnson , Terry Lewis and AlexanderO'Neal . In 1976, he started working on a demo with producer Chris Moon in a Minneapolis studio. He also had the patronage of Owen Husney who Moon introduced him tooallowing him to produce an excellent quality demo. Husney started contacting major labels and ran a clever campaign promotingPrince as a star of the future, resulting in a bidding war eventually won by Warner Bros. who offered him a longterm contract.

"Controversy" - early career 1977-83

In 1977, with the professional assistance of his cousin's husband, Pepe Willie, Prince recorded his first album entitled,"Minneapolis Genius". The local band that Prince played with on the album was listed as "94 West". For reasons whichhave never been disclosed by Prince, he never acknowledges the existence of this album. Even the Rock & Roll Hall of Famelists his first album as, "For You" -- which was recorded in 1978. This album had no band on it -- Prince supposedlyplayed all 27 instruments on the album himself. Members of his band, the NPG, however, say that Prince can only play 25instruments. He spent twice his advance on recording the first album which sold modestly reaching the bottom reaches of theBillboard 200 but the single "Soft And Wet" performed well on the R&B charts.

By 1979, Prince had recruited his first backing band with Cymone on bass, Gayle Chapman and Matt Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z on drums and Dez Dickerson on guitar. This lineuprecruited a self-titled album which made the top 40 of the US album charts and contained two r&b hits in "Why You Wanna TreatMe So Bad" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover"

Ambitious, talented and hardworking, if sometimes overstretched, Prince brought modern ideas and attitudes into pop music andput on a great show besides. He first attracted attention with his spacey soulful sound topped with screaming guitar, not tomention the colorful clothes he put on his 5 ft 2 inch frame. In his early years, he liked to dress in a suspender belt and lacy women's lingerie .

In 1980 , Prince released the Dirty Mind album whichestablished him as a critical favourite. Lisa Coleman replaced Chapman in the band with Andre Cymone also leaving the band for a solo career. DirtyMind also was notable for its sexually explicit material such as the song "Head". Tipper Gore would form the Parents Music Resource Center in 1984 after hearing the sexually explicit Darling Nikki from the Purple Rain record. This would eventually result inParental Advisory stickers on record covers.

Prince supported Rick James in a 1980 tour with the label "punk funk" beingapplied to both artists although it didn't sit comfortably with Prince who did not consider that there was a significant punkinfluence in his music. He released the album Controversy along the lines of Dirty Mind with the single fromthe album making international charts for the first time.

Prince also wrote produced the debut album for Morris Day and the Time , containing former members of Flyte Time. They would be thefirst of the proteges who Prince would assist in the next decade including Vanity 6 , Apollonia and SheilaE . He would also write hits for artists such as Sheena Easton and The Bangles and his songs would be covered in hit versions by artists asdiverse as Chaka Khan , Tom Jones with The Art of Noise and Sinéad O'Connor .

Purple Reign - chart success 1983-1993

He was backed in the 80s by The Revolution, and in the 90s by The New Power Generation. His players were always good musicians; Prince has gained attention for hiring andrecording with women considered attractive or sexy, including SheenaEaston amongst others. He also worked on different occasions with famous Jazz and funk musicians, such as Miles Davis , Larry Graham and MaceoParker . Prince has also recorded with Ani DiFranco .

In 1983 Prince released the 1999 album which proved to be abreakthrough album both in the US and internationally selling over three million copies. The title track managed both to make aprotest about nuclear proliferation , fill dance floorsaround the world and become his first top ten hit internationally. With "Little Red Corvette" he joined Michael Jackson as part of the first wave of black artists on MTV and "Delirious" also went top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 . The album was also a critical smash rated as acareer highlight with the All Music Guide rating it as five stars outof five.

The release of Purple Rain along with the film of the same namewould establish Prince amongst the top rank of popular musicians in the 1980's. It would sell over thirteen million copies in theUS alone and spend 24 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 . "When DovesCry" and "Let's Go Crazy" would both top the US singles charts and be smash hits around the world while the title track would goto number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album is also a critical favourite again being rated in the top 100 of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time releasedin late 2003.

In 1985, Prince briefly decided to give up live performances and making videos on the release of Around The World In ADay which went to the top of the US album charts for three weeks. It also saw the opening of a luxurious recording studio at Paisley Park which was also thename of a track on the album. Prince's momentary ban on videos ended as the album stalled in the charts with a video for"Raspberry Beret" which reached number two on the Billboard 100.

Prince directed the 1986 movie Under The Cherry Moon and appeared in it: however, it would not do well at the box office. TheParade album contained tracks from the movie and went to number 3 on the Billboard album chart and number two on theR&B album charts. The first single, "Kiss," would top the Billboard Hot 100 with the song "Manic Monday" by the Bangles atnumber 2 - Prince had written this song as well under the pseudonym of Christopher. Prince decided that his ban on touring was amistake and went back on the road for the Parade tour.

Prince is allied with the tradition of Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke in mixing spirituality and sensuality, "I Would Die 4 U," for instance, whichcan be compared to Gaye's "Sexual Healing," with its not so subtle reference to Jesus Christ . The track "The Cross," off Sign O' The Times , is a stronger reference to Prince's Christian beliefs. SignO' The Times released in 1997 as a double album, reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and is regarded as one of hisgreatest albums reaching the top 100 of the Rolling Stones top 500 albums. In 1987 a moviewas shot of the Sign'0' the Times Tour in Rotterdam and Antwerp .

In 1987 Prince recorded The Black Album, a funky album whose erotically chargedlyrics were considered so blatant, Prince decided not to officially release it. The album circulated through the bootleg underground music world until it was finally given an official release in 1994 . While The Black Album was ascribed to Prince's bad side described at the time as SpookyElectric, the 1988 album Lovesexy was ascribed to Camille or his good side. Lovesexy was arelative disappointment in its chart performance only reaching number 11 on the Billboard 200.

However, Prince would record the soundtrack for Batman which would return him to the top of the US album charts and the single "Batdance" wouldreach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and be a worldwide hit. Prince released the film sequel to Purple Rain, titledGraffiti Bridge, which performed poorly at the box office. The soundtrack featured Prince on one side and other artistssuch as Tevin Campbell , Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers and Morris Day. It would reach a peak of number 6 inthe US and number one in the UK.

The Diamonds & Pearls album in 1991 gave Prince another big hit on the album charts with the song "Cream" givinghim his fifth US number one single. Diamonds & Pearls also marked the debut of the New Power Generation featuring rapper Tony M , Rosie Gaines on vocals, Michael Bland on drums, Levi Seacer and Kirk Johnson on guitar, Sonny T on bass and Tommy Barbarella on keyboards.

Prince's 12th album bore a indecipherable symbol and was called The Love Symbol album. It reached the top ten of theUS album charts. In 1993, he would change his name to the symbol (see below) which marked the start of a decade of decliningcommercial and critical success.

Prince is regarded as one of top live acts in the music business, often performing not only in large arenas, but also late atnight in small clubs for a selected audience. He maintained a strong live following despite spending most of the 1990s and early2000's in commercial exile.

My Name Was Prince - relationship with name

On his 35th birthday, June 7 , 1993 , he said hewould no longer answer to the name Prince and would hence be known by an unpronounceable glyph. On December 31 , 1999 he reclaimed the name Prince, although,typically, he did not announce the reclamation until some time later. '

He had refused to use the name Prince while publishing rights remained with his old record company Warner Brothers . He said he felt like he was their slave and performed at the1995 Brit Awards with the name slave on his face. He did not want toadvertise for that company, so he didn't use the name. As soon as they were out of the picture, the name was back.

By that time, he was also known as The Artist, short for The Artist Formerly Known as Prince(as he was anointed by a British journalist) or even the acronym TAFKAP. People loved to talk about it, some were amused, some were annoyed. Whatever else it was, it was deftpublicity that kept his name and career alive separate from his legal entanglements with his record company. Other names used as'pronunciation' for the glyph were The Symbol and Love Symbol. MTV , which had aired his videos and contributed to Prince's fame, did not embrace the glyph, however; in a humorousfashion, they took to playing a sound effect resembling a puff of hot air whenever his name was mentioned on the music videochannel.

According to a Prince fan site, the glyph incorporates the male and female signs alongwith the alchemy symbol for soapstone . [1] They give the ASCII representationof the symbol as:

O(+>

Prince's management company made an image file of it available for newspapers and magazines to use in referring to him.

The New York Times reported in concert coverage in 1994:

Since Prince has changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph, tickets for his two-night stand at the Palladium were billedas "Art. Frmly Knwn as Prince." Calling for encores, the crowd chanted "We want" followed by two high whoops.

From Prince's official announcement reclaiming his name: "On Dec. 31, 1999, my publishing contract with Warner-Chappellexpired, thus emancipating the name I was given before birth 'Prince' from all long-term restrictive documents. I will now goback to using my name instead of the symbol I adopted to free myself from all undesirable relationships."

Prince has written music under a number of pseudonyms such as Jamie Starr, AlexanderNevermind, Christopher Tracy and Joey Coco. Some nicknames Prince has been known asare The Purple One and His Royal Badness.

Chaos And Disorder - 1994-2003

Prince released a greatest hits package in 1993 which failed to do as well as you would suspect from an artist with his trackrecord. In order to meet his contractual obligations with Warner Brothers, Prince released the Black Album in 1994. Thetrack "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" was released independently and was very successful - this was not to be a forerunnerof what was to come. Warner Brothers released the Come album which was moderately successful going gold. Due to hisongoing dispute with Warner Brothers, Prince was refusing to release his album The Gold Experience in 1995. Wheneventually released, it failed to sell well although it reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 initially.

The Chaos & Disorder album of 1996 was his final for Warner Brothers and one of his least successful. He set upthe NPG record label and released the 3-discEmancipation album in 1996 with distribution through EMI . It failed to do as well ashe had hoped with many people thinking it lacked focus.

Prince released The Crystal Ball, a four-CD collection of unreleased material, in 1998. The distribution of thisalbum was shambolic with some fans who pre-ordered the album on his website not receiving the album for months after the recordhad gone on sale in the stores. The New Power Soul album released three months later failed to make much an impressionon the charts as many fans failed to realise it was out.

His 1999 album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic released through Arista Records also failed to make much of a commercial impression as did a release of Warner Brothersouttakes. The greatest success he had during the year was with the single 1999 which was re-released for the new millennium . With the exception of the release of a new greatest hits package on Rhino Entertainment , Prince failed to release new material inthe first three years of the new decade.

2004 Comeback

In 2003 , Prince's lawyer, Londell Macmillan, confirmed his client had joined the Jehovah's Witnesses and that the star was "very committed"to them. As a consequence, he no longer performs many of his more sexually explicit songs such as "Darling Nikki" in concert. Hesigned a deal with Sony Music to distribute future albums through his NPGlabel. He released the Musicology album on April 20 2004 . It was his best received album critically since Diamonds &Pearls and reached the top 5 of the Billboard album charts upon release. People who brought tickets to his Greatest HitsTour of 2004 received a copy of Musicology with the cost forming part of the ticket price. Prince and Sony negotiated tohave each copy given out at concerts count towards his sales totals for the album charts, thus ensuring a long stay in the top 40while the Musicology tour continues throughout the year. Since that deal, Billboard and others revised the policy such thatartists must give ticket buyers the option of foregoing the album for a discounted ticket price, in order for the album sales tocount on the charts. Prince's deal was grandfathered in.

In 2004 Prince appeared on Chappelle Show, kicked butt in basketball, and reclaimed his g-hood.

On March 15 , 2004 , Prince was inductedinto the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

Discology - Recording History

• For You (1978)
• Prince (1979)
• Dirty Mind (1980)
• Controversy (1981)
• 1999 (1983)
• Purple Rain (1984)
• Around The World In A Day (1985)
• Parade (1986)
• Sign O' TheTimes (1987)
• Lovesexy (1988)
• Batman (1989)
• GraffitiBridge (1990)
• Diamonds andPearls (1991)
• The LoveSymbol Album (1992)
• The Hits/TheB-Sides (1993)
• The Hits 1 (1993)
• The Hits 2 (1993)
• Goldnigga (1993)
• Come (1994)
• The Black Album (1994 - recorded 1987)
• Chaos &Disorder (1995)
• The GoldExperience (1995)
• Exodus (1995)
• Emancipation (1996)
• Crystal Ball (1998outtakes)
• New Power Soul (1998)
• The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)
• Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)
• TheVery Best Of Prince (2001)
• The RainbowChildren (2001)
• One Nite Alone (2002 NPG Music Club)
• OneNite Alone...Live! (2002)
• Xpectation (2003 NPGMusic Club)
• N.E.W.S. (2003)
• TheChocolate Invasion (2004 NPG Music Club)
• TheSlaughterhouse (2004 NPG Music Club)
• C-Note (2004 NPG MusicClub)
• Musicology (2004)

Filmography

• Purple Rain (1984)
• Under theCherry Moon (1986)
• Graffiti Bridge (1990)
• Chappelle's Show (2004)

External links

• All Music Guide , Complete Prince discography and moreinformation
• BBC Prince Profile
• NPG Music Club , Prince's official site where he sells music and other articles
• Prince artistprofile
• The best known Prince fan site
• VH1 Prince Artist Page