Prince (artist)
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 and roll. Prince is generally considered an excellent guitarist, songwriter and composer, though he is also a capable pianist, record producer, film director and actor. He was born in Minneapolis to John Nelson and Mattie Shaw, both jazz musicians. His music has drawn on a range of influences including Sun Ra, Sly Stone, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Joni Mitchell.
Ambitious, talented and hardworking, if sometimes overstretched, Prince brought modern ideas and attitudes into pop music and put on a great show besides. He first attracted attention with his spacy soulful sound topped with screaming guitar, not to mention the colorful clothes he put on his 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) frame.
After having played in bands like Grand Central (later called Champagne) and 94 East, he made his first solo album called For You in 1978. Since then he has released about one album each year.
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 and recording with women considered attractive or sexy, including Sheena Easton amongst others. He also worked on different occasions with famous Jazz and funk musicians, such as Miles Davis, Larry Graham and Maceo Parker. Prince has also recorded with Ani DiFranco.
Many critics consider Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain and Sign o' The Times to be his four best albums; which are found in many Top 100 lists of the greatest albums ever.
His first hit "Little Red Corvette" made him part of the first wave of black artists on MTV. Other hits include "1999," "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Purple Rain," exhibiting both versatility and feeling. Prince is allied with the tradition of Marvin Gaye in mixing spirituality and sensuality, "I Would Die 4 U," for instance, which can be compared to Gaye's "Sexual Healing," with its not so subtle reference to Jesus Christ. In contrast to Gaye, however, his songs often had more overt and direct sexual content, such as "Jack U Off" and "Sexy MF."
In addition to recording his own music, he has written for many artists, including Chaka Khan and The Bangles. He has been a tireless promoter of new artists, among them, Morris Day and the Time, Apollonia, Sheila E and Vanity. Prince is also composer of Sinead OÃÂôConnorÃÂôs first hit "Nothing compares 2 u".
In 1987 Prince recorded The Black Album, a funky album whose erotically-charged lyrics 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.
He has starred in three movies, Purple Rain (1984), Under The Cherry Moon (1987) and Graffiti Bridge (1990), the last two of which he also directed. Of these films only Purple Rain was a commercial success.
In 1987 a movie was shot of the Sign '0' the Times Tour in Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Prince is regarded as one of top live acts in the music business, often performing not only in large arenas, but also late at night in small clubs for a selected audience.
He was one of the first artists to sell his music directly to his fans through the Internet, bypassing record labels.
Prince and his relationship with his own name
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. He did not want to advertise 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 deft publicity 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 humorous fashion, they took to playing a sound effect resembling a puff of hot air whenever his name was mentioned on the music video channel.
According to a Prince fan site, the glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone.[1] They give the ASCII representation of the symbol as:
- O(+>
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 billed as "Art. Frmly Knwn as Prince." Calling for encores, the crowd chanted "We want" followed by two high whoops.
Prince has written music under a number of pseudonyms such as Jamie Starr, Alexander Nevermind, Christopher Tracy and Joey Coco.
Some nicknames Prince has been known as are The Purple One and His Royal Badness.
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.
On March 15, 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Prince and Sony Records have announced that his next album Musicology (album) will be released on April 20, 2004 through Sony.
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