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Prince is one of the most singular talents in music, a multi-talented pop, funk and rock performer who showed remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity. Here are 50 facts about the singer:
- Prince was a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and an actor. He is renowned as an innovator.
- He was born on June 07, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S to Mattie Della and John Lewis Nelson. He was named after his father, whose stage name was Prince Roger. He has a sister Tika Evene.
- His father was a pianist and a song writer and his mother was a jazz singer. His parents were African-American.
- As a child he used to have seizures. His parents were separated when he was 10 years old and he frequented between his father and mother before moving with his friend Andre Anderson.
- Prince and his sister were influenced by their father’s music, which encouraged them. As seven years old he composed his first tune ‘Funk Machine’ on his father’s piano.
- Prince along with his cousin Charles Smith and his childhood friend Andre Anderson formed a band called Grand Central, while still attending Minneapolis‘s Central High School. Later the name was changed to Champagne and started playing original music.
- At school during the music class after the teacher has left him to learn the basic she taught, he would put on the head phone and rip through the keyboards. Prince played piano and guitar for the band which performed in club and parties in Minneapolis area.
- He was good at Basketball apart from music. He could not crack the giant-sized lineup despite great quickness and ball-handling skills. His class had one of the best basketball team in the Minnesota history.
- In 1975 he joined Pepe Willie as a guitarist in the ‘94 East’ band. He composed with Willie the song ‘Just Another Sucker,’ which later became album ‘Minneapolis Genius.’
- In1976 with the help of Chris Moon, Prince was signed by Minneapolis business man, Owen Husney. He recorded demo at ‘Sound 80’ studio which resulted in interest from several recording companies such as Warner Bros, Columbia and A&M Records. He was 17 years old.
- Prince signed contract with Warner Bros. He was given creative control for three albums and publishing rights.
- He moved to Sausalito, California and recorded his first album ‘For You.’ The album was written and performed by prince. He arranged, composed and played all the 27 instruments on the recording and released on April 7, 1978.
- In 1979 along with Cymore, Dickerson, Chapman, Fink and Bobby created a band. They performed their first show at Capri Theatre on January 5, 1979, which was attended by Warner Bros executives.
- In October, 1979 he released the album ‘Prince,’ with two R&B hits songs ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover.’ The album was No.4 the Billboard top R&B charts.
- The music critic ‘Stephen Thomas Erlewine’ described his third album ‘Dirty Mind’ as stunning breathtaking, visionary album with fusion of synthesizer, rock rhythms and funk. Released in 1980 the album was certified gold and the single ’Uptown’ was rated No5 in both Billboard Dance chart and on the Hot Soul Singles.
- In October 14, 1981 he released his fourth album ’Controversy’ which raised questions that were being asked about him at that time, including his race and sexuality. It was published by ASCAP and was voted as eighth best album of the year in the Pass & Jop.
- In 1981, he had build ‘The Time’ out of an existing Minneapolis funk R&B unit ‘Flyte Time.’ With prince writing, performing most of the instrument and backing vocals, the band released four albums between 1981 and 1990.
- On October 27, 1982 Warner Bros Records released Prince’s fifth album ‘1999.’ The album was his first top ten albums on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten outside U.S.
- On June 25, 1984 his sixth album ‘Purple Rain’ recorded by his band The Revolution, was released by Warner Bros Record. The album is regularly ranked among the best album in music history and his magnum opus.
- The album sold more than 13 million copies in the US and spent 24 consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
- In 1984 Prince stared in the film by the same name ‘Purple Rain.’ It is loosely based on his own life. He won ‘Academy Award for Best Original Song Score,’ for that movie and it grossed over $ 68 million in the US.
- He has the distinction of having his album, single and film ranked No. 1 in US simultaneously. This is the first time a singer had achieved this feat.
- When 11 years old Karenna, daughter of Mary Elizabeth Gore listened to his song ‘Darling Nikki,’ it forced the mandatory requirement of warning label on the covers of the record.
- Prince released the album ‘Around the World in a Day’ on April 22, 1985. In compliance with his wish, record company Warner Bros & Paisley Park released the record with minimal publicity. A single was released after a month for he wanted the public to experience the complete album.
- His album ‘Parade’ released on March 31, 1986, sold over two million copies in US and abroad and was named as one of the best album of the year by ‘The Village Voice’ and ‘NME’ magazine. Prince displayed a new image with ruffled shirt, wild curly hair and purple outfit with this album.
- Prince starred in his second film by the name ‘Under the Cherry Moon,’ in 1986 an American musical drama. This film was filmed in color and released in B&W. It was nominated for a ‘Stinkers Bad Movie Award’ for the Worst Picture.
- Between March and September `1986, prince under took series of sporadic live performance called ‘Hit n Run-Parade Tour. It was a promotional concert for his album Parade and for his film. Most of the show was announced a day or hours before.
- After dismantling the band Revolution, Prince consolidated the songs of Dream Factory, Camille and some new songs in to a new three-LP album called ‘Crystal Ball.’ He was forced by Warner Bros to trim to double album and was released as ‘Sign O the Times’ on March 31. A987.
- On May 10, 1988 he released his solo album ‘Love Sexy.’ Every song is solo effort by Prince and the album reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and No. 05 on the R&B album chart. The cover of the album caused some controversy upon release as it shows Prince in the nude.
- Prince was asked by director Tim Burton of film Batman to record several songs for the film. On June 20, 1989, Warner Bros released nine track album, which was No.1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.3 million copies. The single ‘Batdance’ topped the billboard and R&B charts.
- His fourth film ‘Graffiti Bridge’ and the album by the same name were released. Initially Warner Bros were reluctant to fund the film. The album released on August 20, 1990 reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and R&B album charts. The film released on November 20, 1990 was a box-office flop.
- In 1991, Prince formed a new band ‘The New Power Generation’ and released ‘Diamonds and Pearls on October 01, 1991. The album saw four hit singles released in the United States. The single ‘Cream’ gave Prince his fifth US No.1 single.
- In 1992, He released his 12th album, ‘Love Symbol Album’ with a new symbol on the cover. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with the single ‘7’ was reached No.7
- In 1993 Prince changed his name to glyph known as love symbol. This frustrated contact lawyers, computer user. He was often referred as the Artist formerly known as Prince or simply Artist.
- In 1994 prince released albums in quick succession out of his contract obligation to Warner Bros. The Black Album which was recorded seven years ago was release now along with new album ‘Come.’ The album ‘Come’ became Prince’s poorest selling album till date.
- He married his backup and dancer Mayte Garcia on February 14, 1996. On October 16, 1996 a baby boy was born who died a week later.
- Om May 16, 2000 He stopped using the Love Symbol moniker and reverted to use of ‘Prince’ again.
- In 2002 he released his first live album ‘One Nite Album.’ His performance recorded during his tour of U.S, Canada, Europe and Japan was released on the live album. He promoted his album by inviting his fans into the studio for the tours, interview, discussion and music-listening sessions.
- On February 8, 2004 he along with Beyonce appeared at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards and opened the show with ‘Let’s Go Crazy,’ ‘Bay I Am Star’ and ‘Crazy in Love.’
- In March 2004 he was inducted in to the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The award was presented to him by Alicia Keys.
- Universal Records released his album 3121 on March 21, 2006. For his video song ‘Te Amo Corazon,’ Argentine actress and singer, Mia Maestro featured and the album was filmed in Marrakech, Morocco.
- His 1997 album ‘Crystal Ball was exclusively released online. He was awarded 2006 Webby Life Time Achievement Award on June 12 in recognition of his ‘Visionary use of internet to distribute music and connect with audience.’
- On February 2, 2007 he performed at the Super Bowl XLI press conference. He also played during the half time show in Miami, Florida on two days later. The staged was shaped as his symbol. He had viewership of over 140 million, the biggest audience of his life.
- On August 25, 2007, he performed at O2 arena for 21 nights. The tickets were priced at $ 48.66 and were sold out in 20 minutes.
- On June 28, 2007 when ‘The Mail on Sunday’ made a deal with Prince for release of his new album ‘Planet Earth’ along with paper, it raised controversy among music distributers and also from UK arm of Prince’s distributer Sony BMG, who withdrew from UK distribution.
- Prince cancelled a concert planned at Dublin’s Croke Park on June 16, 2008 at a short notice. He was sued by MCD production for $ 1.6 million. He settled the case out of court on February 2010 for $ 2.95 million.
- In May 2015 Prince released a song ‘Baltimore’ in memory of Freddie Gray and in support of protesters in Baltimore.
- On April 7, 2016 he postponed his two performances at Fox Theatre, Atlanta due to his influenza and bad dehydration. He recovered and was seen bicycling and shopping. He also made a appearance in the dance party at his Paisley Park recording studio.
- On April 21, 2016 at 9:43 am Carver County Sheriff’s office received a call requesting for an ambulance. He was unresponsive in the elevator and he was administered CPR but could not revive him.
- After his death, his vault was drilled opened by Bremer Trust, the estate administrator and found there’s enough music to release a new album every year for the next century. The unreleased music pre-dates the release of 1984’s Purple Rain.
