Prince

Who was Prince?

Prince Rogers Nelson, better known as just Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist widely regarded as the pioneer of Minneapolis sound. Famous for his flamboyance, powerful voice, and eclectic behavior, he boasted of a career that spanned four long decades, a rarity in the music world where success is fickle. With worldwide sales of 100 million records, he is counted amongst the best-selling artists of all time. The son of a pianist and a jazz singer, Prince inherited his musical talents from his parents who encouraged him from a young age to pursue music as a career. Under his parents’ guidance he developed a deep love for music and began creating tunes when he was just seven. He also taught himself how to play the piano, guitar and drums. He became a professional singer and performer as a young man and earned much popularity with his eponymous album ‘Prince.’ His highly sexualized lyrics, creative compositions, and incorporation of elements of funk, dance, and rock music made him stand out from others of his generation. He enjoyed a very successful career that was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 57. ‘Rolling Stone’ ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Career

Prince released his debut album ‘For You’, in 1978, which was followed by ‘Prince’, in 1979. The album featured the hit singles ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and went platinum, effectively establishing Prince’s career.

Being an African-American he initially wrote songs for the black youth though with time his songs became popular with youngsters of all races. His lyrics were marked with sexual innuendo which made him a youth icon as could be seen from the success of the albums ‘Dirty Mind’ (1980),’Controversy’ (1981), and ‘1999’ (1982).

In 1984, he released the album ‘Purple Rain’ which sold more than 13 million copies in the US and spent 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The same year he appeared in a rock musical drama film of the same name, making his film debut. The film became a cult classic.

Over the next few years, he toured extensively and also recorded albums such as ‘Parade’ (1986), ‘Sign o' the Times’ (1987), ‘Lovesexy’ (1988), and ‘Batman’ (1989). All of these albums were international commercial hits.

In the 1990s he started performing with a new backing band, the New Power Generation. In 1993 he changed his stage name to , an unpronounceable symbol which was a combination of the symbols for male (♂) and female (♀). The symbol was soon dubbed “The Love Symbol.”

The prolific artist continued to bring out hit albums throughout the late 1990s with ‘The Gold Experience’ in 1995, ‘Chaos and Disorder’ and ‘Emancipation’ in 1996, ‘Crystal Ball / The Truth’ in 1998, and ‘Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic’ in 1999.

His career touched even greater heights in the new millennium with the release of the album ‘Musicology’ in 2004. The album was an international hit and reached the Top 5 in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

He continued to tour and perform extensively over the decade, playing 21 concerts in London during the summer of 2007. In 2009, he performed two shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the next year he went on his 20Ten Tour, a concert tour in two legs with shows in Europe.

In May 2015, following the death of Freddie Gray, an African-American who died in police custody after his arrest in Baltimore, protests erupted in the city. Prince released a song titled ‘Baltimore’ in tribute to Gray and in support of the protesters. He also held a tribute concert for Gray at his Paisley Park estate called 'Dance Rally 4 Peace.'