- Wikipedia

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This article is about the American singer and musician. For other uses, see Prince (disambiguation).

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Prince
Prince in 1981
Born	Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-06-07)June 7, 1958 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	April 21, 2016(2016-04-21) (aged 57) Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S.
Cause of death	Accidental fentanyl overdose
Other names	\n The Artist (Formerly Known as Prince) (TAFKAP) \n Camille \n
Occupations	\n Singer \n songwriter \n musician \n record producer \n actor \n
Years active	1975\u20132016
Spouses	\n Mayte Garcia \n (m. 1996; div. 2000) \n Manuela Testolini \n (m. 2001; div. 2007)
Children	1
Father	John L. Nelson
Relatives	Tyka Nelson (sister)
Musical career
Genres	\n Funk^[1] \n rock^[2]^[3] \n R&B \n pop^[4] \n neo-psychedelia^[5] \n progressive soul^[6] \n
Instruments	\n Vocals \n guitar \n keyboards \n bass \n drums \n
Discography	Albums singles
Labels	\n Warner Bros. \n Paisley Park \n NPG \n EMI \n Columbia \n Arista \n Universal \n
Formerly of	\n The Revolution \n The Family \n Madhouse \n New Power Generation \n
\n
Website	prince.com

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation.^[7] He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona;^[8]^[9] his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings.^[10] His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, blues, and hip hop. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound.\n

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 18, soon releasing the studio albums For You (1978) and Prince (1979). He went on to achieve critical success with the influential albums Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982). His sixth album, Purple Rain (1984), was recorded with his new backing band the Revolution and was also the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which he starred. The album garnered continued success for Prince and was a major commercial achievement, spending six consecutive months atop the US Billboard 200 chart.^[11] The soundtrack also won Prince the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score while the movie grossed $70.3 million worldwide, against its $7.2 million budget and publications. Critics have regarded Purple Rain as one of the greatest musical films.^[12]^[13] After disbanding the Revolution, Prince released the album Sign o' the Times (1987), widely hailed by critics as the greatest work of his career.\n

In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol $\"Logo.$ (known to fans as the \"Love Symbol\") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist.^[14]^[15] After moving to Arista Records in 1998, Prince reverted to his original name in 2000. Over the next decade, six of his albums entered the U.S. top 10 charts.^[16]^[17] In April 2016, at the age of 57, Prince died after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl at his Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He was a prolific musician who released 39 albums during his life, with a vast array of unreleased material left in a custom-built bank vault underneath his home after his death, including fully completed albums and over 50 finished music videos.^[18] Numerous posthumous collections of his previously unheard work have been issued by his estate.\n

Prince has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, ranking him among the best-selling music artists of all time.^[19] His awards include the Grammy President's Merit Award, the American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit, the Billboard Icon Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016, and was inducted twice into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022.^[20]^[21] Estimates of the complete number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000.^[22] Some of these songs were made popular after being covered by other musicians, including \"Nothing Compares 2 U\" by Sin\u00e9ad O'Connor and \"Manic Monday\" by the Bangles.^[23]\n

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Year	Film	Role	Director\n
1984	Purple Rain	The Kid	Albert Magnoli\n
1986	Under the Cherry Moon	Christopher Tracy	Prince\n
1987	Sign o' the Times	Himself	Prince\n
1990	Graffiti Bridge	The Kid	Prince\n
1994	3 Chains o' Gold	Himself	Prince\n

Year	Show	Role	Notes\n
1997	Muppets Tonight	Himself	Episode 11\n
2014	New Girl	Himself	Episode: \"Prince\"\n
2020	Let's Go Crazy: Grammy Salute to Prince	Himself (archive footage)	\n

v t e Prince
\n Albums discography \n Singles discography \n Videography \n Unreleased projects \n Awards and nominations \n Associates \n
Concerts	\n Controversy Tour \n Purple Rain Tour \n Parade Tour \n Nude Tour \n Diamonds and Pearls Tour \n The Ultimate Live Experience \n Jam of the Year World Tour \n Musicology Live 2004ever \n The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London \n Super Bowl XLI halftime show \n 20Ten Tour \n Welcome 2 \n Hit and Run Tour \n Piano & a Microphone Tour \n
Filmography	\n Purple Rain \n Under the Cherry Moon \n Sign o' the Times \n Graffiti Bridge \n
Videography	\n Prince and the Revolution: Live \n Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection \n The Hits Collection \n 3 Chains o' Gold \n Rave Un2 the Year 2000 \n Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas \n
Software	\n Prince Interactive \n
Stage productions	\n Glam Slam Ulysses \n Billboards \n
Associated companies	\n Paisley Park Records \n NPG Records \n
Associated artists and bands	\n The Time \n Vanity 6 \n Dez Dickerson \n The Revolution \n Sheila E. \n Apollonia 6 \n Clare Fischer \n The Family \n Mazarati \n 94 East \n Madhouse \n Jill Jones \n Eric Leeds \n The New Power Generation \n Carmen Electra \n 3rdeyegirl \n
Family	\n Mayte Garcia (first wife) \n Manuela Testolini (second wife) \n John L. Nelson (father) \n Tyka Nelson (sister) \n Mittie Maude Lena Gordon (grand-aunt) \n
Related	\n NPG Music Club \n Minneapolis sound \n Purplish Rain \n

v t e Prince albums
Studio albums	\n For You \n Prince \n Dirty Mind \n Controversy \n 1999 \n Purple Rain \n Around the World in a Day \n Parade \n Sign o' the Times \n Lovesexy \n Batman \n Graffiti Bridge \n Diamonds and Pearls \n Love Symbol \n Come \n The Black Album \n The Gold Experience \n Chaos and Disorder \n Emancipation \n Crystal Ball \n The Truth \n The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale \n Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic \n The Rainbow Children \n One Nite Alone... \n Xpectation \n N\u00b7E\u00b7W\u00b7S \n Musicology \n The Chocolate Invasion \n The Slaughterhouse \n 3121 \n Planet Earth \n Lotusflow3r \n MPLSound \n 20Ten \n Plectrumelectrum \n Art Official Age \n Hit n Run Phase One \n Hit n Run Phase Two \n
Posthumous albums	\n Welcome 2 America \u2020  \n
Demo albums	\n Piano and a Microphone 1983 \u2020  \n Originals \u2020  \n
Live albums	\n One Nite Alone... Live! \n C-Note \n Indigo Nights \n Prince and the Revolution: Live \u2020  \n
Remix albums	\n Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic \n
Compilation albums	\n The Hits/The B-Sides \n Girl 6 \n The Very Best of Prince \n Ultimate \n 4Ever \u2020  \n Anthology: 1995\u20132010 \u2020  \n
The NPG albums	\n Gold Nigga \n Exodus \n Newpower Soul \n
The NPG Orchestra albums	\n Kamasutra \n
Mixtapes	\n The Versace Experience: Prelude 2 Gold \n
Unreleased albums	\n Camille \n Crystal Ball \n Dream Factory \n Other unreleased projects \n
\n \u2020Released posthumously \n

v t e Prince singles
1970s	\n \"Soft and Wet\" \n \"Just as Long as We're Together\" \n \"I Wanna Be Your Lover\" \n
1980s	\n \"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?\" \n \"Still Waiting\" \n \"Sexy Dancer\" \n \"Uptown\" \n \"Dirty Mind\" \n \"Do It All Night\" \n \"Gotta Stop (Messin' About)\" \n \"Controversy\" \n \"Let's Work\" \n \"Do Me, Baby\" \n \"1999\" \n \"Little Red Corvette\" \n \"Delirious\" \n \"Let's Pretend We're Married\" \n \"When Doves Cry\" \n \"Let's Go Crazy\" \n \"Purple Rain\" \n \"I Would Die 4 U\" \n \"Take Me with U\" \n \"Paisley Park\" \n \"Raspberry Beret\" \n \"Pop Life\" \n \"America\" \n \"Kiss\" \n \"Mountains\" \n \"Anotherloverholenyohead\" \n \"Girls & Boys\" \n \"Sign \"O\" the Times\" \n \"If I Was Your Girlfriend\" \n \"U Got the Look\" \n \"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man\" \n \"Alphabet St.\" \n \"Glam Slam\" \n \"I Wish U Heaven\" \n \"Batdance\" \n \"Partyman\" \n \"The Arms of Orion\" \n \"Scandalous!\" \n
1990s	\n \"The Future\" \n \"Thieves in the Temple\" \n \"New Power Generation\" \n \"Gett Off\" \n \"Cream\" \n \"Diamonds and Pearls\" \n \"Money Don't Matter 2 Night\" \n \"Insatiable\" \n \"Thunder\" \n \"Sexy MF\" \n \"My Name Is Prince\" \n \"7\" \n \"Damn U\" \n \"The Morning Papers\" \n \"Pink Cashmere\" \n \"Nothing Compares 2 U\" \n \"Peach\" \n \"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World\" \n \"Letitgo\" \n \"Space\" \n \"Purple Medley\" \n \"I Hate U\" \n \"Gold\" \n \"Dinner with Delores\" \n \"Betcha by Golly Wow!\" \n \"The Holy River\" \n \"The Truth\" \n \"The Greatest Romance Ever Sold\" \n
2000s	\n \"U Make My Sun Shine\" (with Angie Stone) \n \"When Will We B Paid?\" (with Audio Stepchild) \n \"Supercute\" \n \"The Work, pt. 1\" \n \"Days of Wild\" \n \"Controversy (Live in Hawaii)\" \n \"Musicology\" \n \"Cinnamon Girl\" \n \"S.S.T.\" \n \"Te Amo Coraz\u00f3n\" \n \"Black Sweat\" \n \"Fury\" \n \"Guitar\" \n \"F.U.N.K.\" \n \"Dance 4 Me\" \n
2010s	\n \"Rocknroll Loveaffair\" \n \"Breakfast Can Wait\" \n \"Fallinlove2nite\" \n \"Breakdown\" \n \"This Could B Us\" \n \"Free Urself\" \n
Promotional singles	\n \"When You Were Mine\" \n \"Erotic City\" \n \"Nothing Compares 2 U\" \n \"Love Sign\" (with Nona Gaye) \n \"Somebody's Somebody\" \n \"It's About That Walk\" \n \"Call My Name\" \n \"The Song of the Heart\" \n
Internet downloads	\n \"Guitar (original \"demo\" version)\" \n
New Power Generation	\n \"Get Wild\" \n \"The War\" \n \"Come On\" \n
EPs	\n The Beautiful Experience \n NYC \n 1999: The New Master \n
Other songs	\n \"I Feel for You\" \n \"Partyup\" \n \"Private Joy\" \n \"International Lover\" \n \"How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?\" \n \"The Beautiful Ones\" \n \"Computer Blue\" \n \"Darling Nikki\" \n \"Baby I'm a Star\" \n \"17 Days\" \n \"Around the World in a Day\" \n \"Sometimes It Snows in April\" \n \"The Ballad of Dorothy Parker\" \n \"Starfish and Coffee\" \n \"Adore\" \n \"Don't Talk 2 Strangers\" \n \"I Can't Make U Love Me\" \n \"La, La, La Means I Love U\" \n \"One of Us\" \n \"Everyday Is a Winding Road\" \n \"A Case of U\" \n \"Crimson and Clover\" \n \"Moonbeam Levels\" \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France 2 3 BnF data 2 3 Japan Italy Australia Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Latvia Croatia Korea Sweden Poland Israel Finland
Academics	CiNii
Artists	ULAN MusicBrainz 2 3 Grammy Awards Emmy Awards
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	IdRef SNAC

Early life

Career

1975\u20131984: Beginnings and breakthrough

1984\u20131987: Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day and Parade

1987\u20131991: Sign o' the Times, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti Bridge

1991\u20131996: Name change, Diamonds and Pearls and The Gold Experience

1996\u20132000: Emancipation, Crystal Ball and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

2000\u20132007: Musicology and 3121

2007\u20132010: Super Bowl XLI show, Planet Earth and Lotusflower

2010\u20132016: Final albums

Illness and death

Remembrances and reactions

Posthumous projects

2016\u20132019

2020\u2013present

Artistry and legacy

Music and image

Influences and musicianship

Equipment

Legal issues

Pseudonyms

Copyright issues

Personal life

Relationships

Religious beliefs

Political beliefs and activism

Animal rights

Charitable endeavors

Achievements

Discography

Filmography

Tours

Books

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Prince (musician)

Talks

16 October, 1996