Prince (Roger Nelson)

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Prince (Roger Nelson)

Prince (Roger Nelson) , popular solo artist; b. Minneapolis, Minn., June 7, 1958. Along with Michael Jackson and Madonna, Prince was one of the most popular solo artists to emerge in the 1980s. A hugely talented yet erratic and self-indulgent musician, Prince’s work shows the strong influence of rock artist Jimi Hendrix and soul/funk artists such as James Brown, Sly Stone, and George Clinton. Prince fused elements of pop, rock, soul, and funk to produce some of the most influential and best-selling albums of the 1980s. Drawing comparisons to Michael Jackson for his fusion of black and white musical styles, his shattering of racial barriers within the music industry, his ambiguous racial and sexual identity, and his reclusiveness, Prince gained his greatest success with 1984’s film/album Purple Rain.

At age seven Prince took up piano as he was shuttled among relatives following his parents’ separation. By 12 he had begun teaching himself guitar, subsequently mastering drums, bass, piano, and saxophone. While still in junior high school Prince formed with Andre Anderson the band Grand Central, which later evolved into Champagne with Anderson and Morris Day. Years later Anderson recorded as Andre Cymone, scoring a near-smash R&B hit with “The Dance Electric” in 1985. In 1976 Prince recorded demonstration tapes that led to a contract with Warner Bros, that allowed him total control over his recordings. He played all instruments and sang all vocals on his debut album, For You, which yielded a major R&B hit with the sexually suggestive “Soft and Wet.” His penchant for puerile lyrics was confirmed with 1979’s Prince, again self-recorded, which featured “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” a top R&B and major pop hit. Despite receiving virtually no radio airplay of his songs, Prince quickly garnered a rabid following with black audiences and established his sexually explicit image with the appropriately titled Dirty Mind. Staying on the charts for a year, the album contained songs about oral sex (“Head”) and incest (“Sister Sister”) and sparked considerable controversy for its ex-plicitness.

In 1981, under the influence of Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Morris Day formed the black rock band the Time, with bassist Terry Lewis, keyboard players Jimmy “Jam” Harris and Monte Moir, guitarist Jesse Johnson, and drummer Jellybean Johnson. In the mid-1970s Lewis had formed and played bass for the funk band Flyte Tyme in Minneapolis, recruiting Harris for the band in the late 1970s. Backed by the Time, Prince toured in 1981, but performances on the West Coast opening for the Rolling Stones were greeted with catcalls and hurled projectiles. During the year the Time released their debut album on Warner Bros., with Day singing lead vocals, writing all the lyrics, and coproducing the album. It yielded near-smash R&B hits with “Get It Up” and “Cool (Part 1).” In 1982 the Time’s second album, What Time Is It?, yielded two R&B hits, the smash “777–9311” and “The Walk.”

Meanwhile, in late 1981 Warner Bros, issued Prince’s self-created Controversy, which effectively fused elements of funk and rock and produced R&B smashes with the title song and “Let’s Work.” His first crossover hits came from his next album, 1999, which included the R&B smash title cut (a major pop hit) and the pop smashes “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious” (both major R&B hits). The video to “Little Red Corvette” became the first by a black artist to be aired extensively on MTV and helped open the white-dominated cable TV network to blacks. The album remained on the album charts for nearly three years and eventually sold more than three million copies, establishing Prince as one of the most exciting and popular new black performers of the decade. Prince toured again in 1982 with a show replete with stunning effects and grandiose staging, centered around Prince’s provocative sexual persona. However, by 1983 Prince had dismissed the Time and formed the Revolution with guitarist Wendy Melvoin, keyboardists Lisa Coleman and Matt “Dr.” Fink, saxophonist Eric Leeds, and bassist Brownmark.

The Time recorded one more album, Ice Cream Castle, before disbanding in 1984. The album yielded three R&B hits, including “Jungle Love,” also a major pop hit. Jesse Johnson and Morris Day each pursued solo careers. Johnson scored three R&B smashes in 1985 with “Be Your Man,” “Can You Help Me” and “I Want My Girl,” followed by the R&B smashes “Crazay” (with Sly Stone) in 1986 and “Love Struck” in 1988. Day achieved an R&B smash with “The Oak Tree” in 1985 and a top R&B (and major pop) hit with “Fishnet” in 1988. The Time eventually regrouped in 1990, with Day, Johnson, Terry Lewis, Jimmy “Jam” Harris, Monte Moir, Jellybean Johnson, and 1984 member Jerome Benton, Lewis’s half-brother. They scored a top R&B and near-smash pop hit with “Jerk-Out” that year. However, Day subsequently returned to solo recording with 1992’s Guaranteed.

Terry Lewis and Jimmy “Jam” Harris formed their own production company, Flyte Tyme, in 1982, and wrote for and produced various acts beginning in 1983, including Klymaxx (1985’s crossover smash “I Miss You”), the Human League (1986’s crossover smash “Human”), and Robert Palmer (1986’s pop smash “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On”). Their most conspicuous success came writing songs for and producing Janet Jackson. They wrote and produced her breakthrough 1986 Control album, 1989’s Rhythm Nation, and 1993’s janet. All three albums sold more than five million copies, and each produced at least five smash crossover hits. Jam and Lewis also produced Herb Alpert’s 1987 comeback album Keep Your Eyes On Me, the New Edition’s 1988 Heart Break, and the 1992 soundtrack to Mo’ Money.

Prince scored his most spectacular success with the film and soundtrack Purple Rain in 1984. The film featured Patty “Apollonia” Kotero, the lead singer of Apollonia 6, and Morris Day as Prince’s musical and romantic rival; it grossed more than $80 million at the box office. Primarily recorded with the Revolution, the soundtrack sold 11 million copies and produced five hits, including the top pop and R&B hits “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” and the crossover smashes “Purple Rain” and “I Would Die 4 U,” both recorded “live” at the First Avenue Nightclub in Minneapolis. The film, soundtrack, and subsequent arena tour established Prince with white audiences, adolescents in particular, and made him a superstar.

Prince next announced his retirement from live performing and began building the Paisley Park recording studio near Minneapolis, which was completed in 1987. He also formed Paisley Park Records under the auspices of Warner Bros. His first album for the new label, the pretentious and insubstantial Around the World in a Day, yielded smash pop and R&B hits with “Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life.” His third album in less than two years, Parade, was issued on Paisley Park in 1986. The album was taken from the film Under the Cherry Moon, directed by Prince. A conspicuous failure after his popular ascension with Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon was lambasted as silly, vain, lifeless, and sexist. Nonetheless, Parade produced a top pop and R&B hit with “Kiss” (covered by Tom Jones in 1988), the major pop and R&B hit “Mountains,” and the major R&B hit “Anotherloverholenyohead.”

Prince had begun writing and producing for others beginning in 1982 with Vanity 6. The group scored a near-smash R&B-only hit with “Nasty Girl” and launched Vanity (Denise Matthews) on a marginally successful recording and film career. Apollonia 6’s eponymous 1984 debut album contained the major R&B hit “Sex Shooter” from the film Purple Rain, and Chaka Khan scored a top R&B and smash pop hit with his “I Feel for You” that year. The Family, recorrded by former Time members Jerome Benton and Jellybean Johnson, yielded a near-smash R&B hit with “The Screams of Passion” in 1985, the year Prince wrote and coproduced Sheena Easton’s controversial smash pop hit “Sugar Walls” under the name of Alex Nevermind. Prince also wrote the Bangles’ smash 1986 pop hit “Manic Monday” as Christopher. Wendy and Lisa, recorded by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman of the Revolution, produced a minor pop-only hit with “Waterfall” in 1987. Percussionist-vocalist Sheila Escovedo (as Sheila E.), who began touring and recording with Prince in 1986, recorded two modest-selling albums for Paisley Park Records in 1985 and 1987, scoring a major hit in 1986 with Prince’s “A Love Bizarre” from the movie Krush Groove, in which she starred. Mavis Staples toured with Prince in 1988 and recorded Time Waits for No One for Paisley Park in 1989.

By 1987 Prince had dismissed the Revolution and recorded Sign o’ the Times by himself. The album yielded a top R&B and smash pop hit with the title song as well as a pop smash and major R&B hit with “U Got the Look” and two major R&B hits, “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and “Hot Thing,” the flip of the near-smash pop hit “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.” Several months later the concert film Sign o’ the Times debuted to scathing reviews. Prince’s next intended release, the so-called Black Album, was delayed and eventually withdrawn from release. Dark, sinister, and offensive, the album became quite popular as an illegal bootleg album, perhaps by design, and was eventually made available in limited release in late 1994.

Prince mounted his first full-scale American tour in four years in 1988, to support Lovesexy. The tour featured an eight-piece band that included Sheila E. and guitarist Levi Seacer Jr., but the album, his poorest-selling since his debut, produced only one pop hit, the smash “Alphabet Street.” Prince’s slide into commercial oblivion was arrested by 1989’s Batman. Composed, arranged, performed, and produced by Prince, the album featured six songs included in the popular movie, plus three others: “The Arms of Orion,” “Lemon Crush,” and “Batdance.” “Batdance” became a top pop and R&B hit, and “Partyman” became a major pop hit. In early 1990 Sinead O’Connor scored a top pop hit with Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” originally recorded by the Family in 1985. In 1991 Martika achieved a near-smash pop hit with “Love … Thy Will Be Done,” written and produced by Prince.

In 1990 Prince and Morris Day reprised their roles from Purple Rain in the film Grafiti Bridge. The film was deemed another commercial and artistic failure, but the soundtrack album included Prince’s top R&B and smash pop hit “Thieves in the Temple”; Tevin Campbell’s near-smash pop hit “Round and Round” (written and produced by Prince); Mavis Staples’s “Melody Cool”; the George Clinton —Prince duet “We Can Funk”; and four songs by the reunited Time. Prince subsequently formed the New Power Generation with Levi Seacer Jr., keyboardists Tommy Barbarella and Rosie Gaines, and rapper Tony M., among others. Prince and the New Power Generation’s debut album, Diamonds and Pearls, yielded five pop hits, including the top pop hit “Cream,” the top R&B and smash pop hit “Diamonds and Pearls,” and two major pop hits, “Gett Off” and “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night.”

In 1992 Prince renewed his contract with Warner Bros. Records in a deal reportedly worth $100 million. His next album was issued with a combined male-female symbol as its title and yielded four hits but only one major pop hit, the smash “7,” which “sampled” the 1960s soul song “Tramp.” Often referred to as Prince’s “symbol” album or TAFKAP (for “the artist formerly known as Prince”), the album was primarily recorded with the New Power Generation and emphasized elements of rap music. Prince toured briefly in early 1993, but on April 27 he announced his “retirement” from recording and his intention to fulfill his contractual obligation to Warner Bros, with previously recorded material. Two months later, on his 35th birthday, he changed his name to the symbol used on his 1992 album and announced his separation from the New Power Generation. During the year, the renowned Joffrey Ballet utilized his music for its full-length rock ballet Billboards. He had never composed the music he had originally intended for the ballet.

Prince opened several Glam Slam nightclubs in 1993 and New Power Generation retail establishments in 1994. Come, his last album recorded with the New Power Generation and his last recorded before the name change, was issued in 1994, yielding a major R&B and moderate pop hit with “Letitgo.” Dissolving Paisley Park Records, Prince subsequently recorded for NPG/Bellmark and a label using his symbol. “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” became a smash R&B and pop and major easy-listening hit on NPG/Bellmark, and The Beautiful Experience contained seven different mixes of the song.

Discography

EARLY PRINCE: P. for You (19780); P. (1979); Dirty Mind (1980); Controversy (1981); 2999 (1982). THE TIME: The Time (1981); What Time Is It? (1982); Ice Cream Castle (1984); Pandemonium (1990). JESSE JOHNSON: Jesse Johnson’s Revue (1985); Shockadelic (1986); Every Shade of Love (1988). MORRIS DAY: Color of Success (1985); Daydreaming (1988); Guaranteed (1992). PRINCE: Sign o’ the Times (1987); Lovesexy (1988); Batman (soundtrack; 1989); Graffiti Bridge (soundtrack; 1990); The Hits 1 (1993); The Hits 2 (1993); The Hits/ The B-Sides (1993); The Black Album (1994); The Gold Experience (1995); The Beautiful Experience (mini) (1994). PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION: Purple Rain (soundtrack; 1984); Around the World in a Day (1985); Parade (1986). PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION: Diamonds and Pearls (1991); (“TAFKAP”) (1992); Come (1994).