PRINCE 1958-

PERSONAL: Born Prince Rogers Nelson; changed name to a symbol representing a union of the international signs for male and female, June 7, 1993 (dropped in May, 2000); born June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, MN; son of John (a jazz musician and electronics worker) and Mattie (a singer; maiden and stage name, Shaw) Nelson; married Mayte Garcia (a dancer), February 14, 1996 (divorced, 2000); children: one son (deceased).

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Redline Entertainment, 7075 Flying Cloud Dr., Eden Prairie, MN 55344.

CAREER: Singer, songwriter, composer, musician, actor, and director. Appeared in films, including (and music producer; as the Kid) Purple Rain, Warner Bros., 1984; Prince and the Revolution LIVE! 1985; (and director; as Christopher Tracy) Under the Cherry Moon, Warner Bros., 1986; (and director, and music arranger, and music producer; as himself) Sign o' the Times (concert film), 1987; (as himself) Rolling Stone Presents Twenty Years of Rock and Roll (also known as Rolling Stone: The First Twenty Years), 1987; (and director, and music director; as the Kid) Graffıti Bridge, Warner Bros., 1990; (as himself) Gett Off (also known as Prince and the New Power Generation: Gett Off), 1991; Prince Unauthorized, 1992; (as Jaeger) Sara-fina! Miramax/Buena Vista, 1992; (and director, and producer; as himself) 3 Chains o' Gold, Warner Reprise Video, 1994; (as himself) The History of Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 5 (also known as The Sounds of Soul), 1995; (as himself) The History of Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 10 (also known as Up from the Underground), 1995; and (as himself) The Rave un2 the Year 2000, 2000.

Director of films, including Under the Cherry Moon, Warner Bros., 1986; (and music arranger and music producer) Sign o' the Times (concert film), 1987; (and music director) Graffıti Bridge, Warner Bros., 1990; (segment director, credited as Paisley Park) "Gangster Glam," Gett Off (also known as Prince and the New Power Generation: Gett Off), 1991; and (and producer, credited as Paisley Park) 3 Chains o' Gold, Warner Reprise Video, 1994.

Producer of films, including (music producer) Purple Rain, Warner Bros., 1984; (song producer) Batman, Warner Bros., 1989; and (and director, and appeared in, credited as Paisley Park) 3 Chains o' Gold, Warner Reprise Video, 1994.

Appeared in television specials, including Saturday Night Live Fifteenth Anniversary, NBC, 1989; The Minneapolis Sound, PBS, 1989; The American Music Awards, ABC, 1990; Victory and Valor: A Special Olympics All-Star Celebration, ABC, 1991; MTV's 1991 Video Music Awards, MTV, 1991; The Sixth Annual Soul Train Music Awards, syndicated, 1992; and Halloween Jam II at Universal Studios, ABC, 1993.

Appeared in episodes of television programs, including (as himself) Talk with Robyne, 1997; and (as himself) Muppets Tonight! ABC.

AWARDS, HONORS: Academy Award for best original song, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1984, for "Purple Rain"; three Grammy Awards, for Purple Rain; voted best songwriter of 1991 by readers of Rolling Stone.

WRITINGS:

songwriter, with others; recordings

For You, Warner Bros., 1978.

Prince, Warner Bros., 1979.

Dirty Mind, Warner Bros., 1980.

Controversy, Warner Bros., 1981.

1999 (includes the song "International Lover"), Warner Bros., 1983.

(With the Revolution) Purple Rain (motion picture soundtrack; includes the song "When Doves Cry"), Warner Bros., 1984.

(With the Revolution) Around the World in a Day, Warner Bros., 1985.

Prince and the Revolution LIVE! (music from the film), 1985.

(With the Revolution) Parade: Music from the MotionPicture "Under the Cherry Moon" (includes the song "Kiss"), Paisley Park/Warner Bros., 1986.

Sign o' the Times (motion picture soundtrack), Paisley Park/Warner Bros., 1987.

Lovesexy, Paisley Park/Warner Bros., 1988.

Batman (motion picture soundtrack), Warner Bros., 1989.

Graffıti Bridge (motion picture soundtrack), Paisley Park 2, 1990.

(With the New Power Generation) Gett Off (also known as Prince and the New Power Generation: Gett Off; music from the film), 1991.

(With the New Power Generation) Diamonds andPearls, Paisley Park, 1991.

(With the New Power Generation) [Symbol], Paisley Park, 1992.

The Hits 1, Paisley Park, 1993.

The Hits 2, Paisley Park, 1993.

The Black Album, Warner Bros., 1994.

Come, Warner Bros., 1994.

Emancipation, NPG Records/EMI, 1996.

Chaos and Disorder, Warner Bros., 1996.

Crystal Ball, NPG Records/EMI, 1998.

RAVE Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Arista, 1999.

The Rave un2 the Year 2000 (music from the film) 2000.

###, 2000.

The Very Best of Prince, Warner Bros., 2001.

The Rainbow Children, Redline, 2001.

One Night Alone Live, NPG, 2002.

Also recorded the song "U Got the Look" with Sheena Easton.

other

Graffıti Bridge (screenplay), Warner Bros., 1990.

Also recorded music for the televison specials "The Sunset Gang," American Playhouse, PBS, 1991; and Miles and Friends, Bravo, 1992; and for the video game Prince Interactive, Graphix Zone, 1994. Songs featured in the soundtracks for several other films. Has written songs for other artists.

SIDELIGHTS: Prince was one of the hottest U.S. singer/songwriters of the 1980s, and his fame continued into the 1990s and beyond. He has long been renowned for pushing the boundaries of popular music, both musically and in terms of content: Prince's music, especially in his earlier works, is an inventive fusion of rock, soul, funk, and rhythm and blues, and his lyrics are often explicitly sexual. During the course of his career, Prince has also founded his own label and recording studio, Paisley Park, and directed and starred in various films.

Prince's first exposure to music came from his parents, father John Nelson, a jazz musician, and mother Mattie, who sometimes sang for Nelson's group. Prince's name actually came from his father's group, the Prince Rogers Trio. By the time he was a teenager, Prince could sing and play guitar, drums, bass, piano, and saxophone. Between ages fourteen and sixteen Prince played with several different bands; at sixteen, he recorded a demo tape and sent it to Warner Bros., who gave him a contract. This tape was notable because Prince played all of the instruments himself, recording each part separately and later combining them.

Prince's most successful album was probably 1984's Purple Rain, which also became the soundtrack for a well-received film of the same name. Purple Rain "featured both his most daring and his most commercially successful work to date," a Contemporary Musicians contributor noted. This was quite a feat, considering that Prince's 1983 album 1999 had included the hit singles "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" and stayed on the charts for two years.

Prince also scored hits with the albums Sign o' the Times and Diamonds and Pearls. The latter is "a collection of musical gems that will enhance his reputation," Nicholas Jennings wrote in Maclean's. However, after that album Prince's career started to slide. He got into a well-publicized contract dispute with his record label, Warner Bros., and in 1993 he dropped his former moniker in favor of an unpronounceable symbol that combined the international signs for male and female. This led to Prince being commonly referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," or occasionally just "The Artist," appellations of which he was not fond. Finally, in 2000, after the contested contract with Warner Bros. completely expired, Prince returned to his original name.

In 2002 Prince released one of his most eclectic albums yet, The Rainbow Children, which features songs inspired by the artist's new faith as a Jehovah's Witness. It is "an ambitious stroll down allegory alley," wrote Down Beat reviewer Jim Macnie, who particularly praised "the natural intricacy of the funk that's boiling over in [the song] 'The Everlasting Now.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 18, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Contemporary Musicians, Volume 40, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2003.

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 37, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

Newsmakers 1995, Issue 4, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1995.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

periodicals

Atlantic Monthly, April, 1992, Francis Davis, review of Diamonds and Pearls, p. 104.

Billboard, September 7, 1991, Thom Duffy, review of Diamonds and Pearls, p. 71; July 11, 1992, Jeff Clark-Meads, review of Sexy M.F., p. 37; July 18, 1992, Melinda Newman, review of Sexy M.F., p. 53; August 22, 1992, Chris Morris, "Prince's New Album Getting 'Dirty'/'Clean' Treatment," p. 89; September 12, 1992, Irv Lichtman, "Prince Enters into New Label, Pub Ventures with Warner," p. 100; September 19, 1992, Ken Terry and Irv Lichtman, "What Are Realities of Prince Deal?" pp. 12-13; October 3, 1992, Deborah Russell, "Four-minute TV Spot Touts New Prince Release," pp. 12-13; October 24, 1992, Havelock Nelson, "WB Rolls out Promo Fit for Prince," pp. 10-11; March 27, 1993, Philip Booth, review of concert with Prince and the New Power Generation, p. 19; May 8, 1993, Paul Verna, "Prince's 'Retirement' Perplexes Trade," pp. 10-11; April 30, 1994, "Prince Looks to East Indies, Opens U.K. Shop," p. 56; May 21, 1994, Marilyn A. Gillen, "Once a Prince, Now King of Rock 'n' Roll CD-ROM," p. 52; August 13, 1994, Chris Morris and Brett Atwood, "Success Symbol: Purple Rain at 11-mil Mark," p. 8-9; March 7, 1998, Ed Christman, review of Crystal Ball, pp. 50-51; September 4, 1999, Michael Paoletta, "The Artist, Arista Ink Licensing Deal," p. 6; November 6, 1999, Larry Flick, "The Artist Steps out on Arista," p. 1, Datu Faisons, "He's Back," p. 35.

Corporate Report—Minnesota, January, 1991, Eric J. Weiffering, "Prince, Never a Pauper," pp. 35-39.

Down Beat, January, 1994, Josef Woodard, review of The Hits/The B-Sides, p. 52; November, 1994, Dan Ouellette, review of When Doves Cry, pp. 45-46; March, 2002, review of The Hot Box, p. 59, Jim Macnie, review of The Rainbow Children, pp. 59-60.

Ebony, January, 1997, Lynn Norment, interview with Prince, pp. 128-131.

Entertainment Weekly, March 20, 1992, "Music," p. 9; September 18, 1992, Jon Bream, "Pretender to the Throne," p. 10; October 23, 1992, Greg Sandow, review of Prince and the New Power Generation, p. 62; April 9, 1993, James Hunter, "The Prince Will See You Now," p. 9; May 14, 1993, David Browne, "Unplugged," p. 7; June 25, 1993, Dave DiMartino and Heidi Siegmund, "A Royal Name Pain," p. 13; September 17, 1993, David Browne, review of The Hits 1 and The Hits 2, pp. 86-87; June 10, 1994, Greg Sandow, review of The Beautiful Experience, p. 65; August 19, 1994, David Browne, review of 1-800-New Funk and Come, p. 60; December 2, 1994, Robert Seiden-berg, "Fit for a Prince," p. 20, David Browne, review of The Black Album, pp. 70-71; March 22, 1996, Steve Futterman, review of Girl 6, p. 75; March 20, 1998, Matt Diehl, review of Crystal Ball, p. 90; December 4, 1998, Rob Brunner, "Partying Shot," p. 14; May 28, 1999, "Master Take: The Artist," p. 94; June 4, 1999, Will Lee, "Sign o' the Time," p. 98; November 1, 1999, "60 Prince: As Freaky, Fiercely Talented Musical Geniuses Go, No One Compares 2 Him," p. 117; November 19, 1999, Chris Willman, review of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, p. 146.

Esquire, March, 1997, Mark Jacobson, profile of Prince, p. 39.

Essence, May, 1998, Audrey Edwards and Karen Thomas, "The 1998 Essence Awards: The Artists," p. 84.

Forbes, September 25, 1995, Lisa Gubernick and Robert La Franco, "'We Can Own,'" pp. 156-158; September 23, 1996, Joshua Levine, interview with Prince, pp. 180-181; January 24, 2000, Daniel Lyons, "A Princely Pact," p. 130.

Graphic Arts Monthly, August, 1994, Michael Karol, "Our Multimedia Prince Has Come," pp. 67-68.

Guitar Player, January 2000, Art Thompson, interview with Prince, p. 86.

Interview, May, 1997, Spike Lee, interview with Prince, pp. 88-91.

Jet, May 24, 1993, "Prince Pulls Plug on Recording," p. 38; June 28, 1993, "Prince Changes Name to Symbol for Male-Female," p. 37; May 23, 1994, "Prince Buys Popular Nightclub in Miami," p. 62; February 5, 1996, "Prince Ends Contract with Warner Bros. Records," p. 36; March 4, 1996, "Prince Marries Dancer-Singer Mayte During Private Ceremony in Minneapolis," p. 14; April 22, 1996, "Prince and Wife Are Expecting Their First Child in November," p. 34; May 19, 1997, review of Emancipation, pp. 56-59; June 30, 1997, "Son of the Artist Formerly Known as Prince Died of Natural Causes," p. 16; June 5, 2000, "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Says He Will Use the Name Prince Once Again," p. 36.

Maclean's, November 18, 1991, Nicholas Jennings, review of Diamonds and Pearls, p. 78; December 16, 1996, Amy Lindon, review of Emancipation, p. 29; May 29, 2000, "My Name Is Prince—Again," p. 61.

Nation, December 10, 1990, Stuart Klawans, review of Graffıti Bridge, p. 744.

Newsweek, May 29, 2000, Bret Begun, "This Week, a Royal Flush," p. 76.

People, November 26, 1990, David Hiltbrand, review of Graffıti Bridge, pp. 15-16; November 2, 1992, David Hiltbrand, review of Prince and the New Power Generation, pp. 26-27; March 7, 1994, "(Unpronounceable Symbol for Name of Rock Star) Had a Purple Reign as Prince," p. 72; August 29, 1994, David Hiltbrand, review of Come, p. 23; September 19, 1994, "Prince," pp. 100-101; October 2, 1995, David Hiltbrand, review of The Gold Experience, pp. 25-26; January 11, 1999, "Annulling," p. 113; January 1, 2000, Steve Doughtery, "Homemade Man: After Years of Partying like It Was 1999, the Artist Once Known as Prince Finds Serenity," pp. 121.

Popular Music, October, 1997, Anne Danielson, review of Diamonds and Pearls, pp. 275-291.

Rolling Stone, January 17, 2002, Arion Berger, review of The Rainbow Children, pp. 50-51; October 21, 2002, "The Greatest Albums Ever Made," p. 154.

Time, November 19, 1990, Jay Cocks, "Still Thriving on Home Turf: Prince Is Not Only on the Minneapolis Scene, He Is the Scene," p. 121; November 2, 1992, Richard Corliss, review of Prince and the New Power Generation, pp. 70-71; May 10, 1993, Ginia Bellafante, "Early Retirement," p. 75; December 12, 1994, David E. Thigpen, review of Black Album, pp. 94-95; February 12, 1996, Belinda Luscombe, "I, Mayte, Take You . . . ," p. 81; November 25, 1996, Christopher John Farley, interview with Prince, pp. 100-101; December 28, 1998, "Prince of Hearts," p. 202; November 15, 1999, Christopher John Farley, review of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, p. 106.

Video Business, August 20, 1991, Eileen Fitzpatrick,

"Video before Album," pp. 1-2.

online

Prince Web site,http://www.npgmusicclub.com/ (June 25, 2003).*PRINCE