Prince

Prince (musician) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prince

Prince performing in 2008

Background information

Birth name

Prince Rogers Nelson

Also known

Jamie Starr

as

Christopher Alexander Nevermind The Purple One Joey Coco

The artist formerly known as Prince

Born

June 7, 1958 (age 55) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Genres

Funk, R&B, rock, pop, new wave,Minneapolis sound, synthpop

Occupations

Musician, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actor

Instruments

Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, clavinet, drums, percussion, saxophone, harmonica, Linn Drum

Years active

1976–present

Labels

Warner Bros., Paisley Park, NPG,EMI, Columbia, Arista

Associated

The Revolution; Wendy & Lisa

acts

The New Power Generation The Time; Morris Day Sheila E. Vanity 6; Apollonia 6 Mazarati The Family 94 East Madhouse Andy Allo

Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958), known by his mononym Prince, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor. He has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.[1] He has written several hundred songs[2]and produces and records his own music for his own music label.[1] In addition, he has promoted the careers of Sheila E., Carmen Electra, the Time and Vanity 6,[1] and his songs have been recorded by these artists and others, including Chaka Khan, The Bangles,Sinéad O'Connor, and Kim Basinger. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince developed an interest in music at an early age, writing his first song at age seven. After recording songs with his cousin's band 94 East, seventeen-year-old Prince recorded several unsuccessful demo tapes before releasing his debut album, For You, in 1978. His 1979 album, Prince, went

platinum due to the success of the singles "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". His next three records, Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982) continued his success, showcasing Prince's trademark of prominently sexual lyrics and incorporation of elements of funk, dance and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as the Revolution and released the album Purple Rain, which served as the soundtrack to his film debut of the same name. After releasing the albums Around the World in a Day (1985) and Parade (1986), The Revolution disbanded and Prince released the critically acclaimed double album Sign "O" the Times (1987) as a solo artist. He released three more solo albums before debuting theNew Power Generation band in 1991, which saw him changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol known as "The Love Symbol" (

). In 1994, he began

releasing new albums at a faster pace to remove himself from contractual obligations to Warner Bros, releasing five records in a span of two years before signing to Arista Records in 1998. In 2000, he began referring to himself as "Prince" once again. He has released thirteen albums since then, including his latest, 20Ten, released in 2010. Prince has a wide vocal range and is known for his flamboyant stage presence and costumes. His releases have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.[3] He has won seven Grammy Awards,[4] a Golden Globe,[5] and an Academy Award.[6] He was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.[7] Rolling Stone has ranked Prince No. 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. [8] Prince's music has been influenced by rock, R&B, soul, funk, hip hop, blues, new wave, electronica,disco, psychedelia, folk, jazz, and pop.[1] His artistic influences include Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana,[2] Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, theIsley Brothers, Todd Rundgren[9][citation not found]

Duke Ellington,[10] Curtis Mayfield,[11] and Stevie Wonder.[12] Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a

hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and new wave that has influenced many other musicians. [13] Contents [hide]



1 Early life



2 Career

o

2.1 Musical beginnings: 1975–80

o

2.2 Controversy era, 1999 and breakthrough: 1980–84

o

2.3 The Revolution and Purple Rain: 1984–87

o

2.4 Solo again, Sign "O" the Times and spiritual rebirth: 1987–91

o

2.5 The New Power Generation, Diamonds and Pearls and name change: 1991–94

o

2.6 Increased output and The Gold Experience: 1994–2000

o

2.7 Turnaround and Musicology: 2000–05

o

2.8 Move to Universal and 3121: 2005–06

o

2.9 Super Bowl XLI and Planet Earth: 2007–08

o

2.10 LOtUSFLOW3R and beyond: 2008–10

o

2.11 20Ten, rejection of the Internet and Welcome 2: 2010–2012

o

2.12 3rdeyegirl: 2013-present



3 Personal life



4 Stage names



5 Copyright issues



6 Discography

o

6.1 Studio albums



7 Filmography



8 Tours



9 Awards and nominations

o

9.1 Grammy Awards

o

9.2 MTV Video Music Awards



10 See also



11 References



12 Further reading



13 External links

Early life Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw, though his roots are centered in Louisiana with all four of his grandparents hailing from the state.[14][15] Prince's father was a pianist and songwriter and his mother was a jazz singer. Prince was named after his father, whose stage name wasPrince Rogers, and who performed with a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio. In a 1991 interview with A Current Affair, Prince's father said, "I named my son Prince because I wanted him to do everything I wanted to do."[16] Prince's childhood nickname was Skipper.[17] In a PBS interview Prince told Tavis Smiley that he was "born epileptic" and "used to have seizures" when he was young. During the interview Prince also said that "my mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' "[18] Prince's sister Tika Evene (usually called Tyka) was born in 1960.[19] Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, and this was encouraged by their father.[20] Prince wrote his first tune, "Funk Machine" on his father's piano when he was seven.[20] Prince's parents separated when Prince was ten years old. Following their

separation, Prince constantly switched homes: sometimes he lived with his father, and sometimes with his mother and stepfather.[20] Finally he moved into the home of a neighbor, the Andersons, and befriended their son, Andre Anderson, who later became known as André Cymone.[21] Prince and Anderson joined Prince's cousin, Charles Smith, in a band called Grand Central while they were attending Minneapolis's Central High School. Smith was later replaced by Morris Day on the drums. Prince played piano and guitar for the band which performed at clubs and parties in the Minneapolis area. Grand Central later changed its name to Champagne and started playing original music influenced by Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, Miles Davis, Parliament-Funkadelic, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and Todd Rundgren.[9] Prince also played basketball in high school.[22]

Career Musical beginnings: 1975–80 In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, Shauntel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry. Willie hired André Cymone and Prince to record tracks with 94 East. Those songs were written by Willie and Prince contributed guitar tracks. Prince also co-wrote, with Willie, the 94 East song, "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. Prince also recorded, but never released, a song written by Willie, "If You See Me" (also known as, "Do Yourself A Favor"). In 1995, Willie released the album 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning which included original recordings by Prince and Cymone. In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon in Moon's Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Minneapolis businessman Owen Husney. Husney signed Prince, at the age of 17, to a management contract and helped Prince create a demo recording at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis using producer/engineer David Z. The demo recording, along with a press kit produced at Husney's ad agency, resulted in interest from several record companies including Warner Bros. Records, A&M Records, and Columbia Records. With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros.. Warner Bros. agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights.[citation needed] Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California where Prince's first album,For You, was recorded at Record Plant Studios. Subsequently, the album was mixed in Los Angeles and released in on April 7, 1978.[23] According to the For You album notes, Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song "Soft and Wet" which had lyrics co-written by Moon. The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co. to publish his songs. "Soft and Wet" reached No. 12 on the Hot Soul Singleschart and No. 92 on

the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached No.91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

Ticket to Prince's first performance with his band in January 1979

In 1979 Prince created a band which included André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z. on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.[24] In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was No.4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and No.22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". "I Wanna Be Your Lover" sold over a million copies, and reached No.11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No.1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980 on American Bandstand. On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI.[25]

Controversy era, 1999 and breakthrough: 1980–84 In 1980 Prince released the album, Dirty Mind, which he recorded in his own studio. The album was certified gold and the attendant single "Uptown" reached No. 5 on the BillboardDance chart and No. 5 on the Hot Soul Singles charts. Prince was also the opening act for Rick James' 1980 Fire it Up tour. Dirty Mind contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, "Head", and the song "Sister". In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing "Partyup". In October 1981, Prince released the album, Controversy. He played several dates in support of it, at first as one of the opening acts for the Rolling Stones, who were then on tour in the U.S. He began 1982 with a small tour of college towns where he was the headlining act. The songs on Controversy were published by Controversy Music[26] – ASCAP, a practice he continued until the Emancipation album in 1996. Controversy also marked the introduction of Prince's use of abbreviated spelling, such as spelling the words you as U, to as 2, and for as 4, as indicated by the inclusion of the track "Jack U Off". (His earlier song titles had used conventional spelling.[27]) By 2002, MTV.com noted that "[n]ow all of his titles, liner notes and

Web postings are written in his own shorthand spelling, as seen on 1999's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, which featured 'Hot Wit U.'"[28] In 1981, Prince formed a side project band called the Time. The band released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals, with lead vocals by Morris Day.[citation needed] In late 1982, Prince released a double album, 1999, which sold over three million copies.[29] The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit in countries outside the U.S. Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was one of the first two videos by a black artist played in heavy rotation on MTV, along with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".[30] The song "Delirious" also placed in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Revolution and Purple Rain: 1984–87 During this period Prince referred to his band as the Revolution. The band's name was also printed, in reverse, on the cover of 1999 inside the letter "I" of the word "Prince". The band consisted of Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums, Brown Mark on bass, and Dez Dickerson on guitar. Jill Jones, a backing singer, was also part of The Revolution line up for the 1999 album and tour. Following the 1999 Tour, Dickerson left the group for religious reasons. In the 2003 book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, author Alex Hahn says that Dickerson was reluctant to sign a three-year contract and wanted to pursue other musical ventures. Dickerson was replaced by Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend of Coleman. At first the band was used sparsely in the studio but this gradually changed during the mid-1980s.[citation needed] Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The film of the same name won an Academy Award and grossed more than $80 million in the U.S.[31]

Prince performing in Brussels during the Hit N Run Tour in 1986

Songs from the film were hits on pop charts around the world, while "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" reached No.1 and the title trackreached No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100. At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the number one album, single, and film in the U.S.; it was the first time a singer had achieved this feat.[32] Prince won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and the album is ranked 72nd Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[33] The album is included on the list of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums.[34] After Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter Karenna listening to Prince's song "Darling Nikki", she founded the Parents Music Resource Center.[35] The center advocates the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors. The recording industry later voluntarily complied with this request.[36] Of what is considered the Filthy Fifteen Prince's compositions appear no. 1 and no. 2, with the fourth position occupied by his protégée Vanity.[37] In 1985 Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording Around the World in a Day held the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks. In 1986 his album Parade reached No.3 on the Billboard 200 and No.2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss", with the video choreographed by Louis Falco, reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally written for a side project called Mazarati. That same year the song "Manic Monday", which was written by Prince and recorded by The Bangles, reached No.2 on the Hot 100 chart. The album Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon. Prince directed and starred in the movie, which also featured Kristin Scott Thomas. He received the Golden Raspberry Award for his efforts in acting and directing.[38] In 1986, Prince began a series of sporadic live performances called the Hit n Run – Parade Tour. The European tour went to Europe in the summer and ended that September in Japan. After the tour Prince abolished The Revolution, fired Wendy & Lisa and replaced Bobby Z. with Sheila E. Brown Mark quit the band while keyboardist Doctor Fink remained. Prince then recruited new band members Miko Weaver on guitar, Atlanta Bliss on trumpet, Eric Leeds on saxophone, Boni Boyer on keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass and dancer Cat Glover.[citation needed]

Solo again, Sign "O" the Times and spiritual rebirth: 1987–91 Prior to the disbanding of The Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects, The Revolution album Dream Factory and a solo effort, Camille.[39] Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream

Factory included significant input from the band members and even featured a number of songs with lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa,[39] while the Camille project saw Prince create a new persona primarily singing in a sped up, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of The Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball.[40] However, Warner Bros. forced Prince to trim the triple album to a double album and Sign "O" the Times was released on March 31, 1987.[41] The album peaked at No.6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.[41] The first single, "Sign o' the Times", would chart at No.3 on the Hot 100.[42] The follow-up single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" charted poorly at No.67 on the Hot 100, but went to No.12 on R&B chart.[42] The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton, "U Got the Look" charted at No.2 on the Hot 100, No.11 on the R&B chart,[42] and the final single "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" finished at No.10 on Hot 100 and No.14 on the R&B chart.[42] Despite receiving the greatest critical acclaim of any album in Prince's career, including being named the top album of the year by the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and eventually selling 3.2 million copies, album sales steadily declined.[43] In Europe, however, it performed well and Prince promoted the album overseas with a lengthy tour. Putting together a new backing band from the remnants of The Revolution, Prince added bassist Levi Seacer, Jr., Boni Boyer on keyboards, and dancer/choreographer Cat Glover to go with new drummer Sheila E. and holdovers Miko Weaver, Doctor Fink, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and the Bodyguards (Jerome, Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks) for the Sign o' the Times Tour. The tour was a success overseas, with Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanting to bring it to the U.S. to resuscitate sagging sales of Sign "O" the Times;[44][45] however, Prince balked at a full U.S. tour, as he was ready to produce a new album.[44] As a compromise the last two nights of the tour were filmed for release in movie theaters. The film quality was deemed subpar and reshoots were performed at his Paisley Park studios.[44] The film Sign o' the Times was released on November 20, 1987. Much like the album, the film garnered more critical praise than the previous year's Under the Cherry Moon; however, its box office receipts were minimal, and it quickly left theaters.[45] The next album intended for release was to be The Black Album.[46] More instrumental and funk and R&B themed than recent releases,[47] The Black Album also saw Prince experiment with hip hop music on the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It." Prince was set to release the album with a monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number printed, but after 500,000 copies had been pressed,[48] Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled.[49] It would later be released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album in 1994. Prince went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy. Released on May 10, 1988, Lovesexy serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark The Black Album.[50] Every song is a solo effort by Prince, with exception of "Eye No" which was recorded with his backing band at the time, dubbed the "Lovesexy Band" by fans. Lovesexy would reach No.11 on the Billboard 200 and No.5 on the

R&B albums chart.[51] The lead single, "Alphabet St.", peaked at No.8 on the Hot 100 and No.3 on the R&B chart,[41] but finished with only selling 750,000 copies.[52] Prince again took his post-Revolution backing band (minus the Bodyguards) on a three leg, 84-show Lovesexy World Tour; although the shows were well received by huge crowds, they lost money due to the expensive sets and incorporated props.[53][54]

Prince performing during his Nude Tourin 1990

In 1989, Prince appeared on Madonna's studio album Like a Prayer, co-writing and singing the duet "Love Song" and playing electric guitar (uncredited) on the songs "Like a Prayer", "Keep It Together", and "Act of Contrition". He also began work on a number of musical projects, including Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic and early drafts of his Graffiti Bridge film,[55][56] but both were put on hold when he was asked by Batman director Tim Burton to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warner Bros. released on June 20, 1989. Batman peaked at No.1 on the Billboard 200,[57]selling 4.3 million copies.[58] The single "Batdance" topped the Billboard and R&B charts.[41] Additionally, the single "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton charted at No. 36, and "Partyman" (also featuring the vocals of Prince's then-girlfriend, nicknamed Anna Fantastic) charted at No.18 on the Hot 100 and at No.5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad "Scandalous!" went to No.5 on the R&B chart.[41] However, he did have to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to Warner Bros. as part of the deal to do the soundtrack. In 1990, Prince went back on tour with a revamped band for his stripped down, back-to-basics Nude Tour. With the departures of Boni Boyer, Sheila E., the horns, and Cat, Prince brought in Rosie Gaines on keys,

drummer Michael Bland, and dancing trio The Game Boyz (Tony M., Kirky J., and Damon Dickson). The European and Japanese tour was a financial success with its short, greatest hits setlist.[59] As the year progressed, Prince finished production on his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge, and the album of the same name. Initially, Warner Bros. was reluctant to fund the film, but with Prince's assurances it would be a sequel to Purple Rain as well as the involvement of the original members of The Time, the studio greenlit the project.[60] Released on August 20, 1990, the album reached No.6 on theBillboard 200 and R&B albums chart.[61] The single "Thieves in the Temple" reaching No.6 on the Hot 100 and No.1 on the R&B chart.[41]Also from that album, "Round and Round" placed at number 12 on the U.S. charts and Number 2 on the R&B charts. The song featured the teenage Tevin Campbell (who also had a role in the film) on lead vocals. The film, released on November 20, 1990, was a critical and box office flop, grossing just $4.2 million.[62] After the release of the film and album, the last remaining members of The Revolution, Miko Weaver and Doctor Fink, left Prince's band.

The New Power Generation, Diamonds and Pearls and name change: 1991– 94

Prince's Yellow Cloud Guitar at theSmithsonian Castle. Prince can be seen playing this guitar in the "Gett Off" video.

1991 marked the debut of Prince's new band, the New Power Generation. With guitarist Miko Weaver and long-time keyboardist Doctor Fink gone, Prince added bass player Sonny T., Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, and a brass section known as the Hornheads to go along with Levi Seacer (taking over on guitar), Rosie Gaines, Michael Bland, and the Game Boyz. With significant input from his band members, Diamonds and Pearls was released on October 1, 1991. Reaching No.3 on the Billboard 200 album chart,[63] Diamonds and Pearls saw 4 hit singles released in the United States. "Gett Off" peaked at No.21 on the Hot 100 and No.6 on

the R&B charts, followed by "Cream" which gave Prince his fifth U.S. number one single. The title track "Diamonds and Pearls" became the album's third single, reaching No.3 on the Hot 100 and the top spot on the R&B charts. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" peaked at No.23 and No.14 on the Hot 100 and R&B charts respectively.[64] 1992 saw Prince and The New Power Generation release his twelfth album, 'Love Symbol Album', [65] bearing only an unpronounceable symbol on the cover (later copyrighted as Love Symbol #2).[66] The album, generally referred to as the Love Symbol Album, would peak at No.5 on the Billboard 200.[67] While the label wanted "7" to be the first single, Prince fought to have "My Name Is Prince" as he "felt that the song's more hip-hoppery would appeal to the same audience" that had purchased the previous album.[68] Prince got his way but "My Name Is Prince" only managed to reach No.36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.23 on the R&B chart. The follow-up single "Sexy MF" fared worse, charting at No.66 on the Hot 100 and No.76 on the R&B chart. The label's preferred lead single choice "7" would be the album's lone top ten hit, reaching #7. [64] 'Love Symbol Album' would go on to sell 2.8 million copies worldwide.[68]

The unpronounceable symbol (later dubbed "Love Symbol #2")

After two failed attempts in 1990 and 1991,[69] Warner Bros. finally released a greatest hitscompilation with the three-disc The Hits/The B-Sides in 1993. The first two discs were also sold separately as The Hits 1 and The Hits 2. In addition to featuring the majority of Prince's hit singles (with the exception of "Batdance" and other songs that appeared on the Batman soundtrack), The Hitsincludes an array of previously hard-to-find recordings, notably B-sides spanning the majority of Prince's career, as well as a handful of previously unreleased tracks such as the Revolution-recorded "Power Fantastic" and a live recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U" with Rosie Gaines. Two new songs, "Pink Cashmere" and "Peach", were chosen as promotional singles to accompany the compilation album. 1993 also marked the year in which Prince changed his stage name to the Love Symbol (see left), which was explained as a combination of thesymbols for male (♂) and female (♀).[66] In order to use the symbol in print media, Warner Bros. had to organize a mass mailing of floppy disks with a custom font.[70] Because the symbol

had no stated pronunciation, he was often referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", TAFKAP, and "The Artist".

Increased output and The Gold Experience: 1994–2000 In 1994, Prince's attitude towards his artistic output underwent a notable shift. He began to view releasing albums in quick succession as a means of ejecting himself from his contractual obligations to Warner Bros. The label, he believed, was intent on limiting his artistic freedom by insisting that he release albums more sporadically. He also blamed Warner Bros. for the poor commercial performance of the Love Symbol Album, claiming that it was insufficiently marketed by Warner. It was out of these developments that the aborted The Black Album was officially released, approximately seven years after its initial recording and near-release. The "new" release, which was already in wide circulation as a bootleg, sold relatively poorly. Following that disappointing venture, Warner Bros. succumbed to Prince's wishes to release an album of new material, to be entitled Come. When Come was eventually released, it confirmed all of Warner's fears. It became Prince's poorest-selling album to date, struggling to even shift 500,000 copies. Even more frustrating was the fact that Prince insisted on crediting the album to "Prince 1958–1993". Prince pushed to have his next album The Gold Experience released simultaneously with Love Symbol-era material. Warner Bros. allowed the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" to be released via a small, independent distributor, Bellmark Records, in February 1994. The release was successful, reaching No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No.1 in many other countries, but it would not prove to be a model for subsequent releases. Warner Bros. still resisted releasing The Gold Experience, fearing poor sales and citing "market saturation" as a defense. When eventually released in September 1995, The Gold Experience failed to sell well, although it reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 initially, and many reviewed it as Prince's best effort since Sign "O" the Times. The album is now out-of-print. Chaos and Disorder, released in 1996, was Prince's final album of new material for Warner Bros., as well as one of his least commercially successful releases. Prince attempted a major comeback later that year when, free of any further contractual obligations to Warner Bros., he released Emancipation, a 36-song, 3-CD set (each disc was exactly 60 minutes long). The album was released via his own NPG Records with distribution through EMI. To publish his songs on Emancipation, Prince did not use Controversy Music – ASCAP, which he had used for all his records since 1981, but rather usedEmancipated Music Inc.[71] – ASCAP. Certified Platinum by the RIAA, Emancipation is the first record featuring covers by Prince of songs of other artists: Joan Osborne's top ten hit song of 1995 "One of Us";[72] "Betcha by Golly Wow!" (written by Thomas Randolf Bell and Linda Creed);[73] "I Can't Make You Love Me" (written by James Allen Shamblin II and Michael Barry Reid);[74] and "La-La (Means I Love You)" (written by Thomas Randolf Bell and William Hart).[75] Prince released Crystal Ball, a 5-CD collection of unreleased material, in 1998. The distribution of this album was disorderly, with some fans pre-ordering the album on his website up to a year before it was eventually

shipped to them; these pre-orders were eventually delivered months after the record had gone on sale in retail stores. The retail edition has only four discs, as it is missing the Kamasutra disc. There are also two different packaging editions for retail, one being in a 4-disc sized jewel case with a simple white cover and the Love Symbol in a colored circle; the other is all four discs in a round translucent snap jewel case. The discs are the same, as is the CD jacket. The Newpower Soul album released three months later failed to make much of an impression on the charts. His collaboration on Chaka Khan's Come 2 My House, and Larry Graham's GCS2000, both released on theNPG Records label around the same time as Newpower Soul met with the same fate, despite heavy promotion and live appearances on Vibe with Sinbad, and the NBC Todayshow's Summer Concert Series. In 1999, Prince once again signed with a major label, Arista Records, to release a new record, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. In an attempt to make his new album a success, Prince easily gave more interviews than at any other point in his career, appearing on MTV's Total Request Live (with his album cover on the front of the Virgin Megastore, in the background on TRL throughout the whole show), Larry King Live (with Larry Graham) and other media outlets. Nevertheless, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic failed to perform well commercially. A few months earlier, Warner Bros. had also released The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, a collection of unreleased material recorded by Prince throughout his career, and his final recording commitment on his contract with Warner Bros. The greatest success he had during the year was with the EP 1999: The New Master, released in time for Prince to collect a small portion of the sales dollars Warner Bros. had been seeing for the album and singles of the original 1999. The pay-per-view concert, Rave Un2 the Year 2000, was broadcast on December 31, 1999 and consisted of footage from the December 17 and 18 concerts of his 1999 tour. The concert featured appearances by many guest musicians including Lenny Kravitz, George Clinton, Jimmy Russell, and The Time. It was released to home video the following year. A remix album, Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (as opposed to "Un2") was released exclusively through Prince's NPG Music Club in April 2000.

Turnaround and Musicology: 2000–05 On May 16, 2000, Prince ceased using the Love Symbol moniker and returned to using "Prince" again, after his publishing contract with Warner/Chappell expired. In a press conference, he stated that, after being freed from undesirable relationships associated with the name "Prince", he would formally revert to using his real name. Prince still frequently uses the symbol as a logo and on album artwork and continues to play a Love Symbolshaped guitar. For several years following the release of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince primarily released new music through his Internet subscription service, NPGOnlineLtd.com (later NPGMusicClub.com). Two albums that show substantive jazz influence were available commercially at record stores: 2001's The Rainbow Children, and the 2003 instrumental record N.E.W.S which was nominated for a Best Pop Instrumental Album Grammy

Award. Another album of largely jazz-influenced music, Xpectation, was released via download in 2003 to members of the NPGMusicClub. Xpectation is jazz themed along with new age and atmospheric themes. In 2002, Prince released his first live album, One Nite Alone... Live!, which features performances from the One Nite Alone...Tour. The 3-CD box set, which also includes a disc of "aftershow" music entitled It Ain't Over!, failed to chart. During this time, Prince sought to engage more effectively with his fan base via the NPG Music Club, pre-concert sound checks, and at yearly "celebrations" at Paisley Park, his music studios. Fans were invited into the studio for tours, interviews, discussions and music-listening sessions. Some of these fan discussions were filmed for an unreleased documentary, directed by Kevin Smith. Smith discusses what happened during those days at length in his An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD. Performances were also arranged to showcase Prince's talents, as well as to collaborate with popular and well-established artists and guests including Alicia Keys, the Time, Erykah Badu, Nikka Costa, George Clinton, and Norah Jones. On February 8, 2004, Prince appeared at the Grammy Awards with Beyoncé Knowles. In a performance that opened the show, Prince and Knowles performed a medley of "Purple Rain", "Let's Go Crazy", "Baby I'm a Star", and Knowles' "Crazy in Love" to positive reviews. The following month, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The award was presented to him by Alicia Keys along with Big Boi and André 3000 of OutKast. As well as performing a trio of his own hits during the ceremony, Prince also participated in a tribute to fellow inductee George Harrison in a rendering of Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", playing a long guitar solo that ended the song. In addition he performed "Red House" on the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. On February 19, The Tavis Smiley Show broadcast included a performance of "Reflection" from Prince's Musicology album. Prince was accompanied by Wendy Melvoin, formerly of The Revolution. In April 2004, Prince released Musicology through a one-album agreement with Columbia Records. The album rose as high as the top five on a number of international charts (including the U.S, UK, Germany and Australia). The U.S. chart success was assisted by the CD being included as part of the concert ticket purchase, and each CD thereby qualifying (as chart rules then stood) towards U.S. chart placement. Musicology is R&B and soul themed along with funk, pop, quiet storm, and rock. Three months later, Spinnamed him the greatest frontman of all time.[76] That same year, Rolling Stone magazine named Prince as the highest-earning musician in the world, with an annual income of $56.5 million,[77] largely due to his Musicology Tour, which Pollstar named as the top concert draw among musicians in U.S. The artist played an impressive run of 96 concerts; the average ticket price for a show was U.S.$61. Further highlighting the success of the album, Prince's Musicology went on to receive two Grammy wins, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Call My Name" and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the title track. Musicology was also nominated for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album, while "Cinnamon Girl" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The album became the artist's most

commercially successful since Diamonds and Pearls, partly due to a radical scheme devised which included in Billboard's sales figures those that were distributed to each customer during ticket sales for the Musicology tour, with concert figures accounting for 25% of the total album sales.[78] Rolling Stone magazine has ranked Prince No.27 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[8] In April 2005, Prince played guitar (along with En Vogue singing backing vocals) on Stevie Wonder's single "So What the Fuss", Wonder's first since 1999.[79] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, Prince offered a personal response by recording two new songs, "S.S.T." and the instrumental "Brand New Orleans", at Paisley Park in the early hours of September 2. Prince again performed all instrumental and vocal parts. These recordings were quickly dispersed to the public via Prince's NPG Music Club, and "S.S.T." was later picked up by iTunes, where it reached No.1 on the store's R&B chart. On October 25, Sony Recordsreleased a version of the single on CD.

Move to Universal and 3121: 2005–06 In late 2005 Prince signed with Universal Records to release his album, 3121, on March 21, 2006 (3/21). The first single was the Latin-tinged "Te Amo Corazón", the video for which was directed by actress Salma Hayek and filmed in Marrakech, Morocco, featuring Argentine actress and singer Mía Maestro. The video for the second single, "Black Sweat", was nominated at the MTV VMAs for Best Cinematography. The immediate success of 3121 gave Prince his first No.1 debut on the Billboard 200 with the album. To promote the new album, Prince was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 4, 2006, seventeen years after his last SNL appearance on the 15th anniversary special and nearly 25 years since his first appearance on a regular episode in 1981, making Prince the only SNL musical guest to have that long of a gap between appearances. He performed two songs from the album, "Fury" and "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed", with Támar. Prince also held a contest to win a trip to see a 'Purple Ticket Concert' at his private residence in Hollywood, California. Seven winning tickets were placed inside 3121 CD packages in the U.S., and other tickets were given away in various contests on the Internet and around the world. On May 6, 2006, twenty-four prize winners (with a guest each) attended a star-studded private party and performance at Prince's home. On June 12, 2006, Prince received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his "visionary" use of the Internet; Prince was the first major artist to release an entire album, 1997's Crystal Ball, exclusively on the Internet (although he did take phone orders for it as well...1-800-NEW-FUNK). Only weeks after winning a Webby Award, Prince abruptly shut down his then-official NPG Music Club website at 12:00 am on July 4, 2006 after over five years of operation. The NPG Music Club sent out an email, claiming that "in its current 4m there is a feeling that the NPGMC gone as far as it can go. In a world without limitations and infinite possibilities, has the time come 2 once again make a leap of faith and begin anew? These r ?s we

in the NPG need 2 answer. In doing so, we have decided 2 put the club on hiatus until further notice." On the day of the music club's shutdown, a lawsuit was filed against Prince by the British company HM Publishing (owners of the Nature Publishing Group, also NPG). Despite these events occurring on the same day, Prince's attorney has called it pure coincidence and stated that the site did not close due to the trademark dispute. [80] Prince appeared at multiple award ceremonies in 2006. On February 15, 2006, Prince performed at the BRIT Awards along with Wendy & Lisa and Sheila E. He played "Te Amo Corazón" and "Fury" from 3121 and "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy" from Purple Rain. On June 27, 2006, Prince appeared at the BET Awards, where he was awarded Best Male R&B Artist. In addition to receiving his award, Prince performed a medley of Chaka Khan songs for Khan's BET Lifetime Award. Prince had previously written and performed several songs with the singer. In November 2006, Prince was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, appearing to collect his award but not performing. Also in November 2006, Prince opened a nightclub named 3121 in Las Vegas at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. He performed weekly on Friday and Saturday nights until April 2007, when his contract with the Rio ended. On August 22, 2006, Prince released Ultimate Prince. The double disc set contains one CD of previous hits, and another of extended versions and mixes of material that had largely only previously been available on vinyl record B-sides. Prince wrote and performed a song for the hit 2006 animated film Happy Feet. The song, entitled "The Song of the Heart", appears on the film's soundtrack, which also features a cover of Prince's earlier hit "Kiss", sung by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. In January 2007, "The Song of the Heart" won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.[81] Prince arrived late, apparently due to traffic problems, and thus was unable to make an acceptance speech, but actor Hugh Grant prompted him later in the ceremony to take a bow.

Super Bowl XLI and Planet Earth: 2007–08

Prince's stage set for the Earth Tour in 2007

On February 2, 2007, Prince played at the Super Bowl XLI press conference. He and the band played a set comprising Chuck Berry's hit, "Johnny B. Goode", "Anotherloverholenyohead" from Parade and "Get On the Boat" from 3121. Prince performed at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in Miami, Florida on February 4, 2007. The performance consisted of three Purple Rain tracks ("Let's Go Crazy", "Baby I'm a Star" and the title track), along with cover versions of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan, theFoo

Fighters song "Best of You" and "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Coincidentally, Miami had rain on the day of the Super Bowl, which was lit purple during the performance of "Purple Rain". He played on a large stage shaped as his symbol. The event was carried to 140 million television viewers, the largest audience of his life. On February 4, 2010, Billboard.com ranked the performance as the greatest Super Bowl performance ever.[82] Prince played 21 concerts in London during the summer of 2007. The Earth Tour included 21 nights at the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena, with Maceo Parker in his band. Tickets for the O2 Arena were priced at £31.21 (including a free copy of Prince's latest album), in order to make the concerts "affordable for everybody". The residency at the O2 Arena was increased to 15 nights after all 140,000 tickets for the original seven sold out in just 20 minutes.[83] It was then further extended to 21 nights.[84] On May 10, 2007, Prince performed a 'secret' gig at London's KOKO in front of a small crowd of fans and celebrities. Tickets went on sale that morning on a first-come-first-served basis (again at £31.21). A prelude to the forthcoming summer gigs in London, Prince played a relaxed set of classic hits ("Kiss", changing the lyric from "You don't have to watchDynasty" to Desperate Housewives, "Girls & Boys", and "Nothing Compares 2 U") alongside more recent tracks, plus a well-received cover version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". Prince made an appearance at the 2007 ALMA Awards, performing with Sheila E. in June 2007. On June 28, 2007, the UK national newspaper the Mail on Sunday revealed that it had made a deal to give Prince's new album, Planet Earth, away for free with an "imminent" edition of the paper, making it the first place in the world to get the album. This move sparked controversy among music distributors and also led the UK arm of Prince's distributor, Sony BMG, to withdraw from distributing the album in UK stores.[85] The UK's largest high street music retailer, HMV, decided to stock the paper on release day due to the giveaway. Planet Earth is rockoriented along with disco, and other various music styles. On July 7, 2007 Prince returned to his hometown of Minneapolis to perform three shows in what was unofficially declared Prince Day in Minnesota. He performed concerts at theMacy's Auditorium (to promote his new perfume "3121") on Nicollet Mall, the Target Center arena, and First Avenue.[86] It was the first time he had played at First Avenue (the club appeared in the film Purple Rain) since 1987.[87]

Prince playing with Maceo Parker in the O2

On April 25, 2008, Prince performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he debuted a new song, "Turn Me Loose". Days after, he headlined the Coachella Festival 2008. Prince was paid more than $5 million for his performance at Coachella, according to Reuters.[88] Prince cancelled a concert, planned at Dublin's Croke Park on June 16, 2008, at just 10 days' notice. In October 2009 promoters MCD Productions went to court to sue Prince for €1.6 million, after paying him $1.5 million, half his agreed fee of $3 million for the concert. MCD claim they had to refund 55,126 tickets purchased and its total losses exceeded $1.66 million. Prince's lawyers argued the MCD claim was "greatly inflated".[89][90] Prince settled the case out of court in February 2010 for $2.95 million.[91][92] During the trial, it was revealed that Prince had been offered $22 million for seven concerts as part of a proposed 2008 European tour.[93] In October 2008, Prince released a live album entitled Indigo Nights, as well as 21 Nights, an accompanying book of poems, lyrics and photos. The book chronicled his record-breaking tenure at London's O2 Arena in 2007, while the album is a collection of songs performed live at aftershows in the IndigO2.

LOtUSFLOW3R and beyond: 2008–10

Prince at the Coachella Festival in 2008

On December 18, 2008, Prince premiered four songs from his new album on LA's Indie rock radio station Indie 103.1.[94] The radio station's programmers Max Tolkoff and Mark Sovel had been invited to Prince's home to hear the new rock oriented music. Prince then surprised the two by giving them a CD with 4 songs to premiere on their radio station. The music debuted the next day on Jonesy's Jukebox, hosted by Sex Pistol Steve Jones.[95] The music comprised a cover of "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells, together with "Colonized Mind", "Wall of Berlin" and "4ever". The same day, another new Prince composition entitled "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me" premiered on the now obsolete and defunct website, mplsound.com — replacing a shorter, instrumental version of the song which streamed several days previously.

On January 3, 2009, a new website LotusFlow3r.com was launched, streaming some of the recently aired material ("Crimson and Clover", "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me" and "Here Eye Come") and promising opportunities to listen to and buy music by Prince and guests, watch videos and buy concert tickets for future events. On January 31, Prince released two more songs on LotusFlow3r.com: "Disco Jellyfish", and "Another Boy". "Chocolate Box", "Colonized Mind", and "All This Love" have since been released on the website. Prince released a triple album set containing LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND, and an album credited to his new protégé, Bria Valente, called Elixer, on March 24, 2009, followed by a physical release on March 29. The release was preceded by performances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It was released in other countries digitally, with official physical release dates yet to be announced. The album peaked at No.2 on the Billboard 200, and critics' opinions were mixed to positive. On July 18, 2009, Prince performed two shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival, being backed by the New Power Generation including Rhonda Smith, Renato Neto and John Blackwell. There he played "A Large Room with No Light" which had been in Prince's "vault" for some time. On October 11, 2009, Prince gave two surprise concerts at the glass-and-iron Grand Palais exhibition hall after visiting the landmark Paris building on the banks of the Seine.[96] On October 12, he gave another surprise gig at La Cigale. On October 24, Prince played a concert at his own Paisley Park complex in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[97]

20Ten, rejection of the Internet and Welcome 2: 2010–2012 In January 2010, Prince wrote a new song, "Purple and Gold", inspired by his visit to a Minnesota Vikings football game against the Dallas Cowboys.[98] The song is a simple, drumline-driven track. The following month, Prince let Minneapolis-area public radio station 89.3 The Current premiere his new song "Cause and Effect" as a gesture in support of independent radio.[99] In a poll by BBC Radio 6 Music listeners in April 2010, Prince was ranked the eighth-best guitarist of the previous 30 years.[100] Prince was also listed in TIME magazine's 2010 annual ranking of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".[101] Prince released a new single on Minneapolis radio station 89.3 The Current called "Hot Summer" on June 7, his 52nd birthday. Also in June, Prince appeared on the cover of the July 2010 issue of Ebony,[102] and he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 BET Awards.[103] Prince released his album 20Ten in July 2010 as a free covermount with publications in the UK, Belgium, Germany, and France.[104] Prince has refused access to the album to digital download services. He also closed his official website, LotusFlow3r.com. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Prince said, "The Internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an

advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it... Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."[105] On July 4, 2010 Prince began his 20Ten Tour, a concert tour in two legs with shows in Europe. The second leg began on October 15[106] and ended with a concert following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 14.[107] The second half of the tour has a new band, John Blackwell, Ida Kristine Nielsen, and Sheila E.[108] Prince let Europe 1 debut the snippet of his new song "Rich Friends" from the "new" album 20Ten Deluxe on October 8, 2010.[109] Prince started the Welcome 2 Tour on December 15, 2010.[110] Prince was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame on December 7, 2010.[111] On February 12, 2011, Prince presented Barbra Streisand with an award and donated $1.5 million to charities.[112] On the same day, it was reported that he was unimpressed about Glee covering his hit "Kiss", and that he had not authorised this.[113] On the May 18, 2011, it was announced that Prince would be headlining Hop Farm Festival on July 3, 2011, marking his first UK show since 2007 and his first ever UK festival appearance. [114] Despite having previously rejected the Internet for music distribution, on November 24, 2011 Prince re-released a reworked version of the previously unreleased song "Extraloveable" through both iTunes and Spotify.[115][116][117] Purple Music, a Switzerland based record label released a CD single "Dance 4 Me" on Dec 12, 2011 as part of a club remixes package including Bria Valente CD single "2 Nite" released on February 23, 2012. The CD features club remixes by Jamie Lewis and David Alexander, produced by Prince. [118][119]

3rdeyegirl: 2013-present In January 2013, Prince released a lyric video for a new song called "Screwdriver".[120] A couple of months later in April 2013, Prince announced a short West Coast tour with 3rdeyegirl as his backing band. [121] The final two dates of the tour were in Minneapolis where former Revolution drummer Bobby Z. sat in as guest drummer on both shows.[122] In May, Prince announced a deal with Kobalt Music to market and distribute his music. [123] On 14 August 2013, Prince officially sent his first tweet through the 3RDEYEGIRL Twitter account which saw the followers of the account jump from just over 10,000 to nearly 150,000 in less than 48 hours. [124] The same day, he released a new solo single for exclusive download through the 3RDEYEGIRL.com website. [125] The single "Breakfast Can Wait" received attention for its cover art, featuring comedian Dave Chappelle's notable impersonation of the singer in a sketch on the 2000s Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show.[126]

Personal life Prince resides near Minneapolis, Minnesota.[127] Over the years Prince has been romantically linked with many celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Madonna, Vanity, Sheila E.,Carmen Electra, Susanna Hoffs, Anna Fantastic,[16] Sherilyn Fenn,[128] and Susan Moonsie of Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6.[19] Prince was engaged

to Susannah Melvoin in 1985.[129]He married his backup singer and dancer, Mayte Garcia, on Valentine's Day, 1996. They had a son, Boy Gregory (born October 16, 1996), who was born with Pfeiffer syndrome and died a week after birth.[130] Prince and Mayte divorced in 1999. In 2001, Prince married Manuela Testolini in a private ceremony. Testolini filed for divorce in May 2006.[131] He also had a short-term relationship with protégée Bria Valente in 2007.[105] Prince became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001 following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah's Witness, musician Larry Graham. Prince said he didn't consider it a conversion, but a "realization"; "It's like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix", he explained. He attends meetings at a local Kingdom Hall and occasionally knocks on people's doors to discuss his faith.[132] Prince has reportedly needed doublehip-replacement surgery since 2005 but won't undergo the operation unless it is a bloodless surgerybecause Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions.[133] The condition is rumored to be aggravated by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots.[134] However, when Prince was interviewed in 2010, journalist Peter Willis said he believed the rumors of Prince needing double hip surgery to be unfounded and untrue as Prince appeared to be agile.[105] Prince is a vegetarian. In 2006 he was voted the "world's sexiest vegetarian" in PETA's annual online poll.[135] The liner notes for his album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic featured a message about the cruelty involved in wool production.[136]

Stage names In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows: The first step I have taken toward the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to the Love Symbol. Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros... I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.[137] Prince is a trademark owned by Paisley Park Enterprises Inc. It was initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2005 in the categories of printed materials, clothing, electronic commerce,

and entertainment services based on first commercial in 1978.[138] Various searches to the USPTO did not find any registrations or transfers of "Prince" or related names by Warner Bros. In 1991, PRN Music Corporation assigned the trademarks Prince, The Time, Paisley Park, New Power Generation, andPrince and the Revolution to Paisley Park Enterprises.[139] Prince has used pseudonyms to separate himself from the music (either his own or that of others) for which he has had input; "I was just getting tired of seeing my name," he said, "If you give away an idea, you still own that idea. In fact, giving it away strengthens it. Why do people feel they have to take credit for everything they do? Ego, that's the only reason."[140] These pseudonyms include: Jamie Starr and The Starr Company (for the songs he wrote for the Time and many other artists from 1981–1984),[141][142] Joey Coco(for many unreleased Prince songs in the late 1980s, as well as songs written for Sheena Easton & Kenny Rogers),[143] Paisley Park (occasionally used in the early 1990s for his production credits on songs, including those written for Martika and Kid Creole),[144] Alexander Nevermind (for writing the 1984 song "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton),[145] andChristopher (used for his song writing credit of "Manic Monday" for the Bangles).[146]

Copyright issues On September 14, 2007, Prince announced that he was going to sue YouTube and eBay because they "are clearly able [to] filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success." Web Sheriff, the international Internet policing company he hired, told Reuters: "The problem is that one can reduce it to zero and then the next day there will be 100 or 500 or whatever. This carries on ad nauseam at Prince's expense."[147][148] In October 2007, Stephanie Lenz filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group, claiming they were abusing copyright law, after the music publisher had YouTube take down Lenz's home movie in which the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy" played faintly in the background.[149] On November 5, 2007, several fan sites of Prince formed "Prince Fans United" to fight back against legal requests they claim Prince made to cease and desist all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness.[150] While Prince's lawyers claimed that the use of such representations constituted copyright infringement, the Prince Fans United claimed that the legal actions were "attempts to stifle all critical commentary about Prince." A few days later, Prince released a statement denying the fansites' claims, stating "The action taken earlier this week was not to shut down fansites, or control comment in any way. The issue was simply to do with in regards to copyright and trademark of images and only images, and no lawsuits have been filed." The statement from AEG, Prince's promoter, asserted that the only "offending items" on the three fansites were live shots from Prince's 21 nights in London at the O2 Arena earlier in the year.[151]

On November 8, 2007, Prince Fans United received a song named "PFUnk", providing a kind of "unofficial answer" to their movement. The song, originally debuted on the PFU main site,[152] was retitled "F.U.N.K." and is available on iTunes. On November 14, 2007, it was reported that the satirical website b3ta.com had pulled their "image challenge of the week" devoted to Prince after legal threats from the star under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. B3ta co-founder Rob Manuel wrote on the site: "Under threat of legal action from Prince's legal team of 'potential closure of your web site' – We have removed the Prince image challenge and B3ta apologizes unreservedly to AEG / NPG and Prince for any offence caused. We also ask our members to avoid photoshopping Prince and posting them on our boards.[153] At the 2008 Coachella Music Festival, Prince performed a cover of Radiohead's "Creep", but immediately after he forced YouTube and other sites to remove footage that fans had taken of the performance, despite Radiohead's demand for it to remain on the website.[154] Days later, YouTube reinstated the videos, while Radiohead claimed "it's our song, let people hear it". In 2009, Prince put the video of that Coachella performance on his then-official website LotusFlow3r.com. In 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation granted to Prince the inaugural "Raspberry Beret Lifetime Aggrievement Award",[155] a reference to resentment of parties who allege unfair treatment and misuse of copyright claims by the artist and his lawyers.[156]

Discography Main articles: Prince albums discography and Prince singles discography

Studio albums 

For You (1978)



Prince (1979)



Dirty Mind (1980)



Controversy (1981)



1999 (1982)



Purple Rain (1984)



Around the World in a Day (1985)



Parade (1986)



Sign "O" the Times (1987)



Lovesexy (1988)



Batman (1989)



Graffiti Bridge (1990)



Diamonds and Pearls (1991)



Love Symbol Album



Come (1994)



The Black Album (1994)



The Gold Experience (1995)



Chaos and Disorder (1996)



Emancipation (1996)



Crystal Ball (1998)



Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)



The Rainbow Children (2001)



One Nite Alone... (2002)



Xpectation (2003)



N.E.W.S (2003)



The Chocolate Invasion (2004)



The Slaughterhouse (2004)



Musicology (2004)



3121 (2006)



Planet Earth (2007)



Lotusflow3r / MPLSound (2009)



20Ten (2010)

(1992)

Filmography Year

Film

Role

1984

Purple Rain

1986

Under the Cherry Moon Christopher Tracy

1987

Sign o' the Times

Himself

1990

Graffiti Bridge

The Kid

Tours

The Kid



Prince Tour (1979–80)



Dirty Mind Tour (1980–81)



Controversy Tour (1981–82)



1999 Tour (1982–83)



Purple Rain Tour (1984–85)



Parade Tour (1986)



Sign o' the Times Tour (1987)



Lovesexy Tour (1988–89)



Nude Tour (1990)



Diamonds and Pearls Tour (1992)



Act I and II (1993)



The Ultimate Live Experience (1995)



Gold Tour (1996)



Love 4 One Another Charities Tour (1997)



Jam of the Year Tour (1997–98)



New Power Soul Tour/Festival (1998)



Hit n Run Tour (2000–01)



A Celebration (2001)



One Nite Alone... Tour (2002)



2003–2004 World Tour (2003–04)



Musicology Live 2004ever (2004)



Per4ming Live 3121 (2006–07)



21 Nights in London: The Earth Tour (2007)



20Ten Tour (2010)



Welcome 2 (2010–12)



Live Out Loud Tour w/3rdeyegirl (2013)

Awards and nominations Grammy Awards Earning 33 nominations, Prince has won seven Grammys. He also has had two albums − 1999 and Purple Rain − awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Year

Nominated work

Award category

Result

1984 "International Lover"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Nominated

Purple Rain

Album of the Year

Nominated

Purple Rain

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Won

Purple Rain

Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

Won

"I Feel for You"

Best R&B Song

Won

"Kiss"

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Won

"Kiss"

Best R&B Song

Nominated

Sign "O" the Times

Album of the Year

Nominated

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Nominated

"U Got the Look"

Best R&B Song

Nominated

Batman

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Nominated

"Batdance"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Nominated

1991 "Nothing Compares 2 U"

Song of the Year

Nominated

1992 "Gett Off"

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Nominated

1993 "Diamonds and Pearls"

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Nominated

1985

1987

1988 "U Got the Look"

1990

1995

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance World"

Nominated

"Eye Hate U"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Nominated

The Gold Experience

Best R&B Album

Nominated

Best Pop Instrumental Album

Nominated

"Cinnamon Girl"

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Nominated

"Call My Name"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Won

1996

2004 N.E.W.S.

2005 "Call My Name"

Best R&B Song

Nominated

"Musicology"

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance

Musicology

Best R&B Album

Nominated

"Black Sweat"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Nominated

"Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

2007 "3121"

Won

Nominated

Best Urban/Alternative Performance

Nominated

"Black Sweat"

Best R&B Song

Nominated

3121

Best R&B Album

Nominated

2008 "Future Baby Mama"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Won

"The Song of the Heart"

2010 "Dreamer"

Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

Nominated

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance

Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) is an award show by cable network MTV to honor the top music videos of the year. It was first held in September 1984 and was originally meant as an alternative to the Grammy Awards in the video category. Prince has won four awards from twelve nominations throughout his career.

Year Nominated work

Award category

Result

1985 "When Doves Cry" Best Choreography in a Video

Nominated

1986 "Raspberry Beret" Best Choreography in a Video

Won

Best Male Video

Won

Best Stage Performance in a Video

Won

1988 "U Got the Look" Best Choreography in a Video

Nominated

Best Editing in a Video

Nominated

1989 "I Wish U Heaven" Best Special Effects in a Video

Nominated

1990 "Batdance"

Best Video from a Film

Nominated

1992 "Cream"

Best Dance Video

Won

1993 "7"

Best R&B Video

Nominated

2004 "Musicology"

Best Male Video

Nominated

2006 "Black Sweat"

Best Cinematography in a Video

Nominated

See also

As any great king would do, Prince constructed his temple with lots of personal and hidden room. This consist of the many unreleased projects that he had done in his life. Unreleased Prince projects From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (September 2012) This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (November 2012)

Prince is well known in the entertainment industry for having a vast body of works that have never seen the light of day. It has been said that his vault contains over 50 fully produced music videos that have never been released, along with albums and other media. The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most

prominent and notorious of these unreleased works. They were later released and circulated among collectors as bootlegs. Contents [hide]



1 The Rebels



2 The Second Coming



3 The Flesh



4 Prince and the Revolution: Dream Factory



5 Camille



6 Crystal Ball



7 Madhouse: 24

o

7.1 1989 album configuration

o

7.2 1994 album configuration



8 Sheila E.: Untitled 1989 album



9 The Time: Corporate World



10 Rave unto the Joy Fantastic

o

10.1 27 October 1988 configuration

o

10.2 27 November 1988 configuration

o

10.3 Mid-January 1989 configuration



11 Flash



12 The Tora Tora Experience



13 The Undertaker



14 Heart



15 "Live"



16 The Live Experience



17 Prince and Mayte: Happy Tears



18 The Dawn

o

18.1 Tracks believed to have been included on the 1994 album

o

18.2 Tracks believed to have been included on the 1996/1997 album



19 Mayte: Scorpio



20 Prince and the Revolution: Roadhouse Garden



21 Newfunk sampling CD series



22 Crystal Ball 2

o

22.1 DVD



23 When 2 R in Love: The Ballads of Prince



24 The Hot X-perience



25 High



26 NPG: Peace



27 Untitled Kevin Smith-directed documentary



28 Madrid 2 Chicago



29 In All My Dreams



30 Last December



31 The Very Best of O(+>



32 The Chocolate Invasion



33 3121 film



34 Támar: Milk & Honey



35 References



36 External links

The Rebels[edit] Before Prince formed The Time, he considered using his backing band as a side-project called The Rebels. The 1979 project was a group effort, with songs being written and sung by the various members. Andre Cymone and Dez Dickerson each contributed material and a few numbers were sung by Gayle Chapman. Instead of making something that sounded similar to his R&B solo output, Prince wanted go into more rock elements of songs such like "I'm Yours" and "Bambi". The project was eventually shelved feeling that the whole thing sounded too generic,[1] but two of the songs composed by Prince were re-recorded and released much later: "If I Love U 2 Night" by Mica Paris (and later by Prince's wife-to-be Mayte Garcia) and "U" by Paula Abdul. The original Prince guide vocal for "If I Love U 2 Nite" appeared by mistake on the rare Mica Paris Stand for Love EP, of which only a handful exist.

The Second Coming[edit] The Second Coming was planned to be a documentary film and live album from Prince's Controversy Tour directed by Chuck Statler, that was shot on the 7 March, 1982 concert atBloomington, Minnesota. The tour was professionally filmed, with a storyline in-between songs, but the project was abandoned, likely due to Prince's schedule producing The Timeand Vanity 6. The title comes from a prerecorded a cappella intro to the tour, immediately preceding the song "Uptown". Setlist of the 7 March 1982 show at the Met Center, Bloomington, MN, USA

1. Intro: "The Second Coming" 2. "Uptown" 3. "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" 4. "When You Were Mine" 5. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" 6. "Head" 7. "Annie Christian" 8. "Dirty Mind" 9. "Do Me, Baby" 10. "Controversy" 11. "Let's Work" 12. "Jack U Off" 13. "Private Joy"

The Flesh[edit] The Flesh was a project of live jam sessions recorded in late 1985 to early 1986. The project was abandoned when Prince began work on Parade although a small instrumental portion of a track called "Junk Music" made it into the film Under the Cherry Moon. A circulating outtake from these sessions is titled "U Got 2 Shake Something". Track listing Side one



"Junk Music"

Side two



"Up from Below"



"Y'All Want Some More?"



"A Couple of Miles"

The Flesh was a kind of precursor to Madhouse. All the tracks were jazz-funk instrumentals. The songs were recorded in 3 sessions soon after Christmas 1985 at Sunset Sound. The first session was on December 28th '85. Prince, Eric Leeds, Sheila E. & Levi Seacer Jr. recorded 8 tracks: Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Calonic 12 Keys Prince was so pleased with the results that they all returned to the studio 2 days later to record another 3 tracks: U Gotta Shake Something Voodoo Who Finest Whiskey

On January 5th '86, Prince, Eric, Sheila & Levi returned to the studio once more, this time with Wendy & Lisa, and Wendy's brother, Jonathan Melvoin. They recorded another 6 tracks: Groove In C Minor Slow Groove In G Major Groove In G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More On January 22nd '86 Prince assembled an album by "The Flesh" entitled "Junk Music" which consisted of the following tracks: side one; Junk Music side two; Up From Below Y'all Want Some More A Couple Of Miles Junk Music was originally about 45 minutes long, but was edited down to 20 minutes for the album. A Couple Of Miles was an instrumental that Prince recorded on December 26th '85 (he also recorded Can I Play With U in the same session), Eric Leeds added some Saxophone to it on December 30th. The album was shelved due to the fact that Prince's time was taken up with other projects (Under The Cherry Moon, Parade & The Family). Prince liked the idea of releasing an instrumental jazz-funk album under a pseudonym. He finally got round to it in '87, but renamed the project Madhouse & ditched the old Flesh tracks in favor of fresh new recordings.

 

Voodoo Who

Finest Whisky Tibet Up From Belo Y'all Want Some More? A Couple Of Miles Groove in C Minor Slow Groove in G Major Groove in G Flat Minor Junk Music Up From Below Y'all Want Some More? Slaughterhouse U Just Can't Stop Run Amok Mobile Madrid Breathless High Colonic 12 Keys

Prince and the Revolution: Dream Factory[edit] Dream Factory was a single, then double LP project recorded with The Revolution from 1986. Revolution albums, the entire band was invited into the studio and contributed to most of the original tracks. Many of the tracks would later be incorporated into Crystal Ball (see below) or be released through other outlets over the years. Late April, 1986 configuration Side 1 1. "Visions" 2. "Dream Factory" 3. "It's A Wonderful Day" 4. "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" 5. "Big Tall Wall" 6. "And That Says What?" Side 2 1. "Strange Relationship" (different version than released)

2. "Teacher, Teacher" 3. "Starfish and Coffee" (omits the alarm clock intro) 4. "A Place In Heaven" 5. "Sexual Suicide" (different version than released) 3 June, 1986 configuration Side 1 1. "Visions" 2. "Dream Factory" 3. "It's A Wonderful Day" 4. "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" 5. "It" Side 2 1. "Strange Relationship" (different version than released) 2. "Teacher, Teacher" 3. "Starfish and Coffee" (omits the alarm clock intro) 4. "Interlude - Wendy" 5. "In A Large Room With No Light" 6. "Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A" 7. "Sexual Suicide" Side 3 1. "Crystal Ball" 2. "Power Fantastic" Side 4 1. "Last Heart" 2. "Witness 4 The Prosecution" 3. "Movie Star" 4. "A Place In Heaven" 5. "All My Dreams" 20 July, 1986 configuration

Side 1 1. "Visions" 2. "Dream Factory"/"Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A" 3. "Train" (different version than released) 4. "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" 5. "It" Side 2 1. "Strange Relationship" (different version than released) 2. "Slow Love" 3. "Starfish and Coffee" (omits the alarm clock intro) 4. "Interlude - Wendy" 5. "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (different version than released) Side 3 1. "Sign o' the Times" (version released as edit on the "Sign o' the Times" single) 2. "Crystal Ball" 3. "A Place In Heaven" (Lisa Coleman on lead vocals) Side 4 1. "Last Heart" 2. "Witness 4 The Prosecution" 3. "Movie Star" 4. "The Cross" 5. "All My Dreams"

Camille[edit] Camille is an unreleased album by Prince, recorded in 1986. The album was planned to consist of 8 tracks recorded by the singer in a funky, sped up vocal. The album was to be released under the name Camille (who would not be pictured on the cover) and not as a Prince album. The album was canceled weeks prior to its release and most of the tracks were incorporated into the unreleased album Crystal Ball, which evolved into Sign "☮" the Times. Most of the music has been released officially in some form or another, however, one song, "Rebirth of the Flesh" remains unreleased in its original form. In 2001, a live rehearsal of "Rebirth of the

Flesh" recorded with the Sign "☮" the Times band was released on Prince's Web site. This version, however, had profanity edited from the lyrics. Side one



"Rebirth of the Flesh": Prince recorded this song at Sunset Sound on October 28, 1986, on the same day as "Rockhard in a Funky Place". When the Camille album was shelved, the song was slated for inclusion on Prince's next album project, Crystal Ball. It was going to be the opening track segueing into "Play in the Sunshine". The NPG Music Club made a 1988 Lovesexy Tour rehearsal recording available in September 2001, marking the point at which all the Camille tracks have now been officially released in some form, although the original studio version only circulates on bootlegs.



"Housequake": released unedited on Sign "☮" the Times.



"Strange Relationship": Reworked from the Dream Factory sessions and released unedited on Sign "☮" the Times.



"Feel U Up": This outtake was recorded toward the end of 1981 and was taped in sequence with "Irresistible Bitch". Both songs were re-recorded later. "Feel U Up" was re-recorded in 1986 and the lyrics of both recordings are very similar. The track was finally released in 1989 as the B-side of "Partyman".

Side two



"Shockadelica": Originally written (unsolicited) by Prince in response to Jesse Johnson's then-forthcoming album titled Shockadelica (1986) because that album had no song to match/complement what Prince felt was such a great album title. "Shockadelica" was later included as a B-side of "If I Was Your Girlfriend".



"Good Love": Later released on the Bright Lights, Big City film soundtrack in 1988.



"If I Was Your Girlfriend": released with an added intro on Sign "☮" the Times.



"Rockhard in a Funky Place": Included on The Black Album (1987) project, which was ultimately released in 1994.

Two other songs were credited to Camille after the album project was abandoned. The first was "Scarlet Pussy", which was released as the B-side of the 1988 single "I Wish U Heaven" featuring a black label with the artist Camille credited in deep peach. Also, "U Got the Look", which appeared on Sign "☮" the Times and was also released as a single. The video was recorded in France while Prince was on tour and the video was later added into the film Sign "☮" the Times. Prince would later resurrect the character of Camille for the 1988 Lovesexy tour. Within the show, Camille sang in a low tone, with Prince's vocal filtered to sound lower. Prince has used this technique on numerous occasions, uncredited to Camille. Prince confirmed in the Lovesexy tour book that Camille is the creator of The Black Album.

Crystal Ball[edit] (not to be confused with Crystal Ball (album set)) Crystal Ball was a 3-LP set to be released in 1986, The set was to consist of various tracks from 1985– 1986. Although several Dream Factory tracks were incorporated, this set was to be marketed as a solo album by Prince. Warner Bros. Records balked at the album's length so Prince begrudgingly trimmed it to the 2-LP Sign “☮” the Times, which many still consider to be his best album. The album is notable for two reasons; it was the last studio album to be recorded with The Revolution and the events said to have surrounded its recording led to the resignation of both Wendy & Lisa, effectively dissolving Prince's band until the creation of the New Power Generation. Final configuration Side 1 1.

"Rebirth of the Flesh"

2.

"Play in the Sunshine"

3.

"Housequake"

4.

"The Ballad of Dorothy Parker"

Side 2 1.

"It"

2.

"Starfish and Coffee"

3.

"Slow Love"

4.

"Hot Thing"

Side 3 1.

"Crystal Ball"

2.

"If I Was Your Girlfriend"

3.

"Rockhard in a Funky Place"

Side 4 1.

"The Ball"

2.

"Joy in Repetition"

3.

"Strange Relationship"

4.

"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

Side 5 1.

"Shockadelica"

2.

"Good Love"

3.

"Forever In My Life"

4.

"Sign O' The Times"

Side 6 1.

"The Cross"

2.

"It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"

3.

"Adore (Until the End of Time)"

Madhouse: 24[edit] Prince worked on a third Madhouse recorded during July–December 1988, with a planned release in early 1989, featuring the cover model Maneca Lightner. The album has never materialized. Some of the tracks were altered and reused on Eric Leeds's Times Squared album released in 1991. Interestingly, a totally different version of 24 was recorded with members of The New Power Generation and Eric Leeds in 1993, but this also was not released, with the exception of the track "17" of the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album. Some of the tracks were on the rare "Sampler Experience" cassette. Both versions of the album circulate on the internet. Track listings

1989 album configuration[edit] 1.

"17 (Penetration)"

2.

"18 (R U Legal Yet?)"

3.

"19 (Jailbait)"

4.

"20 (A Girl and Her Puppy)"

5.

"21-24 (The Dopamine Rush Suite)" (Incorporates "21 (The Dopamine Rush)", "22 (Amsterdam)", "23 (Spanish Eros)" and "24 (Orgasm)")

1994 album configuration[edit] 1.

"17"

2.

"Rootie Kazootie"

3.

"Space"

4.

"Guitar Segue"

5.

"Asswoop"

6.

"Ethereal"

7.

"Parlor Games"

8.

"Michael B."

9.

"Got 2 Give It Up"

10. "Sonny T."

Sheila E.: Untitled 1989 album[edit] An album was recorded by Sheila E., between early 1987 and late 1988, and planned for release in 1989. The album was abandoned when Sheila E. left Paisley Park Records in early 1989, and most of the album's tracks remain unreleased. The only track from the album to have been released is "Scarlet Pussy" (credited to Camille), which was included as the b-side of "I Wish U Heaven". The album included a cover of Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto".Two other tracks were resurrected for later projects, however. In midSeptember, 1993, "Latino Barbie Doll" was tried out for Mayte during initial sessions for her solo debut album, and was included on an initial configuration of the album, titled "Latino Barbie Doll", before being removed from later configurations as the album developed into Child of the Sun. During the A Celebration week in June, 2000, computer screens at Paisley Park Studios offered names of a selection of tracks which users could vote on for inclusion on Crystal Ball Volume II; "3 Nigs Watchin' a Kung Fu Movie" was included on the list and was chosen by fans, the project was ultimately abandoned. Track listing Side one



"3 Nigs Watchin' a Kung Fu Movie"



"It's a Hard Life" (Includes no Prince input)



"Chicken Legs" (Includes no Prince input)



"Knucklehead"



"Latino Barbie Doll"

Side two



"Soul Company"



"Day After Day" (Includes no Prince input)



"Girl Power"



"The Ghetto"



"Scarlet Pussy"

The Time: Corporate World[edit] An unreleased studio album by The Time, recorded in Summer 1989 and planned for release in November, 1989. Like previous albums by The Time, all tracks featured Prince heavily as a writer and musician, with Morris Day adding vocals as the only member of the band to appear on the album. The album was submitted to Warner Bros., and planned for release on 14 November 1989, with "Nine Lives" planned as the first single. Warner Bros. stopped the release, however, feeling that other members of the band should be brought in to contribute to the album. Following a meeting with Prince, the band members Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam began contributing songs to the album without input by Prince, as well as revising "Chocolate" and "Jerk Out"; the resulting album became The Time's fourth album Pandemonium. Of the tracks included on "Corporate World", three tracks were kept for Pandemonium: "Donald Trump (Black Version)", "Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang". Four other tracks were kept as The Time's contribution to Prince's twelfth album "Graffiti Bridge": "Love Machine", "Shake!", "The Latest Fashion" and "Release It". "Murph Drag" was included on NPG Ahdio Show #3 in 2001, but was not available as a separate track. Only "Nine Lives" and "Corporate World" have not been released in any form. Track listing 1.

"Murph Drag"

2.

"Nine Lives"

3.

"Donald Trump (Black Version)"

4.

"Love Machine"

5.

"Data Bank"

6.

"Shake!"

7.

"Corporate World"

8.

"The Latest Fashion"

9.

"Release It"

10. "My Summertime Thang"

Rave unto the Joy Fantastic[edit] The original Rave unto the Joy Fantastic album was shelved when Prince started working on the Batman soundtrack in late 1988. The album shared some tracks with Graffiti Bridgeand the title track was finally released in 1999 on a new album of the same name. Track listings

27 October 1988 configuration[edit]

The specific sequence of tracks is unknown, but tracks known to have been included are:



"The Voice Inside"



"Melody Cool" (A re-recording with Mavis Staples on lead vocals was released on Graffiti Bridge)



"Rave unto the Joy Fantastic": (A different version released on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic)



"God is Alive"



"If I Had a Harem"



"Stimulation"



"Still Would Stand All Time" (A version with background vocals overdubs by The Steeles over Prince's original background vocals was released on Graffiti Bridge)



"Elephants & Flowers" (A re-recorded version with different verses was released on Graffiti Bridge)



"Big House"



"We Got the Power"

No details are known about the sequence, other than that "The Voice Inside" is known to have segued into "Melody Cool".

27 November 1988 configuration[edit] 1.

"Rave unto the Joy Fantastic"

2.

"If I Had a Harem"

3.

"The Voice Inside"

4.

"Melody Cool"

5.

"Stimulation"

6.

"Elephants & Flowers"

7.

"God is Alive"

8.

"Still Would Stand All Time"

Mid-January 1989 configuration[edit] 1.

"Rave unto the Joy Fantastic"

2.

"If I Had a Harem"

3.

"Good Judy Girlfriend"

4.

"Pink Cashmere" (Released on The Hits/The B-Sides)

5.

"Electric Chair" (Released on Batman)

6.

"Am I without U?"

7.

"God is Alive"

8.

"Still Would Stand All Time"

9.

"Moonbeam Levels"

Flash[edit] In 1989 Prince formed a new band called Flash / MC Flash (both names were considered for use), featuring Margie Cox (of Ta Mara and the Seen) as lead singer. In July, Cox recorded 25 songs written by Prince for a planned album. No M.C. Flash album or singles were ever released.[2] The only songs to be released as a result of Prince and Cox's work together was her cover of Prince's "Standing at the Altar" for his 1994 compilation album 1-800-NEW-FUNK, and the B-side of that single, "Whistlin' Kenny". Track listing Side one



"R U There?"



"Brand New Boy"



"Warden in the Prison of Love"



"Bed of Roses"



"Good Man"



"Whistlin' Kenny"

Side two



"We Can Hang"



"Curious Blue"



"Girls Will Be Girls"



"Good Body Every Evening"

The Tora Tora Experience[edit] At the height of his troubles with Warner Bros. Records in 1994, Prince contributed under the moniker Tora Tora on the NPG's Exodus album. Happy with this pseudonym, a full album was recorded, but it remains unreleased. Very little is known about this project, but it was mentioned on the 1995 "Sampler Experience" cassette by the tracks "(Lemme See Your Body) Get Loose!" a remix of "Loose!" from Prince's 1994 Come album.

The Undertaker[edit] This recording was made in a continuous single live-in-the-studio pass in collaboration with NPG drummer Michael Bland and bassist Sonny T. Prince originally intended to give this live CD away free with 1,000 copies of Guitar Player magazine in 1994 (uploading an original The Undertaker CD to iTunes,

shows the year 1995 as the year the CD was "released"), but he was reportedly barred by Warner Bros. from doing so. Copies were leaked and bootlegged. The songs were guitar-heavy versions of rock and blues numbers, including a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" and new recording of "Bambi" (originally from 1979's Prince). The title track was a cover of a song previously given toMavis Staples, while "The Ride", "Zannalee", and "Dolphin" would all be re-recorded future releases. A video recording of the performance was released in Europe (on VHS and Laserdisc) with small edits throughout the performance and "Dolphin" replaced by the audio track from the official video of the song from The Gold Experience. Track listing 1.

"The Ride" – 10:54

2.

"Poor Goo" – 4:26

3.

"Honky Tonk Women" – 3:00

4.

"Bambi" – 4:49

5.

"Zannalee (Prelude)" - 0:44

6.

"The Undertaker" – 9:50

7.

"Dolphin" – 3:40

Heart[edit] Was worked on in 1994. Nothing is known about the album, although it is believed to contain acoustic tracks (it is not known if there is any overlap between this project and The Truth, recorded two years later and released in 1998).

"Live"[edit] "Live" is an unreleased multiple-disc album, offered to Warner Bros. in January, 1995. Little is known about the contents, other than it contained live tracks recorded on tours between 1987 and 1993: the Sign o' the Times Tour, the Lovesexy Tour, the Nude Tour, the Diamonds and Pearls Tour, and the Act I and Act II tours. Specific tracks are not known, and it is not known how many discs were planned, or whether the contents were arranged chronologically or sequenced another way. The album is unrelated to the "Live"single planned for release the previous year, and The Live Experience album planned for release later in 1995, both of which were planned to be credited to and contained live tracks recorded in 1994 and 1995 consecutively.

The Live Experience[edit] Unreleased live album, worked on in 1995. Little is known about the contents, other than it contained live tracks recorded at the 8 June 1995 show at Glam Slam, Miami Beach, FL, USA (celebrating Prince's 37th

birthday; his second as O(+>). Specific tracks are not known, and it is not known how many discs were planned, or whether the contents were arranged chronologically or sequenced another way. The album is unrelated to the "Live" single planned for release the previous year (which contained tracks recorded in 1994), and the "Live" album planned for release earlier in 1995 (which was planned to be credited to Prince and contained live tracks recorded between 1987 and 1993). Setlist of the 8 June 1995 show at Glam Slam, Miami Beach, FL, USA 1.

"Endorphinmachine"

2.

"The Jam"

3.

"Shhh"

4.

"Days of Wild"

5.

"Now"

6.

"Funky Stuff"

7.

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"

8.

"P. Control"

9.

"Letitgo"

10. "Pink Cashmere" 11. "(Lemme See Your Body) Get Loose!" (Unreleased remix of "Loose!") 12. "Count the Days" 13. "Return of the Bump Squad" 14. Arabic intro 15. "7" Encore

16. "Get Wild" 17. "Johnny" 18. "Billy Jack Bitch" 19. "Gold"

Prince and Mayte: Happy Tears[edit] With the pregnancy of Prince's then-wife Mayte Garcia, Prince was inspired to make and announce a children's music album called Happy Tears, credited to Prince and Mayte. The album was supposed to

have been released on November/1996. The album was going to include a book of children's stories with it, also credited to Prince and Mayte. To promote the album, Prince guest-starred on the show Muppets Tonight, and performed the only song confirmed that would have been included on the album, "She Gave Her Angels", which remained unreleased until inclusion on the "Crystal Ball" set. The album was likely cancelled due to Prince's son's death one week after birth.

The Dawn[edit] The Dawn was to be the first Prince album after Emancipation, but it was shelved in 1997. An acoustic version of the title track can be found on The Truth. Prince had often thought of releasing an album called 'The Dawn' at many points during his career. The earliest known incarnation of 'The Dawn' was from 1986, and seems to have been some kind of musical (an idea that eventually resurfaced as 'Graffiti Bridge'). Another incarnation of 'The Dawn' was assembled around 1994, soon after Prince changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol. This time the content was made from tracks that would later surface on Come and The Gold Experience. The last known incarnation of the album was assembled in 1996/1997, this time it came very close to release, and was even advertised on the back of the free cassette single of 'The Holy River' given away at 'Borders' stores in 1997.[3]

Tracks believed to have been included on the 1994 album[edit] [4]

Triple album. Combined tracks which had been previously included on 1993 configurations of Come, along with tracks that would later be released on The Gold Experience andChaos and Disorder along with various NPG Operator segues, although the exact tracklist is not known.



"Come"



"Endorphinmachine"



"Space"



"Pheromone"



"Loose!"



"Papa"



"Dark"



"Dolphin"



"Poem" (Later edited and renamed "Orgasm")



"Race"



"Strays of the World"



"What's My Name"



"Interactive"



"Solo"



"Zannalee"



"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"



"Now"



"Ripopgodazippa"



"Shy"



"Gold"



"Strawberries"



"319"



"Billy Jack Bitch"



"Chaos and Disorder"



"Right the Wrong"



"Acknowledge Me"



"Listen 2 the Rhythm" (Later renamed "The Rhythm of Your ♥")



"Hide the Bone"



"Love 4 1 Another" (Later renamed "New World")



"Days of Wild"

Other tracks not included on any configuration of Come, The Gold Experience or Chaos and Disorder that may have been considered for inclusion here include:



"Dream"



"Laurianne"



"Dance of Desperation"



"I Wanna Be Held 2 Night"



"Emotional Crucifixion"



"The Ride"



"Poorgoo"



"Calhoun Square"



"It's About that Walk" (Later released on The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale)



"Slave 2 the Funk"

All tracks listed here are speculative, however.

Tracks believed to have been included on the 1996/1997 album[edit]

[5]



"Welcome 2 the Dawn" (An acoustic version was later released on The Truth)



"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Mustang Mix '96)"

Mayte: Scorpio[edit] Announced by Love4OneAnother.com in 1998, it was due to include some tracks from her debut album Child of the Sun, as well as some newly recorded tracks. It is not known if the album was completed before it was abandoned, however, and the project may have been interrupted by Prince and Mayte's marital issues in late 1998 and early 1999. The title of the album comes from Mayte's astrological sign of the Zodiac. Born on 12 November 1973, she is a Scorpio. Nothing is known about which tracks were intended for the album, but the manufacture in 1998 of the single "Rhythm of Your ♥" (later sold in 2005 on Mayte's website) indicates that "The Rhythm of Your ♥" (possibly renamed "Rhythm of Your ♥") was planned for inclusion.

Prince and the Revolution: Roadhouse Garden[edit] In 1998, Prince announced a comeback album of Prince & The Revolution that consisted of unreleased songs. It was most likely never released because of a dispute with the original Revolution members. One of the mentioned songs, "Splash" was released on Prince's website. According to former Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink, Prince asked for Wendy and Lisa's input on the album, but he didn't offer any compensation, so they declined his offer. Later, when people asked about the Roadhouse Garden album, his reply was "Ask Wendy and Lisa". Other tracks believed to have been included are "Roadhouse Garden", "Witness 4 the Prosecution", "All My Dreams", "In a Large Room with no Light", "Empty Room" and "Wonderful Ass".

Newfunk sampling CD series[edit] A 7-CD set of Prince samples for producers and DJs was announced in 1999 for a onetime fee of $700. It remains unreleased.

Crystal Ball 2[edit] This was a follow up to the 1998 outtake album Crystal Ball. Fans who attended Prince's Paisley Park Studios during June 2000 were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite outtakes out of a list of 23 and 17 were selected. For unknown reasons it was never produced. The tracks included the following:



"3 Nigs Watchin' a Kung Fu Movie"



"Adonis & Bathsheba"



"American Jam"



"Come Electra Tuesday" (not selected)



"Electric Intercourse"



"Everybody Wants What They Don't Got"



"Evolsidog"



"Eye Wonder"



"Girl" (not selected)



"Girl o' My Dreams"



"Gotta Stop (Messin' About)" (not selected)



"If It'll Make U Happy" (not selected)



"Katrina's Paper Dolls"



"Kiss" (Unreleased Xtended Version)



"Love & Sex"



"Lust U Always"



"Others Here with Us"



"She's Just a Baby" (not selected)



"Strange Way of Saying Eye Love U"



"Turn It Up"



"U're All Eye Want"



"Xtra Lovable"

DVD[edit] Another little-known project that was due to be released at the same time as Crystal Ball II was an accompanying Crystal Ball DVD. This was to contain music videos made for tracks off both volumes of the Crystal Ball albums.

When 2 R in Love: The Ballads of Prince[edit] Announced for voting as the next Prince release during the A Celebration week in June 2000. Ballads collection. Full tracklist and sequencing is unknown, but it is known to include:



"Do Me, Baby"



"Insatiable"



"Scandalous!"



"Adore"



"When 2 R in Love" (Assumed, as the title track)

The Hot X-perience[edit] In 2000, a vinyl maxi single was announced. It would contain new club remixes of "Hot wit U" featuring Eve. On July 19, 2000, DJ Wolf played some unreleased mixes, likely from The Hot X-perience, at a club known as The Front in Minneapolis, Minnesota:



"Hot wit U (Nasty Girl Remix)"



"Hot wit U (Hip-Hop Version)"



"Underneath the Cream"



"So Far, So Pleased (Club/Dance Mix)" (Includes portions of "Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic")



"Hot wit U (Club/Dance Mix)"

"Underneath the Cream" was later released on Prince's website and an edit of the Nasty Girl Remix was released on the remix album Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic.

High[edit] In 2000 High was fully complete and ready to release in the summer of 2000, but the album was never released. A video was recorded for the song "U Make My Sun Shine", a duet with Angie Stone, and it was also released as a single. A video was also made for "Daisy Chain," featuring Prince playing basketball in his own court at Paisley Park, and "When Eye Lay My Hands on U". Most songs were distributed individually via his NPG Music Club. "Silicon," "Daisy Chain" and "Golden Parachute" were also included on the internet-only The Slaughterhouse project. Prince released The Rainbow Children instead. Track listing 1.

"Supercute"

2.

"Underneath the Cream"

3.

"Golden Parachute"

4.

"When Will We B Paid?"

5.

"The Daisy Chain"

6.

"Gamillah"

7.

"High"

8.

"My Medallion"

9.

"U Make My Sun Shine"

10. "When Eye Lay My Hands on U"

NPG: Peace[edit] During the "Hit and Run Tour" in 2001, an NPG single from what was billed as the forthcoming new NPG album, 'Peace' was sold. It featured the title track, "Peace" coupled with "2045: Radical Man". The album remains unreleased, while "2045: Radical Man" was given to Spike Lee for his Bamboozled soundtrack. Instead, "Peace" and "2045: Radical Man" were later released on the internet-only release of The Slaughterhouse.

Untitled Kevin Smith-directed documentary[edit] In the summer of 2001, writer/director Kevin Smith contacted Prince to gain permission to use "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" for a scene in his movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Although he was denied permission, he agreed to film a documentary of reactions, questions and answers during one of Prince's fan weeks at his recording studios,Paisley Park. Most of the footage comes from five sessions of Prince and Smith discussing music with fans. The footage still resides in Prince's vault, while some was used to promote The Rainbow Children album and as background video at some of his live concerts. Smith described the experience in his 2002 live video An Evening with Kevin Smith; according to An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, Prince was intending to edit the film into a promotional movie for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Madrid 2 Chicago[edit] A new album was announced for 2001. The title track and "Breathe" were distributed via the NPG Music Club, but the full album remains unreleased.

In All My Dreams[edit] During mid-2001/2002 artwork was posted on NPG Music Club for an album called "In All My Dreams". Because of the title, it was assumed that it included the Dream Factory outtake "All My Dreams". Nothing else is known, and the album has never materialized

Last December[edit] Announced in the "One Nite Alone..." tour book in March 2002, the title is a track from The Rainbow Children. The album has never materialized.

The Very Best of O(+>[edit] Announced in the "One Nite Alone..." tour book in March 2002. Nothing else is known about the album, although from the title it seems likely that the album was a compilation of tracks recorded while Prince used the symbol "Love Symbol" as his name (from 1993 to 2000), although, given licensing, it seems likely

this would be restricted to master tracks owned by Prince, rather than by Warner Bros. (eliminating tracks used on The Gold Experience and Chaos and Disorder). Alternatively, it may have included some rerecordings of tracks which had been originally released by Warner Bros., but all information about the album is speculative. The title may have been in response to Warner Bros.' release of The Very Best of Prince, released in late July, 2001, seven months before this album was announced.

The Chocolate Invasion[edit] In 2003 it was announced that the members-only tracks from the first years of the NPG Music Club would be released in a 7-CD boxed set containing:



C-Note



Xpectation



One Nite Alone... - Solo Piano & Voice



The Chocolate Invasion - Trax from NPGMC Volume 1



The Slaughterhouse - Trax from NPGMC Volume 2



"The Glam Slam Club Mix"



"The War"

In November 2003, a problem with manufacturing was reported, and the project was put on hold. The only albums that have become available on CD in limited editions before were "The War", available through 1800-NEW-FUNK in 1998 and One Nite Alone..., sent to NPG Music Club members in 2002 as part of the annual subscription. Furthermore, all albums have been made available for download (in some cases with tracks varying very slightly) via the NPG Music Club at various stages. An excerpt of "The Glam Slam Club Mix" was possibly part of NPG Ahdio Show #11 and available as a free download in December 2001, CNote and Xpectation were free downloads for members in January 2003 and became available in the NPG Music Club store in 2004, together with One Nite Alone..., The Chocolate Invasion and The Slaughterhouse.

3121 film[edit] Near the end of 2005, Prince had written and produced for the singer Liza Hernandez (also known as Liza Lena) and, according to the Panamanian news site Prensa.com, "Has maintained a good friendship since they filmed together the film 31-21," and was, according to the site, supposed to be released in April 2006. There are references to the film on a few Prince forums, which, unfortunately for the sake of authenticity, only refer back to quotes from unofficial, unknown, or expired sources. There are no references to the film found on either Prince's official newsletter 3121.com or in the Internet Movie Database. The cover of the

3121 CD reads '3121 - The Music', further fuelling speculation of a 3121 movie. In April 2011, a fully produced trailer for the movie leaked on the net and stated that the movie is "Coming Soon".

Támar: Milk & Honey[edit] During the 3121 sessions, Prince and Támar worked on her debut album. Originally titled Beautiful, Loved & Blessed, it was renamed Milk & Honey. Originally, it was going to be released with Prince's 3121, but it was postponed before being cancelled altogether.[6] "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed" was later included in a slightly different form on Prince's "3121", "Holla & Shout" was also available as a promotional single, and the song "Kept Woman" was later re-recorded by Bria Valente for her debut album Elixer. Track listing 1.

"Closer 2 My Heart"

2.

"Milk & Honey"

3.

"Can't Keep Living Alone"

4.

"Holla & Shout"

5.

"Kept Woman"

6.

"Holy Ground"

7.

"Beautiful, Loved & Blessed"

8.

"Redhead Stepchild"

9.

"All Eye Want is U"

10. "First Love" 11. "Sunday in the Park" 12. "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed (Reprise)"

13.

Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

14. Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he released, Princehas shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

15. 16. Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984'sPurple Rain.

17. 18. Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia ofAround the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."

19. 20. By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times. Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.

21. 22. In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993,Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Comeunder the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.

23. 24. In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label. The Gold Experiencewas issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially. In the summer of 1996,Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.

25. 26. However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear thatEmancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be,Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album,New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball; even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners didn't realize it had been released.

27. 28. A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Princeissued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince rebounded in 2003 with the charttopping Musicology, a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005.

29. 30. In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar. A four-song appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E. followed. Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the album charts soon after its release in March 2006. Planet Earth followed in 2007, featuring contributions from Wendy and Lisa. In the U.K., copies were cover-mounted on the July 15 edition of The Mail on Sunday, provoking Columbia -- the worldwide distributor for the release -- to refuse distribution throughout the U.K. In the U.S., the album was issued on July 24.LotusFlow3r, a three-disc set, came in 2009, featuring a trio of distinct albums: LotusFlow3r itself (a guitar showcase), MPLSound (a throwback to his '80s funk output), and Elixer (a smooth contemporary R&B album featuring the breathy vocals of Bria Valente). Despite only being available online and through one big-box retailer, the set

debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. A year later, another throwback-flavored effort, 20Ten, became his second U.K. newspaper giveaway. No official online edition of the album was made available.

10 Things You Never Knew About Prince Unless you already did. We‟re not psychic, you know… CLASHMUSIC / FEATURES / 07 · 11 · 2013 0

 This is not actually Prince.





Once, a King of Pop ruled. And then he died. In his place, another ascended to the throne, to the very biggest chair at pop‟s high table. Naw, not that Thicke lad. We‟re talking about a purple pixie just too damn funky for his own damn self. We‟re talking Prince.

Prince has meant many things to many people since debuting with his first album, 1978‟s „For You‟. To some, he‟s a faultless genius; to others, a greatly flawed artist whose indulgences have compromised his greatest contributions to the pop canon – songs like „Raspberry Beret‟, „Purple Rain‟, „Sign O‟ The Times‟, „Cream‟. Hell, we‟ll even concede that, way back when, „Batdance‟ got us grooving in our age 10-11 slacks. Clash selected its own top five Prince singles to mark the singer‟s 55th birthday earlier this year – find that article here. Here, we highlight 10 things that you (maybe) never knew about the man, the legend… the multifaceted pop monolith of modest stature. These words come straight from the page‟s of Clash‟s Pop Issue, available to buy now and featuring interviews with Lorde, Pharrell Williams, John Newman, Boy George and many more.Information here. --Prince, ‘Breakfast Can Wait’ (2013) --Raised a Seventh-Day Adventist, Prince has always been a spiritual man, but his conversion to the Jehovah's Witness faith surprised many, especially him knocking on doors with copies of the Watchtower. He has renounced much of his back catalogue as a result. When he was a young, skint musician just starting out, Prince couldn‟t afford to eat fast food, so he‟d stand outside McDonald's on Plymouth Avenue in Minneapolis just to smell the food. Which is ironic, as he‟s now a PETA-endorsed vegan who won‟t “eat anything with parents”. He has made numerous unreleased albums and videos, famously one as his feminine alter ego Camille, who made her debut on „If I was Your Girlfriend‟ from 1987‟s „Sign O‟ The Times‟ album. Camille was also credited as the author of the contentious „The Black Album‟. ‘The Black Album‟ was recalled before its original 1987 release amidst much speculation, including his conviction that it was the work of the devil. Others claim he had a bad reaction to taking ecstasy. Warner Bros released the album seven years later. He’s infamously litigious, suing corporations in a quest to protect his copyright and control his image entirely. So far he‟s had a go at YouTube, Twitter, and Vine – but there‟s been huge backlash against him attempting to sue actual fans for misusing his „image‟. A protracted feud with Madonna appears to have finally thawed. After dating for a short time, they cattily castigated each other back and forth in the press, despite Prince having played guitar on, and contributed vocals to, Madge‟s „Like A Prayer‟ album. He has been impersonated by several comedians, most notably by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live (of which Prince allegedly approved) and David Chappelle, whose hilarious Prince parody (main image) has recently appeared as the cover of his 2013 single, „Breakfast Can Wait‟ (video above).

His first number one single, „When Doves Cry‟ (from the „Purple Rain‟ LP, video below), is notable not just because Prince plays all the instruments. It‟s an unconventional dance track due to a lack of bass line, which he removed after it was mixed to make the track starker. He played a surprising cover of Radiohead‟s „Creep‟ at the 2008 Coachella Festival, and then demanded YouTube take down footage shot by fans (it has since re-appeared). Thom Yorke found it all rather amusing and reckoned it should stay up as it was their song and not his. He and then wife Mayte Garcia tragically lost their baby son just one week after he was born in October 1996 due to a rare genetic condition, Pfeiffer syndrome. He hid this from the wider world and later sued Paisley Park staff that had supposedly leaked the information to the press. --Prince, ‘When Doves Cry’ (1984) --Words: Anna Wilson for clashmusic.com

Prince and his Jehovah's Witness Adventures Selectaţi limba ▼

Book Review: Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution by Jason Draper By Glen Boyd, BLOGCRITICS.ORG Published 09:31 p.m., Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PARTIAL QUOTE: What is less known however, is the staggering amount of Prince material which remains unreleased, and which the artist himself seems perfectly content to allow to languish in a mysterious "vault" somewhere in Minneapolis. Draper places a particular emphasis on these "lost albums" - which may number as many as his official recordings - with acute detail. For hardcore Prince fans, this alone makes Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution an essential read. In addition to these lost recordings, Draper also reveals little known insider details about Prince's various business dealings (Glam Slam, Paisley Park Records) and his

often volatile relationships with the musicians he has worked with. In one of the more interesting stories here, Draper recounts how a reunion with the Revolution - arguably his most successful band - was scuttled when Prince suggested that band members Wendy and Lisa would have to renounce their lesbian relationship (Prince himself had just become a newly converted Jehovah's Witness at the time).[emphasis ours] The picture which ultimately emerges from this book is that of an enigmatic, if not always pragmatic personality whose undeniable talent has perhaps only been held back by his own stubbornness. Danny: Glitter boy needs to renounce his new religion, don't you think?

Prince Finds Islam Orderly from Illume, June 26, 2011 In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Prince - who has been a Jehovah's Witnesses since 2001 - said: “We can't do what we want to do all the time. ...

Danny says, Hey babe it's fun being celeb apostate Prince - I would be disfellowshipped in an instant especially since JWs are being persecuted even beheaded by Muslims. Michael and Jermaine Jackson had connection with the Brothers of Islam as well. Author Firpo Carr praised their resemblance. Maybe JW women will be wearing burkas next!

Prince respects the “order” of Islamic countries... The 'Purple Rain' singer believes Middle Eastern countries that dictate what their citizens can do and wear cannot just be dismissed as oppressive and wrong. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Prince - who has been a Jehovah's Witnesses since 2001 - said: ―We can't do what we want to do all the time. If you don't have boundaries, what then? ―It's fun being in Islamic countries, to know there's only one religion. There's order. You wear a burqa. There's no choice. People are happy with that.‖ When asked what he would say to Muslim women who are unhappy to be forced to wear burqas - which cover the wearer's entire body apart from their eyes - he replied: ―There are people who are unhappy with everything. There's a dark side to everything. I don't want to get up on a soapbox. My view of the world, you can debate that forever.‖

The Knowledgerush site says this about the symbol Prince uses:

Prince and his relationship with his own name He was born June 7, 1958, and given the name Prince Rogers Nelson after the Prince Rogers Trio, his father's jazz band. As a boy, he was called Skipper, but he recorded under the name Prince. On his 35th birthday, June 7, 1993, he said he would no longer answer to the name Prince and would hence be known by an unpronounceable glyph. On December 31, 1999 he reclaimed the name Prince, although, typically, he did not announce the reclamation until some time later. He had refused to use the name Prince while publishing rights remained with his old record company Warner Brothers. He said he felt like he was their slave. He did not

want to advertise for that company, so he didn't use the name. As soon as they were out of the picture, the name was back. By that time, he was also known as The Artist, short for The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (as he was anointed by a British journalist) or even the acronym TAFKAP. People loved to talk about it, some were amused, some were annoyed. Whatever else it was, it was deft publicity that kept his name and career alive separate from his legal entanglements with his record company. Other names used as 'pronunciation' for the glyph were The Symbol and Love Symbol. MTV, which had aired his videos and contributed to Prince's fame, did not embrace the glyph, however; in a humorous fashion, they took to playing a sound effect resembling a puff of hot air whenever his name was mentioned on the music video channel. According to a Prince fan site, the glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone.[1] They give the ASCII representation of the symbol as: O(+>

Prince's management company made an image file of it available for newspapers and magazines to use in referring to him. The New York Times reported in concert coverage in 1994: Since Prince has changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph, tickets for his two-night stand at the Palladium were billed as "Art. Frmly Knwn as Prince." Calling for encores, the crowd chanted "We want" followed by two high whoops.

From Prince's official announcement reclaiming his name: "On Dec. 31, 1999, my publishing contract with Warner-Chappell expired, thus emancipating the name I was given before birth 'Prince' from all long-term restrictive documents. I will now go back to using my name instead of the symbol I adopted to free myself from all undesirable relationships." A common nickname for Prince is the Minneapolis Midget, referring to both his place of origin and height.

In 2003, Prince's lawyer, Londell Macmillan, confirmed his client had joined the Jehovah's Witnesses and that the star was "very committed" to them. Wikipedia says, In 1994, Prince released the movie 3 Chains o' Gold, which helped explain the album's plot. At the end, a monologue explained the origin of the symbol: Upon the seventh day of the sixth month, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, marking the beginning and ending of cycles of creation, Prince, reaching the balance of thirtyfive years, put into practice the precepts of perfection: Voicing bliss through the freedom of being one's self; incarnating the New Power Generation into the close of the six periods of involution, giving birth upon himself to regenerate his name as -for in the dawn, all will require no speakable name to differentiate the ineffable one that shall remain. _________________ Prince.org (An online Fan community) comments: What's with the name changes? On June 7th, 1993 (his 35th birthday), Prince announced that he would change his name to an unpronounceable symbol. The glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone. (emphasis mine) The usual ASCII representation of the symbol is: O(+> That's a capital "o," open parenthesis, plus sign, and greater-than sign. However, on May 16th, 2000 Prince announced that he would resume using his former name, because his final contract with Time Warner (i.e., his publishing contract with Warner-Chappel) had expired. It seems that he will continue to use the symbol as a logo, however.

Danny Haszard says,

Back in 1990 before he became JW (baptized 1991?) It was still one year before my disfellowshiping in 1992 and I would not buy a Prince album, even after I was dfed because I was afraid of that "occult' symbol it was spooky to any dub looks like a pagan Egyptian hieroglyphic. If my 1960-70 JW dad growing up saw that album cover symbol in the house he would take it outside and burn it and absolutely have a Judicial Committee meeting over it big time. In 2010 Prince, as a dedicated baptized Jehovah's Witness still uses ancient pagan symbols incorporated into his style. What other Jehovah's Witness would be allowed to do that? Shades of Michael Jackson!

20TEN – Prince from The Adamo Opinion July 23, 2010

Top Ten Prince Girls If, like us, your childhood dream was to become (or date) a Prince Girl, you probably watched excitedly while Vanity shimmied in her lacy boudoir undergarments or Apollonia tugged on Prince's heart-strings during Purple Rain. The Artist was notorious for hooking up with scorching hot, musically-inclined model-esque brunettes (with the exception of Kim Basinger) and making us all drool with desire (or jealousy). Curious to know who Prince deemed "the most beautiful girl in the world"? See who made our list of Top Ten Prince Girls. 10) Susanna Hoffs Whether is was an urban legend concocted by savvy publicists or Prince was actually trying to squeeze his purple people eater into a Bangle, Prince trying to woo Susanna Hoffs with what would become a hit single for The Bangles would make any girl feel like she had an obligation to hit it. Especially when "he tells me in his bedroom voice, 'C'mon, honey. Let's go make some noise.'" 9) Vanessa Marcil

The rumor that Prince wrote "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" for now exgirlfriend, actress Vanessa Marcil, may not be true. He had so many beautiful ethnically ambiguous babes around him, deciding who was the "most beautiful" was probably not remotely possible. But, if the lady-killing artist asked Marcil to star in the music video of the same name, she must be something special. She even wore a Prince necklace while she was starring on General Hospital. 8) Mani Married in 2001, Manuela Testolini met Prince when she was working for one of his charitable foundations--after the era when Prince was using his musical love gun to shower girls with his "Purple Rain." After a super secret Jehovah's Witness wedding and a mysterious marriage, Mani called it off with TAFKAP and the pair got divorced in 2006. So, what is the charitable cherub doing post-Prince? Why, she's moved on from one potentially sex addicted musician to another--Eric Benet. 7) Nona Gaye Only daughter of soulful seducer, Marvin Gaye, singer and actress Nona Gaye was apparently Prince's youthful bride-to-be. In what may have been the romantic delusions of a love-dumb teenager, Gaye has said that Prince told people he wanted to marry her and take care of her. Prince showed his love by inviting Gaye to one of his shows--where she got to witness the newly-placed diamond on now ex-wife Mayte's finger. 6) Kim Basinger '80s blonde sex bomb, Kim Basinger, probably met her match in Prince Rogers Nelson--at least for the small amount of time they dated while she was playing Vicki Vale in Batman and he was writing the soundtrack songs. Allegedly, while Prince and Basinger were recording "Scandalous," they had an incident with a pot of honey on the mixing board and most of Basinger's moans weren't acting. 5) Carmen Electra While dating Prince, the voluptuous brunette Tara Patrick was both christened with what would effectively become her nom de célébrité, Carmen Electra. She then went on to record an awful Prince-produced rap album. Apparently, Prince making her famous wasn't enough for Electra to refrain from dissing the Purple One's bedroom prowess.

Not that this is a game of he said/she said, but we'd have to believe someone who dated almost every hot chick in the '80s was better in bed than someone Dennis Rodman married in a state of intoxication. 4) Mayte Mayte, Prince's first wife, was the world's youngest professional belly dancer at age eight, and for a while, played up like she was an Egyptian princess on Prince's album, Love Symbol. Just like many of Prince's girls, Mayte eventually made a notvery-commercially successful album in 1995 called Child of the Sun. Three years into their marriage, it was mysteriously annulled with Mayte running from pop's tiniest sex-fiend to rock's well-endowed sex monster, Tommy Lee. 3) Sheila E. Without argument, drummer and singer Sheila E. was the most musically talented Prince Girl. Prince met Sheila at a concert in 1978 where she was performing with her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo. Sheila E. would go on to tour with Prince, playing his shows and opening for him, as well as recording her album The Glamorous Life with a the hit song of the same name. Yeah, they dated, but the pair has been able to keep their relationship shockingly classy and professional--despite Prince's sticky fingers during their courtship. 2) Vanity Denise Matthews, or Vanity 6 lead singer, was one of Prince's first half-naked poppets with the Prince-created hit, "Nasty Girl." Vanity was so named because Prince said he saw his female reflection in her. Now an evangelical born-again Christian, Matthews has cut off her all her music industry ties (and royalties) and lives in deep regret of her life as Vanity, even going so far as naming her new autobiography,Blame It On Vanity. And the number one Prince girl is ... 1) Apollonia Probably the most famous Prince Girl thanks to both her appearance in his movie, Purple Rain, and her devastatingly gorgeous good looks, Apollonia Kotero became typified as the classic Prince Girl: mixed heritage, long limbs, perfect face, and a bod made for risque lingerie. Probably to her benefit, Apollonia didn't stick around with Prince for too long after Purple Rain was made. She went on to play a

role on a television show called Falcon Crest, successfully playing--you guessed it-- a pop star named Apollonia. from L.A. Weekly By Nadia Noir, Wed., Mar. 2 2011

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Fans say *Loose Conduct* DFing offense

Read more: http://www.essence.com/entertainment/hot_topics/prince_rocks_nyc_welco me_2_america_tour.php#ixzz1B2chPuiR Tens or even hundreds of thousands of JW kids 'engaged to be married' have been DFed or publicly reproved for this 'loose conduct' I know a dozen personally. I wasn't even allowed to fondle tits, when getting married in two weeks anyway. SQUIRM WATCHTOWER WE WILL RUB YOUR NOSE IN IT

I mean look at where her hand is. She's literally masturbating him

Prince Dancing with Apostates! Discussion 12/20/10

Welcome 2 America by Prince Posted by The G on November 8, 2010 under The G Spot

I know a lot of Prince fans read my site, so these posters are 4 u. I‘m also going to say what a lot of those same fans have been thinking for a long time but have been afraid to admit. I‘ve seen Prince in concert no less than 50 times and he‘s amazing every time. I‘ve been seeing clips of his latest tour on line and I have to say, to me it looks like Prince and it sounds like Prince, but it feels like a cheap Prince imitator playing those songs. His ―Vegas-style‖ interpretations of his hit songs are so tired! Because of his religious convictions, he has wiped away any implications of ―dirty‖ lyrics from his act (for example, instead of ―Sexuality is all you‘ll ever need,‖ he sings ―Spirituality is all you‘ll ever need.‖) I am very happy that he pretends to have found Jehovah and all that and I even think it‘s great that he has moved on from playing his ―nasty‖ songs in concert, but a man who made millions of dollars humping the stage, wearing high heels and singing about ‗wanting to fuck the taste out of your mouth‘ is trying to pretend his past never existed! Is Prince going to give back all the royalties he made from the songs ―Do Me, Baby,‖ ―Head‖ and ‖Gett Off?‖ I don‘t think so. Not acceptable, Prince. He went from declaring ―I‘m never going to play my hits again‖ to embarking on countless ―hits tours.‖ He announced he‘d never play the song ―1999″ again after that year passed and now it‘s a staple each night. He‘s announced so many projects that never see the light of day because he either loses interest or doesn‘t pay the people that help him to execute his plans. Some examples are ―Crystal Ball II,‖ a set of unreleased outtakes he even asked fans to help with in selecting the final tracklist; ―Roadhouse Garden,‖ a collection on unreleased songs he recorded with The Revolution; a 7 CD set of samples and loops that could be used any way the purchaser would like; and I could go on. A big tenet in his religion is to not utilize idols or symbols. Therefore he has completely stopped signing autographs (not that he was ever gracious about that act previously) for fans but yet he still wears that symbol all over his clothing, uses it on art work for his albums and even has a gold and diamond encrusted necklace bearing the symbol. Would Jehovah really approve of those actions? In the early 2000′s when Prince had pretty much fallen off the map, he gave his diehard fans all kinds of perks like pre-sale concert tickets, soundcheck access and unreleased tracks from his ―vintage‖ period. Then he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was placed atop the world stage again and he sued fan sites for using his image and is now charging upwards of $500 to get good seats at his concerts. Again, very un-Jehovah-like, according2g. I‘ll be skipping this series of shows because it saddens me to see a person that looks like Prince go through the motions for cash. If you‘ve never seen Prince before, you‘ll probably see one of the best concerts you‘ve ever been to, but for the people that supported him when the rest of the world thought he was a joke, it feels like the joke was on us this whole time.

I‘ve always likened being a die-hard Prince fan to being in a bad relationship because he‘ll treat his fans like shit and they‘ll come back every time. I finally feel that I don‘t think I am going to come back this time. His last decade worth of albums have gotten progressively more embarrassing to listen to (see songs like ―Lion of Judah,‖ and the direct Jimi Hendrix rip off ―Dreamer‖) and his latest effort ―20Ten‖ which ironically sounds the most like the record the fans have been waiting decades for, is probably my least favorite album he‘s ever made. If you are a ―new‖ Prince fan, don‘t bother with anything he‘s done post 1998. Get the songs that have the ‗bad‘ words in them. Not because they are bad or naughty, but because those are the words of a man who pushed the envelope. Those are the words of a man who was sick of the styles that currently existed so he created new ones. They were funky then and they are funky now. Those tracks have and will continue to stand the test of time. Post 1998 Prince is a watered down, pale imitation of a man who went from creating sounds to following trends! The man that once sang ―Jack U Off‖ wearing a trench coat and bikini briefs is now singing about a ―Future Baby Mama‖ and wearing platform tennis shoes! Horrid! Ironically, Prince ordered the removal of YouTube clips of his cover of Radiohead‘s ―Creep,‖ and Radiohead demanded the clips be put back up because it‘s THEIR song to make such a decision about. Did they not hear that he massacred the lyrics of the song? He also similarly massacred the lyrics of Fleetwood Mac‘s ―The Chain‖ and ―Never Going Back Again,‖ infusing them with his cruddy religious jargon. Will someone please sue Prince for unlawfully fucking up great songs? Would a lawsuit of that nature drive him insane to the point of cursing again on stage? Doubtful. The one thing I am really sad to miss on these upcoming shows is the fact that the entire venue will be taking pictures at the concert and not even a control freak like Prince can do a thing to stop it. The photos will be posted on line and videos will surface from every angle. It‘s going to drive him insane! But that‘s what people do at concerts in this country, so Welcome 2 America, Prince!

That's the saddest thing of all - Prince lost his mojo by being lame and getting scared of death and dying.

The Popstar Prince of Daftness Thursday November 4, 2010 by Anna Pukas SOURCE HE'S become a door-knocking Jehovah's Witness who paints all his rooms purple and wears high heels. So let's hope the X Factor finalists who he's set to star with don't turn out like him. Forget the cast-iron contracts, the manipulation of our emotions and the total control he exerts over every aspect of his vast and growing empire in the manner of a latter day Kubla Khan. For incontrovertible proof of the power of Simon Cowell we need only look ahead to December and the final of The X Factor. It was reported yesterday that Cowell has lined up Prince as the headline guest star. If the diminutive rock enigma does indeed grace The X Factor stage in seven weeks‘ time it will be a true testament to Cowell‘s uncommon powers of persuasion in bringing the famously eccentric superstar together with what he professes to despise most about the music industry. It was Prince, after all, who appeared in public with ―slave‖ scrawled on his face to protest about what he saw as the unreasonable demands of his record company and the submission of creativity to the corporate creed. Yet the music business does not get more corporate than The X Factor with its choreographed hysteria. More recently Prince bemoaned the derivative character of the current music scene. ―All this Eighties dance revival stuff. All so plain, so simple, so obvious. The same old synthesisers, the same old chords.‖ Yet there is no bigger platform for safe music, no place less experimental than the Saturday night talent show broadcast at peak viewing time. But then Prince has always been a mass of intrigue and contradictions. He has released records with sexually explicit lyrics, even touching on the ultimate taboo of incest, yet says he is a born-again prude since becoming a Jehovah’s Witness. Not only does he claim to have been celibate for a decade but he has also been known to visit lap-dancing clubs and offer the girls double their night‘s wages if they stop working.

His singing voice is high but his speaking voice is a manly baritone. Now 52 he has racked up nearly 30 years of global superstardom and umpteen awards and appears on Time magazine‘s most influential people list. Yet apart from a brief period of residence in Los Angeles four years ago he prefers to live in Minneapolis, his home town in the unpretentious American Mid West. He used to throw after-show parties which were open to anyone who was on the mailing list of his fan club, yet he has given only three interviews in the past 10 years and is notoriously unforthcoming about his past or personal life. We know little about his two marriages, except that both ended in divorce – the first in the most tragic circumstances after the death of his son in 1997. Baby Gregory was born with Pfeiffer‘s syndrome, a condition in which the bones of the skull fuse together and lived only for a week. Even what we see of Prince the public persona is subject to conjecture. Is he black or mixed race? Is he gay or merely camp? His unusual Christian name is the one his parents gave him but he even dispensed with that for a period in favour of a squiggle

roughly resembling the male and female symbols woven together. This meant hapless announcers were forced to refer to him by the clumsy soubriquet ―the artist formerly known as Prince‖. (The less reverential shortened it to TAFKAP.) Paisley Park, his home and studio complex in Minneapolis, is awash with purple, his signature colour. Access is strictly limited to those in his inner circle. Tape recorders and cameras are banned and he is not too comfortable with notebooks either, yet Prince is not above carrying out his religious obligations by going door to door with copies of The Watchtower. He has the diva‘s selfabsorption and apparent indifference to anything outside his art. Yet his mind snaps into action like a steel trap when discussing ticket sales or the bottom line. In the Nineties he pioneered the releasing of music via the internet, selling CDs from his own website in 1998 and via a download shop as early as 2001. Now he declares the internet is ―done for‖ and says he prefers to communicate face to face with actual human beings. He has shut down his websites and you will not find any of Prince‘s music on YouTube or iTunes. ―The internet is over,‖ he says. ―I do not need to discuss my opinions with the whole world. I do not learn anything if I sit in front of a flat screen. I only learn from real people.‖ As recently as July Prince told an interviewer, ―I‘m not part of the music industry any more.‖ Yet when he flies over to Britain to perform in The X Factor he will be steeped in that bread-and-butter activity of the music business, touring. So what is the real story of Prince? First he is an authentic musical prodigy who can play 25 instruments. Born in June 1958, his father John Nelson was a pianist and songwriter while his Italian-American mother Mattie was a singer. His father named him Prince Rogers after his jazz band, the Prince Roger Trio. John and Mattie split up a few years later and Prince went to live with his father. By the age of five he was touring with him. John Nelson was a Seventh Day Adventist which means he took a dim view when he caught his 12-year-old son in bed with a girl and threw him out. By then young Prince was already musically active in school bands and was signed up by Warner Brothers straight out of high school. He wrote and sang all the songs and played all the instruments on his debut album For You but the big breakthrough came in 1982 with the album 1999, which sold three million copies. Two years later Purple Rain sold 13 million copies and made him an international star. The single When Doves Cry stayed at Number 1 for six weeks. Second Prince is and always has been genuinely odd, as well as blessed with remarkable self-belief. Purple Rain was actually the soundtrack to a self-aggrandising film based on his life when he was still a relative newcomer to fame. The squiggle years began in 1993 on June 7, his birthday. Prince announced he was shedding his name because his record label had divested him of his identity ―in perpetuity‖. It took him another three years to break away and form his own label, New Power Generation. Throughout the Eighties and early Nineties the diminutive star (he is only 5ft 2in) was linked to a string of glamorous women, including the actresses Kim Basinger and Sherilyn Fenn and the Scottish singer Sheena Easton. But on Valentine‘s Day 1996 he married Mayte Garcia, one of his backing group. However the marriage could not withstand the trauma of their baby‘s death. Prince threw himself into touring while Mayte retreated to Minneapolis and the couple divorced in 1999. His next marriage in 2001 was to a Mayte lookalike named Manuela Testolini who worked for Prince‘s charity Love4OneAnother. Five years later that was over too. The guitarist Larry Graham, former bass player with Sly And The Family Stone, is credited with introducing Prince to the Jehovah‘s Witness faith. Securing Prince‘s services for The X Factor is undoubtedly another feather in Simon Cowell‘s cap. He had just better not bring a notebook with him.

But why, Prince, why Larry Graham? You his bitch? All to cost you your great style?

The Religious Affiliation with Pop Singer Prince

(Dec. 19, 2005)

Good article with lots of links and resources about Prince's life and his introduction into the Jehovah's Witnesses.

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY, PRINCE. RETURN TO THE DARK SIDE.

The Badness of the Internet and Other Foolish Statements from Quitegeist July 26, 2010 Also released that week, free with copies of the Daily Mirror, was Prince‘s new album 20Ten, accompanied by an interview with His Royal Badness in which he declared ―The internet is completely over‖ and ―All these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers‖. To celebrate the release of the legendary sex-midget‘s (probably shit) new album, Quitegeist has prepared a few Prince facts, as an excuse to show another picture of him looking ridiculous.



In 1987, despite half a million copies having already been pressed, Prince insisted his record company recall his latest CD ‘The Black Album’ after he had a spiritual epiphany that it was evil.



In 2001 Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness. “It’s like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix”, he explained.



Prince has needed double hip replacement since 2005 but it is against his Jehovah’s Witness faith to have the surgery. His condition has been worsened because he will only wear high heel shoes.

When heroes get religion I was upset when Anne Rice found God, and Beck turned out to be a Scientologist. What is it about their faith that puts me off?

Jessica Reed, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 August 2010 12.06 BST

Prince performs onstage on March 28, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Photograph by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images This doesn't make me especially proud, but last week's announcement that Anne Rice was to "quit being a Christian" while remaining committed to Christ made me smile. Rice made the annoucement on Facebook: "In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen" Amen indeed. Reading her statement, I felt a wave of smug pleasure reserved for those who feel they've been proven right. Rice was an atheist when she wrote the series of vampire books that coloured my teenage years, even though she later justified the presence of the diabolical creatures in her novels by explaining that she never glorified evil, and that "on the contrary, the continuing battle against evil is the subject of the work". Keen readers would disagree (Lestat's apostasy and his sensual mercenary ways, not glorified? Yeah, right!) and I, like many others, felt nothing but consternation when she announced her return to Catholicism back in 1998. The curse continued, as one by one seemingly all of my heroes came out as religious. A few years ago, indie musician Beck went public about his involvement with Scientology (my partner found this more depressing than Kurt Cobain's fate – "at least his suicide seemed to fit his own mythology, learning about Beck's faith just made me feel ill"). Juliette Lewis followed shortly after. Madonna, whom I adored as a teen, got

into Kabbalah (at least the religious overtones earlier in her career were more subversive). And worst of all Prince, whom I had followed compulsively since my childhood, announced in 2001 that his faith had take a new direction: he had chosen to become a Jehovah's Witness (going as far as handing out pamphlets door-to-door, leaving a trail of gobsmacked people in his wake). Why this feeling of superiority (some might say bigotry-lite) on my part? Does knowing that a favourite creator has a faith I disdain change the quality of their output? In most cases, religious conversion doesn't put me off so much that I give up buying their art entirely (that is unless they really go overboard – see John Travolta's Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000, one of the worst received movies ever). Prince's music, for example, has always had the imprint of his bizzarre brand of religious mysticism, and for the most part it has helped his music – pop masterpieces such as his song The Cross wouldn't exist otherwise. It does, however, change my perception of them as people. Christians have to live with (and defend themselves from) stereotypes that contain grains of truth: a lot of Christian denominations are closely associated with anti-choice, anti-science and antigay mindsets, which is why it breaks my heart to see my heroes joining their ranks. By evangelising while also not voicing their disapproval of some traits associated with Christianity, they add their tacit approval to groups perpetuating systems of oppression. The same goes for communists who are uncritical of their movement's past, for gender activists who don't acknowledge how feminism has historically failed working-class and minority women, or for libertarians unwilling to analyse the limitations of free speech. In other words, I find myself put off when believers of any kind broadcast their faith without any critical appendix. But Rice's pronouncement has also made me take a look at my own response to religion: when news of her statement came through, I assumed she'd come back to atheism and let out a small whoop of joy. In fact, she's still into Christ, but has made it clear she hates some of the baggage. That's a stance I can actually admire (though I still wish she'd come clean about Lestat and those other vampires). It's a rare thing when famous people get to explain their thinking in detail (and when they do, it can bepainful), but I'm glad Rice has chosen to do so.

Prince will have his say. some day, hopefully.

Prince believes in Angels The Bosh (7/21/10) "Prince – whose conversion to Jehovah’s Witnesses was his mother Mattie Shaw’s dying wish – goes out door-to-door to spread the word about his faith and try and get others to convert. "Although most people are surprised to have a pop superstar call at their house to talk about God, Prince insists most individuals are ―cool‖ with him." ______________

Mother's guilt gets Watchtower members in the end, again!

Album Review: Prince, '20Ten' (NPG) You can only hear this by buying a copy of The Mirror. Don't bother 

July 12, 2010 by Jason Draper NME article

Since his conversion to the Jehovah‘s Witness faith, Prince is far from the man who, in 1982, ―sincerely want[ed] to fuck the taste out of your mouth‖. These days he‘s more likely to wash it out with soap and sell you a Watchtower… The 52-year-old gets mad when judged by his sexual and musical revolutionary past, though he himself invites these comparisons: ‗20Ten‘ opens with ‗Compassion‘, a pale imitation of ‗1999‘‘s futurist jitter-funk, and of the album from which such questionable mouth-fucking chatups come. Prince today? A Xerox of a Xerox. He‘s also temporally challenged – not only loudly pronouncing the internet over (the print media, meanwhile, in the form of the Daily Mirror, already giving the album away for free, thanked Prince by – amazingly! – proclaiming it his best in 23 years…), but for sagely decreeing, on ‗Act Of God‘, that taxes go to build bomb-dropping planes ―Supposedly to keep us safe from Saddam.‖ Not so much of a threat these days since being hanged in December 2006, though, is

he? Then again, Prince has always lived in a different world. That was great when he effortlessly threw out mind-melting reconfigurations of pop likes ‗When Doves Cry‘ and ‗If I Was Your Girlfriend‘; but ‗effortless‘ is a very different thing from ‗making no effort‘… ‗20Ten‘ has its moments: ‗Sticky Like Glue‘ masquerades as a stop-start chicken-scratcher, before Prince drops a hideous rap and forgets to write an ending; ‗Walk In Sand‘ is a lovely quiet storm ballad… apart from that photocopier noise. Typically perverse, he buries the best, ‗Laydown‘, in ―hidden‖ territory, camouflaged as uncredited track 77. With complex synth lines and a convincing rap, Prince calls himself ―the Purple Yoda‖ on a spooky, ragged cut that hints at those once-otherworldly powers. His best album in 23 years? No way. His best in four? Eh, go on then; but that‘s a bit like saying, ―I had my best acid trip ever because this time my nan didn‘t crawl up my leg with a Bowie knife in her teeth, threatening to cut my nuts off and feed them back through my nose.‖ We don‘t expect – or even want – another ‗Housequake‘, but the least his majesty could do is more than phone in snooze-funk for a presumably hefty advance from a newspaper. Then again, it seems Prince has been more interested in studying popular science: ―All of the same minerals and chemicals of space/You carry within your womb/That‘s how we got to this place,‖ he informs his lover, suggesting, if such cosmological ponderings turn her on, perhaps he could be allowed to explore her anatomy. Boy, how those seduction techniques have changed... Jason Draper

Prince Disguises Himself On Jehovah's Witness Rounds July 6, 2010 from contactmusic.com

Religious singer PRINCE often dons a disguise when he embarks on door-to-door preaching campaigns in a bid to stop fans recognising him. The Purple Rain hitmaker famously became a Jehovah's Witness in 2001, and admits he often "freaked out" householders when he arrived on their doorstep to talk about his faith. But Prince now changes his appearance so his superstar status is not detected.

He tells Britain's Daily Mirror, "Sometimes people act surprised but mostly they're really cool about it... "My hair is capable of doing a lot of different things. I don't always look like this." And the star's mentor, former Sly & The Family Stone star Larry Graham, admits Prince has become so interested in the word of God, he can pore over details of the Bible for up to eight hours every day. He says, "Prince is a spiritual man. Sometimes we study for hours - six, seven, eight hours a day. We sit down and get into the scriptures."

Wow, Prince, how will you feel when you wake up and smell the coffee? You'll only be seen as a fool who lost his mojo.

Prince with a cross around his neck?

from the Daily Mirror article:

Prince will give new album 20TEN away free to Daily Mirror readers by Tom Bryant (3/7/2010 Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2010/07/03/prince-will-give-new-album-20ten-away-freeto-daily-mirror-readers-115875-22378301/#ixzz0spIFYaTk

Wow, let any OTHER Jehovah's Witness try wearing a cross. They would be disfellowshipped IMMEDIATELY. from the Watchtower's own website: "Suppose a loved one of yours was brutally murdered and the weapon was submitted to the court as evidence. Would you try to gain possession of the murder weapon, take photographs of it, and print many copies for distribution? Would you produce replicas of the weapon in various sizes? Would you then fashion some of them into jewelry? Or would you have these reproductions commercially manufactured and sold to friends and relatives to be venerated? Likely you would be repulsed at the idea! Yet, these very things have been done with the cross! "Besides, the use of the cross in worship is no different from the use of images in worship, a practice condemned in the Bible. (Exodus 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 4:25, 26) The apostle John accurately reflected the teachings of true Christianity when he admonished his fellow Christians with the words: 'Guard yourselves from idols.' (1 John 5:21) This they did even when it meant facing death in the Roman arena."

_______________

Where or when is the committee meeting with the elders going to be held? NOT!!! Prince declares "Internet is over"

Prince - world exclusive interview: Peter Willis goes inside the star's secret world So why did you decide to call the album 20TEN? I ask. "I just think it's a year that really matters," he says. These are very trying times." To emphasise the point he chivvies me into another room, switches on the TV and shows me clips from an evangelical TV documentary blaming corporate America for a range of woes from Hurricane Katrina to asthmatic children. He says one problem is that "people, especially young people, don't have enough God in their lives". Prince has been a devout Jehovah's Witness for more than 10 years. He even has a space set aside which he's labelled The Knowledge Room, with a library of religious books.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/07/05/prince-world-exclusive-interview-peterwillis-goes-inside-the-star-s-secret-world-115875-22382552/#ixzz0spFfuvy0

Prince must have been convinced by the latest Watchtower conventions and studies in the Watchtower magazine demonizing the internet. Is this really about money? I DON'T THINK SO.

Prince and Jehovah's Witnesses "All the signs are present for a typical conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses: disaffection with the system of things (the world and especially its entertainment), the intolerance of other religions or world views, disassociation with one's previous persona and habits, and an active evangelistic tone."

Prince Wears All Purple for July 2010 Ebony Magazine Cover EBONY Magazine just revealed Prince's latest look, and my, does he REALLY look like a Jehovah's Witness now! Wha? Legendary R&B singer Prince wears all purple everything on the cover of the new July 2010 issue of Ebony Magazine. In Prince’s feature, he talks religion (he used to go door-to-door as a Jehova’s Witness!), his love life and more. He also shows off some never-before-seen photos. Peep Ebony’s excerpt of the issue, which hit newsstands yesterday. --from http://gossiponthis.com/2010/06/09/prince-ebony-magazine-cover/#ixzz0qU4pLQFZ They say,

In a rare interview, the incomparable Prince grants Ebony unprecedented access within the inner courts of the famed Pai outside of Minneapolis. During this 12-hour encounter, the musical genius opens up in his own way about topics ranging going door-to-door as a Jehovah’s Witness and about his priorities regarding his relationship with Bria Valente. As the pop 52, fans can celebrate his life and music with this keepsake July issue featuring him in his own words and signature neverphotos.

Prince and his conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses

Prince – “Cause And Effect” (2/27/10) Another Purple One premiere for Minnesota Public Radio, which we can ride with. Prince is bolstering his hometown indie’s page view count by giving them his second new track of the past few months (don’t forget the Jehovah’s Witness hymnal masquerading as Vikings fight song ―Purple & Gold‖ … actually, maybe do). It’s a Princely revue that takes surf rock as its base, passing it through some funk and prog-rock filters, but it’s the lyrics stick out. ―There’s something on the tip of my tongue, I’ve got a taste for sin.‖ Old Prince! ―I’m made in the image of God.‖ New Prince! Really it’s reconciling his biographical extremes with this operative line: ―If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing but my next of kin / If you stamp your passport full of regret you’ll have nothing to remember but a lot to forget.‖ He’s a holy roller, but still can count off each position from those one-night stands. Dude’s fascinating. Musically this is not a breakthrough of any sort, but I abide by the self-referential, especially when there’s so many selves for him to reference. There will be no new fans, but listen up if you are into the man. source: http://stereogum.com/280962/prince-cause-and-effect/mp3s/

7/23/09 Discussion on Prince.org: Why Is Prince STILL a Jehovah's Witness?

see also: The Death of Michael Jackson Interesting articles: Prince may need new double hip operation, but refuses surgery (June 9, 2009) "...the real buzz on Prince is that his much reported hip problems of the past have now turned into need for a double hip replacement. Unfortunately, thanks to his practice as a Jehovah’s Witness, Prince still refuses surgery. JW’s don’t believe in blood transfusions." Get Hip, Prince. Or Perhaps Two (June 9, 2009) "Back in 2005, it was reported the pop icon Prince was in desperate need of hip replacement surgery. He has yet to have the procedure, as the artist is a Jehovah’s Witness ... Though there was talk of a 'secret surgery' to fix the problem, Prince has been seen walking with cane and there are now reports that the injury has intensified." Prince is not Gay, But He is a Fancy Lesbian (April 2009) The Revolution Will Be Harmonized (April 2009) Prince Going Door to Door in LA (Nov 2008) Prince preaches as a Jehovah’s Witness door to door in LA (Nov 2008) Prince and the Jehovah's Witnesses (2004) Famous Jehovah's Witnesses

Discussions: On Being Prince and A Jehovah's Witness (Sep 2008) Do you think Prince will ever leave the Jehovah's Witnesses? (Mar 2009) Prince fans have recently become aware of his conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses, but few are aware of just how much that is affecting his music and lifestyle as well. According to Rick Ross, nationally known cult expert, he has even re-written some of the lines to his old songs, not just inserting religion into the new ones: Four years ago the funkster converted reportedly to satisfy his mother’s dying wish, but since then Prince has gone so far as to add religious lyrics to his theme song ―Purple Rain.‖ The new line in the song goes, ―Say you can’t make up your mind? I think you better close it and open up the Bible.‖

According to the Mirror (UK), Her dying wishes were for him to become a Jehovah's Witness, as she had been for most of her life, and to see him married. He tied the knot with Mani weeks before his mother passed away and six months after the death of his father, pianist and bandleader John L Nelson.

Prince is also active in going door-to-door, and in unusual style for a Jehovah's Witness, according to a blog at atheism.about.com: Evidently, Prince proselytizes door- to-door just like other Witnesses - but unlike other Witnesses, he participates in the "System" in ways that would normally be shunned. When he does proselytize, according to Ross, he goes in a limo with four bodyguards and tailor-made suits. Pity that all Witnesses aren't given the same latitude - but they can't contribute millions to the cause like Prince can. You don't suppose that has anything to do with it, do you?

There is an unofficial Prince fan community site that is quite active in discussing this issue. A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly provides some insight into the new Prince: Two nights after the L.A. concert, Prince is backstage before a sound check at the Glendale Arena outside Phoenix, a city named, appropriately enough, after the fiery, feathered avatar of resurrection. Clad in a black sleeveless tunic and cranberry pants, Prince takes a plate from his bodyguard and loads it up with fruit, pasta slathered in cream sauce, and salad. Yes, Prince eats. He also goes to the multiplex. Last night, after his show in Bakersfield, Calif., he and his band unwound by checking out Kevin Smith's latest flick, Jersey Girl, a so so departure from his usual lewd-and-crude comedies. Prince was unimpressed. Not that the 45-year-old, happily married, devout Jehovah's Witness can't appreciate a cleaner act; he himself has scrubbed from his set list staples like "Head" and "Jack U Off." It's just that according to Prince, Smith didn't replace it with anything interesting. "We walked out after an hour," he sniffs. "Guess that's what happens when the potty mouth don't work for you anymore." .... Hearing him talk about ordinary things is almost a shock. He speaks in hushed-voice gushes-megabyte downloads of wit, logic, and Christian evangelism. The second off-limits topic is Prince's past...which rules out almost everything else you'd want to discuss with him. "I've changed. I'm a different person. I'm about the present and moving forward. New joke, new anecdote, new lesson to be discovered," he says." "You know that old lady in Sunset Boulevard, trapped in her mansion and past glories? Getting ready for her close-up? I don't run with that." Even so, Prince begins concerts with a self-venerating video quoting extensively from a speech by Alicia Keys at his Hall induction. Much of what has changed in Prince's life has occurred in the several years since he committed to the Jehovah's Witness faith. His music has always wrestled with Christian-tinged spirituality, but Prince says he didn't start reading the Bible until he'd become a Witness. His religious fervor was evident in the 2001 concept album The Rainbow Children, which was roundly knocked by critics. (Prince also attempted to produce an evangelical video based on the album directed by...Kevin Smith, whose surreal tale of working with Prince can be found on the DVD An Evening With Kevin Smith. "I'm cool with him not liking Jersey Girl," says Smith. "I f---ing hated his album Crystal Ball, so now we're even.") As a result of his faith, Prince has developed an uncharacteristic modesty. In concert, he's taken to changing "I'm your messiah and you're the reason why" in "I Would Die 4 U" to "He's your messiah..." Still, it appears he has some kinks to work out in squaring his dogma with his golden-god persona. Asked if he feels he's alienated his fans over the years, Prince says: "No. The love has never left. I've always felt that there were people in my corner. It's a gift, that God gives us the chance to feel such love. Arid it's all for His glory: I don't believe in idol worship. That's why I don't sign autographs. When I get asked for my autograph, I say no and tell them why, because I'm giving them something to think about." This from a man who often prompts his concert audiences to scream his name. Ironies, contradictions, and exceptions escape Prince like doves from a cage.

There is also the predicament of his own potty-mouthed past-the one where he sang of erotic cities and a love that is soft and wet. But Prince has this problem solved as well. He doesn't perform those songs anymore. The founding father of the warning label freely concedes he's come full circle since he scandalized Tipper Gore with the word masturbating in "Darling Nikki." "Look at this situation with the FCC after Janet: We've gone too far now. We've pushed the envelope off the table and forgotten there was a table. You can't push the envelope any further than I pushed it. So stop! What's the point?"

partial quotes from Entertainment Weekly, April 23, 2004, p. 29-32 Rolling Stone magazine offers some additional insights: It's hard to tell precisely what counts for the more easygoing Prince. He refuses to speak about any aspect of his private life, but his becoming a Jehovah's Witness a few years back has seemingly brought him a good deal of spiritual calm. The religion's combination of absolute certainty and convoluted interpretive zeal suits him perfectly. He began his remarks at the Hall of Fame induction by offering "all praise and thanks to the most high Jehovah," and his additional declaration there that "too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay" should be read as his acceptance of the strict tenets of that faith. In consequence, he has expunged all profanity from his language and refuses to perform any of his racier songs - no "Darling Nikki," no "Head," no "Gett Off." And speaking of sexual decorum, Musicology, among its other subjects, is a paean to monogamy ("Eye see U picked me out like U want something/But shame on U, baby, can't U see this ring?"). And Prince has even become an unlikely advocate for cleaning up the airwaves. "This culture is in big trouble," he insists. "All you see on television are debased images...." .... More personally, Prince's marriage to twenty-seven-year-old Manuela Testolini in 2001 seems also to have settled him. Beautiful, slender and soft-spoken, she was by his side virtually every moment he wasn't on-stage in Cleveland. The past seven years or so have not been easy for Prince. The child he had with his first wife, Mayte Garcia, died from a rare illness after living for only a week. The couple's marriage ended not long after that. Both his parents passed away. Amid all that loss, remarriage and faith appear to have come as great, restorative gifts.

partial quotes from Rolling Stone, May 27, 2004, p. 56-60 All the signs are present for a typical conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses: disaffection with the system of things (the world and especially its entertainment), the intolerance of other religions or world views, disassociation with one's previous persona and habits, and an active evangelistic tone. Prince has revealed much of this in interviews. He goes door-to-door, albeit in a fashion unlike any other Jehovah's Witness, but that was also the case with Michael Jackson, a former Witness himself. (Michael used to go in disguise however, Prince does not.) How long will Prince remain a Witness? If he is still down deep as independent as he has been in the past, he may ruffle some feathers with the big boys in Brooklyn. Perhaps he will "reach an agreement" with the Watchtower leaders to quietly disassociate himself once they are tired of trying to explain him to the outside world. Or perhaps he will just become too conflicted with his past and retire from the stage someday. Will he become another victim of cult mind control breakdown? At any rate, for now it looks like he is "dug in" for the long haul. Perhaps when he

becomes aware that the Watchtower is run by psychopaths, he may reconsider his devotion to this self-styled "one true church."

Sunday, August 23, 2009 from http://www.twentyfourbit.com/

Prince Wants to Work for Obama, Turn White House Purple? I‘m not sure how Prince could go from not even casting a vote in the presidential election, saying ―I got no dog in that race,‖ to wanting to work for President Obama months later, but if the White House‘s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Van Jones, is to be believed, that‘s exactly what happened. Check out this excerpt from Jet magazine (not yet available online): Van Jones, Obama‘s special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told JET that celebrities including Russell Simmons and Prince have contacted him looking for ways to join Obama‘s team. Celebrities vying for jobs at the White House is certainly not news to me (actor Kal Penn left hit show House to be an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement), but look at what Prince told Tavis Smiley in April on his reasons for not voting (via Jezebel‘s Tracie Egan): Well, the reason why is because I‘m one of Jehovah‘s Witnesses and we‘ve never voted. That‘s not to say that I don‘t think Barack Obama—President Obama—is a very smart individual and he seems like he means well. Prophecy is what we all have to go by now. Perhaps he simply wants to bring said prophecy to the leader of the free world. And far be it from Prince to leave his Crystal Ball at home.

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The Purple One

53 things you might not know about Prince By Andrea Swensson & Jen Boyles Tue., Jun. 7 2011 at 11:14 AM 24 Comments Categories: The Purple One

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A November 1984 issue of City Pages

Devoted Gimme Noise readers already know that we're big fans of Prince around these parts -- we even have an entire wing of our blog roped off for Purple One-related posts. So when we heard today is Prince's 53rd birthday, we jumped at the chance to geek out and compile a list of some lesserknown tidbits about our state's most iconic musician. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called Prince Rogers Nelson's Day of Birth. Here are 53 factoids to help you celebrate this glorious day. Release the doves and let's go crazy.

1. In 1985, Prince owned a white T-bird and could often be seen driving it around North Minneapolis. 2. Prince's dad, John Nelson, led the "Prince Rogers" jazz trio, which eventually became John's nickname, and then Prince's official name.

3. Prince's mom's name is Mattie Shaw, and he says she's responsible for his "wild side." 4. Prince is the official pioneer of "the Minneapolis sound" heralded by music mags throughout the '80s. 5. Prince wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U" about bandmate Wendy Melvoin's sister Susannah Melvoin, a song that became famous when Sinead O'Connor covered it. 6. Prince was called "Skipper" when he was a little boy. 7. In a 1985 article in Rolling Stone, Prince says Bobby Z is his best friend, though he's "not a spectacular drummer." He says he keeps him on because Bobby's drumming is a reaction to what Prince does on stage. 8. When Prince's alias was the unpronounceable symbol, some staffers at Paisley Park just referred to him as "the dude." 9. At 13, he formed Grand Central, his first band, with some high school friends. 10. Because First Avenue doesn't have much for a backstage area, many of the scenes that take place offstage but inside the nightclub in Prince's feature film Purple Rain had to be filmed offsite. 11. Prince intended Purple Rain to be darker. 12. Prince said he used to get physically ill from depression during the "Dirty Mind" era. 13. There were many early comparisons of Prince to Jimi Hendrix, and Prince toldRolling Stone in a cover story that's "only because he's black."

Prince with Gayngs' Ryan Olson at First Avenue

14. Prince was spotted all over downtown Minneapolis nightclubs in 2009 but often would leave 10 minutes after he arrived. In 2010, he made several cameo appearances to catch shows at First Avenue, including almost joining Gayngs on stage during their album release show, but each time he

would slip out of the club just as attendees were about to fly into a tizzy. 15. Prince is 5'2" tall. 16. Because of his status as a Jehovah's Witness, Prince refuses to swear in his songs or regularly sing those that championed sexual freedom (e.g. "Darling Nikki", "Little Red Corvette"). 17. Aside from Sheila's E's first album, Prince's Paisley Park label did not produce any Billboardcharting hits outside Prince's own. 18. The vocals on gender-bending track "If I Was Your Girlfriend" from Sign O The Timesare said to be that of Prince's female alter-ego, Camille. 19. Warner Brothers sought a return on their investment in Paisley Park, which led to some artists recording there against Prince's wishes. 20. Actress Kim Basinger in one of Prince's few non-brunette exes. They broke up in 1990. 21. NBA star Carlos Boozer was Prince's Los Angeles landlord in 2006 and he later sued The Purple one for painting his symbol on the house's exterior and installing monogrammed carpeting. 22. The lawsuit was dismissed when Prince's lawyers alleged Boozer collected the $70K/month rent with no complaint. 23. Prince married Mayte Garcia in 1996 in Minneapolis. White doves were released after the ceremony. They divorced several years later and Mayte began dating Tommy Lee. 24. Prince and Mayte had a child, Boy Gregory, who, according to the Star Tribune, died a week after birth due to a rare skull defect. 25. Prince dissolved the Revolution in 1986 when he dismissed Wendy & Lisa from the group. They had creative differences over the newest non-musician members Prince had invited into the band. 26. Dr. Fink, keyboardist for the Revolution, said during their early years they used to run into Bob Seger on tour, and Prince would ask why he was so popular. 27. The motorcycle Prince rides in Purple Rain is a customized Honda. 28. Spaghetti and orange juice was Prince's favorite meal during his early years with the Revolution. 29. Prince loved Billy Crystal's impersonation of him on SNL. 30. In the early '80s in Los Angeles, one of Prince's bodyguards was accused of assault when he

allegedly tried to stop a photographer from getting into Prince's car. 31. That incident happened on the night of the "We Are The World" recording. 32. Prince would stay awake for days on end when he was in the studio.

33. Prince said Morris Day criticized him a lot early on. Incidentally, Morris also played Prince's antagonist in Purple Rain. Some sources say the two had a scuffle at First Avenue. 34. Tevin Campbell's "Round & Round" hit single was produced by Prince. 35. Prince's 1990 feature film, Graffiti Bridge, was a box-office and critical flop. 36. To prepare the cast for Purple Rain, Prince enrolled them in classes at Minnesota Dance Theatre. 37. Prince's second-ever television appearance was on American Bandstand in 1980 at the age of 19. After the performance, Dick Clark said, "This is not the kind of music that comes from Minneapolis, Minnesota." 38. Prince is a self-taught musician and producer. His first album, For You, was done completely alone. 39. Prince produced trio Vanity 6, whereas the 6 refers to the breast count.

40. Wendy and Lisa's only songwriting contribution to any Prince album was "Computer Blue." 41. In 1984, Prince accomplished something only the Beatles had one before him: He was topping charts simultaneously with an album, a film and a single (Purple Rain and "When Doves Cry," respectively).

42. Prince started dating singer and Minneapolis native Bria Valente in 2007 (real name Brenda Fuentes), and during their time together she became a Jehovah's Witness as well. 43. In 1975, Prince was a member of Minneapolis band 94 East. 44. Prince played electric guitar on Madonna's "Like A Prayer." 45. When Apollonia had to kiss Prince inPurple Rain, she was dating David Lee Roth. 46. Prince removed the bassline from "When Doves Cry" to make it darker and more syncopated. 47. Prince once paid a salon in Washington, D.C., to close down, black out all the windows, and do his hair. 48. Prince was just blocks away from the site of John Lennon's murder when it happened.

49. The yellow guitar Prince famously played in the "Gett Off" video is encased at the Smithsonian. 50. Prince named his "Graffiti Bridge" film after a decrepit bridge in a Twin Cities suburb. It has since been torn down. 51. Prince used to hang out at a McDonald's on Plymouth Avenue on the North Side, where he'd stand outside and smell the food when he didn't have money. 52. Prince's father was not a gun-toting maniac as portrayed in the film Purple Rain. Prince said his father never swore, never drank, and that he always thought his dad was cool. 53. Many of Prince's early chart-toppers were recorded in a warehouse in Eden Prairie, MN.

The 20 best Prince songs you've never heard

From the 50-minute epic guitar workout Billy to the minimalist electro funk of Love, Matt Thorne, author of a new biography of the purple one, chooses 20 little-known Prince gems          

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10 inShare0 Email Matt Thorne The Guardian, Thursday 27 September 2012 15.40 BST Jump to comments (68)

The purple one in concert, 2007. Photograph: Frank Micelotta

When Prince plays a big show, the setlist is familiar. He knows people want Purple Rain, Kiss and Cream and seems happy to keep delivering them. But catch him at a small club and you'll hear a different mix, songs that mean as much to him and his hardcore fans as the tracks that made him famous. His back catalogue is rich with little-known gems. Hundreds of bootlegged tracks have yet to achieve official release. Here's a top 20 of the best of Prince's deep cuts, unreleased songs, and live-only favourites. Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 20. F.U.N.K. (internet-only, 2007) Prince has alwasy seemed dubious about fan-sites in his honour. In 2007, a group of beleaguered websites banded together and formed "Prince Fans United" to stand up to perceived persecution from the man himself. Prince immediately defused the situation by sending site moderators this hilariously nasty song in which he simultaneously disses everyone who loves his music and reminds them that – deep down – he still loves them. 19. U Will B … With Me (unreleased, 2011) Prince normally produces at least one album a year, but has been unusually quiet recently. Collaborations with Sly and The Family Stone's Larry Graham and young protege Andy Allo are due out this autumn, but for the moment new songs are confined to live shows and occasionally leaked to radio, such as this vicious putdown of a love-rival's inability to match Prince's income. 18. Just as Long As We're Together (For You, 1978) This track from Prince's first album, For You, was his most important early song. He demoed it five times on the way to the studio, including test-pressings for CBS and Warner Brothers to prove his ability to play multiple instruments

and produce himself. A sweet love song, it showcases Prince's early Stevie Wonder-esque skills. Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 17. Can I Play With U? (unreleased, 1985) Prince and jazz superstar Miles Davis quickly became good friends. But they collaborated on only a handful of songs, of which this is the most significant. More pop-Prince than dark magus funk, it feels more like the start of a conversation than a definitive statement, but it's a fascinating fusion of styles. Unfortunately, Prince wasn't satisfied and blocked official release of the song. 16. Billy (unreleased, 1984) The kind of song Prince could never officially release, Billy sounds how stoner-doom merchants Sleep orEarth might if they went funk, consisting of more than 50 minutes of guitar riffing accompanied by Prince repeating the gnomic statement: "Hey Billy, where d'you get those sunglasses?" Prince - Dance with the Devil (Unreleased) by abelflexes Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 15. Dance With The Devil (unreleased, 1989) Getting Prince to do the soundtrack for Tim Burton's Batman represented good creative synergy for Warner Brothers, but the best song Prince recorded for the project was nixed. This warning about the lure of wickedness reveals how Prince's vision of the battle between good and evil was much darker than Burton's take. 14 Future Soul Song (20Ten, 2010) The standout track on Prince's last official album, 20Ten, a record that – as with Planet Earth three years earlier – Prince gave away with a newspaper. Unlike the rest of the record, which felt rushed and throwaway, it was clear Prince had spent real time crafting this laidback velvet-plush love song and no surprise when it emerged that the song dated from earlier sessions. 13 The War (tape-release, 1998) Prince's weirdest record, a 26-minute apocalyptic rant with Prince intoning Gil Scott Heron-style about the bad things the government wants to do to you and how we're all going to end up with microchips in our necks. Playing it live, Prince would baffle British audiences by demanding to know how many of them owned guns and being surprised when few answered in the affirmative. Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 12 Love (3121, 2006) Prince's 2006 album 3121 was the last time he tried to compete with what was in the charts, producing a rap and R&Binfluenced record stuffed with great songs (3121, Fury, Black Sweat) that would revitalise his live performance. Love was the very best of these, not

the soft ballad the title might suggest but instead Prince complaining about his partner to a backing of minimalist electro-funk. 11 Moonbeam Levels (unreleased, 1982) Prince once considered writing a novel. This early outtake starts out as a description of this creative process, before turning into a strangely beguiling sci-fi song, suggesting that he chose the right career route. 10 Xenophobia (One Nite Alone…Live!, 2002) Prince's straight jazz records pleased few, being too smooth and poppy for the jazz cognoscenti and too experimental for the masses. This song, a highlight of Prince's live boxset One Nite Alone … is the exception, an angry horn-driven jam which Prince would perform to a somewhat prosaic video of passengers being hassled as they came through customs while intoning "You must remove your shoes" in a scary tonebox-altered Darth Vader voice. 9 Space (Universal Love Remix, maxi-single, 1994) In the 90s, Prince often seemed more interested in remixing his songs than recording them. Of the many long EPs of alternative versions he's put out, this woozy re-do of a song about leaving earth after a doomed relationship is what the Curiosity Rover should really be beaming from Mars. 8 Colonized Mind (Lotusflow3r, 2009) In a hotel suite in New York, I witnessed Prince bring a roomful of celebs to silence with this song, in which he details what's gone wrong with the world and delivers his best Hendrix-inspired guitar-work to date. Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 7 Mutiny (The Family, 1985) While Nothing Compares 2 U is the most famous track Prince wrote for proteges The Family, Mutiny is the best. When Paul Peterson left the band, Prince performed the song live for much of the following year, using it to attack him by getting the audience to chant that the poor former frontman was the "punk of the month" as the song grew ever longer, funkier and more aggressive. 6 Empty Room (C-Note, 2003) To date, Prince has yet to write a breakup album like Blood on the Tracks or Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds's The Boatman's Call. The closest he's come is a handful of songs he wrote after splitting with Susannah Melvoin, the sister of his collaborator in the Revolution, Wendy Melvoin. This is among the bleakest and most beautiful, regularly the highlight of his run of aftershows at the O2's Indigo club. 5 Wasted Kisses (New Power Soul, 1998) A hidden track from Prince's least highly regarded record, New Power Soul. Even the album's engineer thinks New Power Soul is the worst album Prince ever made, but the promo people were floored by this haunting noir-playlet set in a hospital and couldn't understand why it wasn't the lead single.

4 All My Dreams (unreleased,1985) Before getting rid of two of his closest collaborators, Wendy & Lisa (and disbanding the Revolution), Prince recorded several records worth of songs, most of which have never been released. For this song, Prince told Lisa to "sing like you're Bette Davis" while showing the band 1930s-era movies for inspiration. 3 Others Here With Us (unreleased, 1985) Did Prince invent witchhouse? No, of course not, but 24 years before Salem, Balam Acab and the rest of the creaky-coffin brigade, Prince sat down with his new Fairlight synthesizer and utilised all of its spookiest samples for this creepy song about the death of a baby and the suicide of a boy's uncle. Prince - Electric Intercourse [Live 1983] by Vilosophe Reading this on mobile? Click here to view. 2 Electric Intercourse (unreleased, 1983) Prince dumped this song from Purple Rain after coming up with The Beautiful Ones. Had he released this electro-rock power ballad, he might still be using it to close shows. Containing some of his most emotionally affecting guitar, it has all the heart of Purple Rain and none of the bombast. 1 Crystal Ball (unreleased, 1998) An edited version of this song appeared in 1998, but the full track remains unreleased. A long mysterious number about making love during the apocalypse, Brent Fischer, who helped arrange the 50-piece orchestra, remembers Prince telling him "it was the most important thing he'd done in his life". Preacher Prince: ‘I Am Something That You’ll Never Comprehend’ Not so fast, Prince—Touré has some theories By Desiree Browne 3/18/13 5:13pm Share this:

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Prince, circa 1990. (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images) ―I can‘t recall the first time I heard Prince,‖ Touré, author of the new book I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon, said in a recent interview. ―He seems to have always been part of my life.‖ The product of about two years of work, the book is, first and foremost, a love letter, as heartfelt as it is exhaustively researched. It is less a biography than an explanation of Prince‘s power to speak to and for a generation. What is it, precisely, that makes ―When Doves Cry‖ both danceable and poignant? Touré‘s is hardly the first book on Prince, and it is unlikely to be the last. Bookended between Dave Hill‘s Prince: A Pop Life and Liz Jones‘s Purple Reign: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, there is virtually an entire library devoted to the runic pop star and his output. ―I thought there was still room for a very thoughtful book about him,‖ Touré told The Observer, ―and more so than the books about him, I was looking at the book that Greg Tate did about Jimi Hendrix and the book that Margo Jefferson did about Michael Jackson.‖ Both are books that try to understand the swirling cultural dust that aided in their subjects‘ star formation. I Would Die 4 U came out of a series of lectures Touré gave at Harvard while he was working on his last book, 2011‘s Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? which accounts for the Prince book‘s almost conversational approach. Through interviews with associates and with the man himself, musicology, psychoanalysis and sociological research, Touré presents, among other things, a provocative thesis: that Prince has been feeding his audience sex while Prince himself has been looking for God. The book’s exegesis—what makes Prince Prince?—is anchored by an in-depth discussion of Generation X. Touré, 41, doesn‘t just want to know why Prince was great. He also wants to understand why he was important to his generation. Prince is a baby boomer, but his music speaks to people who scoffed at the optimism of the 1960s; he may have become wildly popular because he made lots of very, very good music and delivered electrifying shows, but he also lucked into, as Touré puts it, ―good historical timing.‖ His most famous works, the film Purple Rain and its soundtrack, coincided with the early days of MTV; his hypersexual persona was on screen at a time when pornography was becoming more and more mainstream. Touré attributes this slow acceptance to Americans‘ new ability to view porn in their homes thanks to the VCR and even to the ability to discuss sexual desires on private phone lines. Prince acted as a sort of ―cool older brother,‖ Touré writes, guiding an embattled generation through a spike in divorce rates, a bad economy, the threat of nuclear war and, especially, the terrifying aspects of sex in the time of AIDS. As for the other scary stuff that faced Gen Xers, Prince got it because he‘d had similar experiences, albeit a little earlier. ―He‘s there as this sort of outlet, so that if you‘re nervous about having sex, you can sort of have sex via his music and the intensity of sexual discussion,‖ Touré said. It‘s this intensity that fans responded to and that Touré loves. In a chapter called ―The King of Porn Chic,‖ he dissects, down to the last moan, some of Prince‘s raciest songs, like ―Lady Cab Driver‖ and ―International Lover.‖ The bare buttocks in chaps, the lingerie—Prince set out to ―embody pure sex,‖ he shocked and

titillated. But the former Seventh-Day Adventist also wanted to thrill his audiences with the body-shaking power of God. Christianity is at the core of much of Prince‘s music, something fans may not be able to hear above the beats. ―The amount of discussion of sex is this much,‖ Touré said, holding his hands a foot apart, ―and the amount of discussion of religion and spirituality and God and Jesus is this much‖— doubling the space between his hands. In the book, Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson tells Touré, ―There‘s maybe three Prince personas. One of them is a very calculated marketing mind. That‘s where the ‗embodying pure sex‘ thing comes from. Another of them is ‗I‘m gonna be the baddest musician there ever was.‘ And then there‘s the guy who really is thoughtful and introspective and holds religious considerations close to his heart and ponders those questions sincerely and genuinely and deeply. And those are the three guys who, over the years, have vied for the microphone.‖ Touré mines one of Prince‘s most popular, danciest records, 1999, and finds religious messages hiding in plain sight. The narrator is calm in the face of impending nuclear war (―Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?‖) and wants to party while waiting for the end. For those with unshakable faith, the end of the world isn‘t so bad because heaven is on the other side. In interviews, religious scholars tell Touré that Prince‘s attitude toward the end of days is in line with Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs. More central to Prince‘s religious message is ―Let‘s Go Crazy.‖ It‘s Prince as preacher, telling us religion is fun and will keep us happy in the face of life‘s troubles. (―Dearly beloved / We are gathered here today / to get through this thing called life‖; ―Things are much harder here than in the afterworld.‖) Who needs doctors and experts? (―So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills / You know the one, Dr. Everything Will Be Alright.‖) The lyrics are his sermon, the music infused with gospel tropes. That famous guitar solo at the end is akin to speaking in tongues. Then we get to what may be the central question with regard to Prince‘s music and faith: how does a man so enthusiastic about carnal desires balance that with religious belief? Sex and religion aren‘t warring with one another in Prince‘s music, Touré explains. It made perfect sense to Prince for ―Erotic City‖ to be the B-side to ―Let‘s Go Crazy.‖ The bouncy ―Let‘s Pretend We‘re Married‖ has him saying ―I don‘t mean to be nasty / but I sincerely want to fuck the taste out of your mouth‖ but ends with the very traditionally Christian ―I‘m in love with God / He‘s the only way.‖ Sex and lust aren‘t the antithesis to worshipping God; they‘re two sides of the same cassette. ―This image of sexuality as something that was godly, that was part of the worship of God, is profound and it‘s not cockamamie,‖ Touré said. ―This is a pre-Christian idea that was taken very seriously at one time in history.‖ When Prince became a Jehovah‘s Witness in 2001, many saw it as a weird move by an aging rock star who‘d finally lost it. But religion was always at the heart of his dynamic, raunchy, moving music. In I Would Die 4 U, Prince‘s former band members explain that he always wanted to guide people and be more than a musician. We can‘t count converts, but Touré thinks Prince achieved his mission. ―This individual is pursuing a mission that‘s a bit more like what Jesus did, out among the lepers and the prostitutes, ministering to people who don‘t want the message, who don‘t expect it to come, who aren‘t looking for it at all. ‗You promised me that there would be sex.‘ ‗Well, there is and there was and there will be, but let me talk to you about Jesus Christ a little bit. And actually a lot.‘‖ As for the question of what makes ―When Doves Cry‖ both danceable and poignant, Touré leaves that one to Questlove of the Roots, and the answer, it turns out, isn‘t all that mystical: the song doesn‘t have a bass line.

Read more at http://observer.com/2013/03/preacher-prince-i-am-something-that-youll-nevercomprehend/#ixzz2poZqDhGn Follow us: @newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook20 Things You

Didn't Know About 'Purple Rain' By Lucy Jones Posted on 10 Dec 12

In the summer of 1984 the soundtrack to „Purple Rain‟ hit the top of the charts and stayed there for a very long time. The film would come out a month later and quickly become a cult classic and must-see for Prince fans. Nestled in the soundtrack was, of course, the title track opus „Purple Rain‟ itself. Eight minutes of slow-burn, red-hot emo joy. Here are 20 things you might not know about the unholy triptych.

1 Prince initially asked Stevie Nicks to write lyrics for 'Purple Rain'. "It was so overwhelming, that 10-minute track... I listened to it and I just got scared," she said. "I called him back and said, 'I can't do it. I wish I could. It's too much for me.” And so Prince went his own way and „Purple Rain‟ was born.

2 „Purple Rain‟ was originally a whopping 11 minutes long. A verse and chorus were cut, apparently because the theme of money was deemed inappropriate. The original lyrics are as follows: Honey I don't want your money, no, no. I don't even think I want your love. If I wanted either one I would take your money and, I want the heavy stuff.

3 The song was recorded during a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis on August 3, 1983. It was the first time Wendy (who actually wrote the first chords of the song) of Wendy + Lisa played live as part of The Revolution before. I'd say that's not a bad debut.

4 Prince was so worried that the song sounded too similar to Journey‟s „Faithfully‟ that he called Jonathan Cain and asked him what he thought. Cain OK'd it because the power ballads only shared a few chords. Bet he's kicking himself now.

5 The film pulled in an almighty $68,392,977 and only cost $7million to make.

6 Each verse of „Purple Rain‟ is about a group of people in The Kid‟s life: his parents, Appolonia and his band mates.

7 The lead female role was supposed to be Prince‟s girlfriend Vanity but she left Prince just before filming. After Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) turned down the role, Apollonia 6 was drafted in, and pretty good she was too.

8 Prince won an Oscar for the now defunct category Best Original Song Score for „Purple Rain‟ in 1984.

9 The "Purple Rain" soundtrack spent 24 weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard charts although the title track only hit Number 2.

10

„Darling Nikki‟, one of the songs on the soundtrack, caused a diplomatic incidence when Tipper Gore decided it was way too fruity for children‟s ears. “A sex fiend... masturbating with a magazine” led to Parental Advisory stickers.

11 Fans have been trying to work out the meaning of "purple rain" for decades now. Some believe it‟s about the end of the world, a theme Prince was interested in mid-80s. This quote from His Royal Badness suggests the apocalypse wasn‟t far from his mind: When there‟s blood in the sky - red and blue = purple.. purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god"guide you through the purple rain Right...

12 Prince carried around a big purple note book with sketches, notes and ideas for the script during the 1999 tour. Imagine leaving that on the train.

13 Rumour has it Morris Day, arguably the star of the film, wasn't invited to its premiere. He had to rely on Pepe Willie, the founder of funk group 94 East married to Prince‟s cousin, to get him a ticket. Ouch.

14 According to director Albert Magnoli, Prince had a hefty bank of 100 songs for the bank and „When Doves Cry‟ and „Take Me With You‟ were not on the original slate. What a genius.

15 The screenwriter William Blinn wanted to call the film „Dreams‟ but Prince insisted “purple” was in the title of the film, thank God.

16

A football club in Frankfurt recently recorded the worst cover of „Purple Rain‟ ever.

17 Attention guitar geeks. According to Chopin Gard, life-long Prince fan, Prince played a Hohner MADCAT at the First Avenue gig. It was a cheap copy of the Fender Telecaster and he bought it for $200 at a local Minneapolis guitar shop called Knut Koupe. Fender sued, fought for the production rights and are making a reissue.

18 It wasn‟t reported at the time but Wendy and Lisa were a couple during “Purple Rain‟ and for 20 years afterwards.

19 According to band mate Lisa Coleman, the song symbolises “a new beginning. Purple, the sky at dawn; rain, the cleansing factor.”

20 The strange, distorted vocals at the end of „Darling Nikki‟ during the sound of rain storm are an extra verse played backwards ("backmasked") through a vinyl player: Hello, how are you? I'm fine 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon Coming, coming soon." Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/20-things-you-didntknow-about-purple-rain#lgXIdj5tV01hHLRb.99