Prince

Prince Biography

Prince Rogers Nelson was a singer, dancer, actor, philanthropist and composer of the United States, renowned for his innovative songs, excellent work, extravagant staging, costumes, appearance, and vocal quality. In his musical career, he made songs of genres such as funk, R & B, new wave, soul, blues, rock, and jazz; so, he is recognized as one of the most successful singers in the history of music. He was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the son of John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw.

From a very young age he was interested in music, and at the age of 7, he began to learn how to play the piano that his father had left at home before being separated from his mother. When he turned 13, his father gave him an electric guitar, which he dominated and started playing very quickly.

Sometime later he escaped from his mother’s house, to live with his friend André Cymone, to start making music. At first, they played versions of other artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Preston, accompanied by drummer Charles “Chazz” Smith, who was Prince’s cousin.

His friend formed a small band called “Grand Central” where Prince was an indisputable member. They made presentations at parties, religious communities, and hotels. However, Prince did not sing because he claimed that his voice was not suitable for public presentations.

In 1975, he met Pepé Willie, a musician by profession who helped Prince to enter the professional world, and with whom he made his first studio recordings, accompanying him as a guitarist in the band called “94 East.” At that time, Prince composed the song “Just Another Sucker” with which he started as a studio Singer and composer.

Shortly after he met Chris Moon, owner of a small studio in the south of Minneapolis, with whom he began to perform as an apprentice. Moon recommended him with a friend of his called Owen Husney, with whom he recorded a demo model, which after a few days was a total success, so much so that companies like Warner Bross became interested in the services of the young singer.

For the year 1978, he recorded his first album titled “For You” where he composed all the songs and played all the instruments that are heard on the album. The disc was a great success, reason why Prince began to be compared with artists of the stature of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

In 1979, he became the great promise of black music, thanks to the release of his album “Prince” which featured songs like “I Wanna Be Your Lover” the singer’s first song to reach the charts of hits, and the classic “I Feel for You.” In that same year, he made his first tour in the United States, as a soloist and as an opening act for Rick James. His first fixed band consisted of André Cymone on bass, Gayle Chapman and Matt Fink on keyboards; and Dez Dickerson on the Guitar.

He released the album “Dirty Mind” in the year 1980, where he had a change in his musical style with raw sounds and themes related to sex.

In 1981, he released his album “Controversy” where he left aside the sexual theme and used social issues; songs like “Ronnie, talk to Russia” and “Annie Christian” were highlighted.

A year later he released the album “1999” with which Prince came for the first time to the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 ranking. The recorded work was considered by the experts in music, as the first great masterpiece of the singer. At that time, Prince and his band took the name “The Revolution” and soon after began a tour of the United States to promote their album “1999.”

At that time, Prince had the idea of making a movie. In the course of the musical tour of the disc “1999” took notes of ideas in a purple notebook and their representatives Cavallo, Ruffalo, and Fargnoli made that their companies were interested in the project. In the summer of 1983, the movie was shot in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. On August 8 of that year, he performed a charity concert on 1st Avenue.

For the year 1984, he released the album and film “Purple Rain” which took Prince to the highest level of stardom in his career. The disc sold more than 15 million copies only in the United States and the film raised more than 60 million dollars. In the month of November of that same year, he made a tour that began in Detroit, ending in Miami in April 1985. At that time, Prince won 3 Grammy for the album “Purple Rain” and an Oscar for Best Band sound.

With a career marked by success, in 1985 he released his album “Around the World in a Day” which involved a theme with psychedelia, Arabic echoes, and existentialism. The most outstanding song of the album was “Raspberry Beret” with which he gained an award of MTV. At that time, he began the construction of a large audiovisual complex called Paisley Park in Chanhassen; the building featured several recording studios and a large set for filming movies.

In late 1985 and early 1986 he recorded several songs, with Eric Leeds, Sheila E, Levi Seacer Jr. and with Wendy and Lisa. The themes were part of a project called The Flesh. Prince left the album ready. However, he abandoned his publication, to start a new musical project, a film, and a more collaborative album. The release of his album “Parade” arrived on March 31, 1986, which was accompanied by a movie called “Under the Cherry Moon” which was widely criticized and considered a total failure.

With the promotional tour of the album, he came for the first time to some countries in Europe and Japan. At that time Prince launched a new group called “The Family” formed from what had been left of The Time. In 1987, after more than a year of work, some projects postponed and the dispersion of his band The Revolution, Prince released the album “Sign ‘O’ the Times” an album that is considered the best of the singer’s musical career. The album was the most eclectic of his career; included an 80-minute double disc filled with musical genres such as funk, gospel, pop, and rock, featuring songs like “If I Was Your Girlfriend” “Hot Thing” and “I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man.”

The musical tour he did in promotion of his album was a total success and was immortalized in a movie of the same album title. For the year 1989, he made a collaboration with Madonna in his album “Like a Prayer” where he recorded with her the song “Love Song” and participated as a non-accredited musician. By the end of the 80’s and beginning the 90’s he also released the albums “Lovesexy” in 1988; Batman in 1989, which was the soundtrack of the movie that had the same name; Graffiti Bridge in 1990, and Diamonds and Pearls in 1991. At that time, he also started working with the band “New Power Generation.”

For several years Prince could not publish music with his name, so in 1992 he adopted a symbol called “Love Symbol.” On October 13 of that year, he released his album “Symbol” which was highlighted by the song “My Name Is Prince” in which he announced that he would return to the name of Prince. In 1993 he released the album entitled “The Hits / The B-Sides” which was a compilation of his 15-year musical career. In the course of that decade, he released the albums “Come” (1994), “The Gold Experience” (1995), “Chaos and Disorder” (1996) and “Emancipation” (1996). For the year 1998, he released the album “Crystal Ball” and “Newpower Soul”.

On November 20, 2001, Prince released his album “The Rainbow Children” which was considered by the community of musicians and instrumentalists as a total success, thanks to the mix of styles that the album had. In that same year, Prince became Jehovah’s Witness, so he stopped singing his sexually explicit songs. In 2002 he released his album “One Nite Alone …” which featured a CD and a DVD. Later came the albums “N.E.W.S” (2003) and “Musicology” (2004). On March 21, 2006, Prince released the album “3121.” In that same year, he won a Golden Globe Award for the song “The Song of The Heart” for the movie “Happy Feet.” In that year he also published a compilation album entitled “Ultimate Prince.”

He was chosen to sing in the intermission of Super Bowl XLI 2007.

On July 15 of that same year, Prince published his album “Planet Earth” where the song highlighted was “Guitar.” The singer caused controversy because he decided to give away his album with a Sunday newspaper and the concert attendees of his musical tour. By the end of 2007, Prince accused his followers of violating their legal rights, as they had begun to use his photos in avatars of several web pages. In 2008, the singer won a Grammy Award for best R & B soloist for the song “Future Baby Mama.”

By 2009 Prince released two albums under his name, “Lotus Flow3r “and” MPLSound.” On July 18 he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. After two years of musical absence, Prince reappeared in 2010 with the release of his album “20Ten.” On July 25 of that same year, the singer paid homage to Michael Jackson. On April 14, 2016 he performed a concert at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, under unfavorable health conditions. After the concert ended, on the flight back to Minneapolis, Prince lost consciousness, so the plane had to land emergency to be stabilized.

Prince died on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57, because of an overdose of fentanyl. That day the singer was found lifeless in the elevator. The death of the singer hit the United States and several parts of the world, so much so that in several cities of the United States there were vigils and tributes in his memory, The MTV channel suspended his usual programming to broadcast a marathon of music videos by the artist and the movie Purple Rain, among other posthumous tributes to his death. In 2016 Prince was the artist who sold more albums in physical and digital formats in the United States.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

7 Grammy Awards (1985, 1984, 1987, 2005, 2008, in some years he won several prizes totaling 7)
1 Golden Globe Award for the best original song for “The song of heart” (2006).
1 Award Oscar for the movie “Purple Rain” (1985).
He was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Rolling Stone magazine included him in a ranking called 100 Greatest Artists, where he held the position 27.
Three of his video clips received MTV awards.
He won a Brit Award, a Bet Award, and two ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for Partyman and Thieves in the Temple for being the most widely disseminated film themes in 1989 and 1990 respectively.
In 2006 he was honored with the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for the work carried out from NPG Music Club.
In June of 2016, he received as a posthumous tribute the honorary title of Doctor in Humanistic Sciences from the University of Minnesota.