Prince (musician)

Lore & Background

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spent his childhood there. He wrote his first song, "Funk Machine," on his father’s piano at age seven. Following his parents’ divorce when he was ten, he lived alternately with his father and his mother and stepfather, and for a time stayed in the basement of neighbors, the Anderson family, whose son André Cymone became a close friend and future collaborator. He attended Central High School, where he played junior varsity basketball and trained in classical ballet at the Minnesota Dance Theatre through a public school arts program. As an adult, he used his wealth to help save the failing Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. His early career included recording guitar tracks for the band 94 East, formed by his cousin’s husband, and creating a demo tape with producer Chris Moon. After signing with Warner Bros. Records at age 18, he released his debut album *For You* two years later. He achieved critical success with *Dirty Mind*, *Controversy*, and *1999*. In 1984, he became the first artist to simultaneously hold the number-one film, album, and single in the United States with *Purple Rain*, its soundtrack, and "When Doves Cry." The album, recorded with his band the Revolution, spent 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. He later released the double LP *Sign o' the Times*, widely considered his greatest work. During a contractual dispute with Warner Bros., he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol, later known as the Love Symbol, and was often called the Artist Formerly Known as Prince. He reverted to his original name in 2000 after signing with Arista Records. He released 39 albums in his lifetime and died at age 57 from an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl at his Paisley Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Reader's Guide

Prince’s behavior and creative process were deeply rooted in his early life in Minneapolis, where he was born to a jazz singer and a pianist-songwriter. He wrote his first song at age seven on his father’s piano, and after his parents divorced, he lived alternately with each parent, eventually moving in with neighbors whose son, André Cymone, became a musical collaborator. He trained in classical ballet through a public school arts program and later used his wealth to support the Joffrey Ballet. His career began in his teens, contributing guitar tracks to a band formed by a relative’s husband. After graduating high school, he created a demo tape with a producer, which led to a record deal at age 18. His breakthrough came with albums that blended funk, new wave, R&B, and pop, defining the Minneapolis sound. He became the first artist to simultaneously hold a number-one film, album, and single in the U.S. with *Purple Rain*, recorded with his band the Revolution. His 1987 double LP *Sign o’ the Times* is widely regarded as his greatest work. In 1993, amid a contractual dispute, he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol, leading to the moniker “the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” He later reverted to his original name. His significance extends beyond sales of over 100 million records; he won a Grammy President’s Merit Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His death in 2016 resulted from an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.

Did You Know?

• Prince was named after his father's stage name, Prince Rogers.
• He wrote his first song, 'Funk Machine', at age seven.
• He was the first singer to simultaneously have a number-one film, album and single in the United States.

Musical Output & Commercial Dominance

Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minneapolis in 1958 and gone by 2016 at 57, left behind a body of work that resists simple categorization. As singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, actor, and filmmaker, he blurred every boundary the industry had drawn. His estimated 100-plus million records sold place him among the best-selling artists in history, yet the numbers barely capture what he built. After signing with Warner Bros. at eighteen and releasing his debut For You, he moved rapidly through critically acclaimed records—Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999—each sharpening the Minneapolis sound he helped pioneer. By 1984, working with his backing group the Revolution, he became the first singer to simultaneously hold a number-one film, album, and single in the United States. Purple Rain spent 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and earned an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. He followed that with "Kiss" topping the Hot 100, then, after disbanding the Revolution, delivered the solo double LP Sign o' the Times in 1987, widely regarded as his masterpiece. He released 39 albums in total, including the double Grammy-winning Musicology in 2004, and left behind a vast trove of unreleased material.

The Name Change & Final Chapter

In 1993, amid a bitter contractual dispute with Warner Bros., Prince made a dramatic public statement: he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol, which fans quickly dubbed the "Love Symbol." The music press took to calling him TAFKAP—the Artist Formerly Known as Prince—or simply "the Artist." This was not a mere branding exercise; it was a direct act of defiance against a label he felt was stifling his creative freedom. The standoff eventually ended when he signed with Arista Records in 1999, and by 2000 he had quietly reverted to his birth name. His post-Arista output included Musicology in 2004, a double Grammy Award winner that proved his creative fire had not dimmed. His final chapter was tragic. On April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, Prince died at 57 after accidentally overdosing on counterfeit hydrocodone and paracetamol pills that had been laced with fentanyl. The loss stunned the music world and ended a career that had spanned nearly four decades of relentless output.

Awards, Inductions & Lasting Influence

Prince's influence on popular music extends far beyond his own recordings. Credited as one of the greatest musicians of his generation, he pioneered the Minneapolis sound and shaped the evolution of numerous other genres. His formal recognition reflects that breadth: he collected the Grammy President's Merit Award, American Music Awards for both Achievement and Merit, the Billboard Icon Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe. His hall-of-fame inductions read like a career retrospective in themselves—Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024, and two separate inductions into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022. Each honor arrived at a different stage of his life, underscoring how consistently he pushed musical boundaries. From the funk-inflected grit of his early albums to the orchestral sweep of Purple Rain and the sprawling ambition of Sign o' the Times, Prince kept reinventing himself. His legacy is not a single sound or era but a continuous thread of experimentation that still echoes through contemporary music.

Minneapolis Roots & Formative Years

Prince Rogers Nelson was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis on June 7, 1958, to jazz singer Mattie Della Shaw and pianist-composer John Lewis Nelson. His father had performed under the stage name Prince Rogers, and in a 1991 interview he explained he named his son that way because he wanted the boy to do everything he himself had wanted to do. Young Prince, who called himself "Skipper" and battled childhood seizures, wrote his first song, "Funk Machine," at age seven on his father's piano. His parents divorced when he was ten, and his mother's remarriage to Hayward Baker brought a stepbrother, Omarr, into the picture; their relationship was fraught enough to send Prince repeatedly switching between his parents' homes. Baker took him to see James Brown live, and his father bought him his first guitar. After a period of instability he lived in the Anderson family's basement, where he befriended their son André Cymone. At Central High School he played football, basketball, and baseball, and trained in classical ballet through the Minnesota Dance Theatre. By 1975 he was recording with the band 94 East, and by 1977 he had signed with Warner Bros. to record his debut album.

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