Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actor, and filmmaker. Often credited as one of the greatest musicians of his generation, he pioneered the Minneapolis sound and was influential in the evolution of various other genres. With estimated sales exceeding 100 million records, Prince is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records at age 18, and released his first album, For You, two years later. He achieved critical success with the albums Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982). In 1984, Prince became the first singer to simultaneously have a number-one film, album and single in the United States, with Purple Rain, its soundtrack, and "When Doves Cry". The album, recorded with his new backing band the Revolution, spent 24 consecutive weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. He achieved further success with the release of his single "Kiss", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. After disbanding the Revolution, Prince released his first solo double LP, Sign o' the Times (1987), widely considered his greatest work and one of the greatest albums of all time.
In 1993, in the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros., Prince changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol , known to fans as the "Love Symbol". Prince was often referred to as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAFKAP), or simply the Artist. After signing a contract with Arista Records in 1999, Prince reverted to his original name in 2000 and continued releasing albums, including the double Grammy Award-winning Musicology (2004). He released 39 albums during his life, while still having a vast array of unreleased material. On April 21, 2016, at the age of 57, Prince died at his Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, after accidentally overdosing on counterfeit hydrocodone/paracetamol pills which were laced with fentanyl.
Prince's awards include the Grammy President's Merit Award, the American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit, the Billboard Icon Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024, and twice into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022.
Prince Rogers Nelson was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 7, 1958, to jazz singer Mattie Della (née Shaw) and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson. All four of Prince's grandparents were from Louisiana. The jazz drummer Louis Hayes was his paternal cousin.
Prince was named after his father's most popular stage name, Prince Rogers, which he used while performing with Della in a jazz group named the Prince Rogers Trio. In 1991, Prince's father told A Current Affair that he named his son "Prince" because he wanted Prince "to do everything I wanted to do". Prince was not fond of his name during his childhood and called himself "Skipper" instead. Prince said he was "born epileptic" and had seizures when he was young. He stated, "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.'" Prince's younger sister, Tyka, was born on May 18, 1960. Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, which was encouraged by their father. His parents were both members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Protestant Church.
Prince wrote his first song, titled "Funk Machine", on his father's piano when he was seven years old. His parents divorced when he was ten. His mother then married Hayward Baker, whom Prince credited with improving the family's finances. Prince's mother and Baker had a son named Omarr. Prince had a fraught relationship with Omarr, to the extent that it caused him to repeatedly switch homes, sometimes living with his father and sometimes with his mother and stepfather. Baker took Prince to see James Brown in concert. After a brief period of living with his father, who bought him his first guitar, Prince moved into the basement of his neighbors, the Anderson family, after his father threw him out. He befriended the Andersons' son, André Cymone, who would later work with Prince.
Prince briefly attended Minneapolis's Bryant Junior High, after which he moved to Central High School, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He played on Central's junior varsity basketball team and continued to recreationally play basketball as an adult. He was trained in classical ballet at the Minnesota Dance Theatre through the Urban Arts Program of Minneapolis Public Schools. Prince became an advocate for dancers, and used his wealth to save the failing Joffrey Ballet in Chicago during the 1990s.
1975–1980: Career beginnings and breakthrough
In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of one of Prince's cousins, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry, hiring André Cymone and Prince to record tracks. Willie wrote the songs, with Prince contributing guitar tracks, both of them co-writing "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later appeared in the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. In 1976, shortly after graduating from Central High School, 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 Owen Husney, a Minneapolis businessman. Husney signed Prince, then aged 19, to a management contract, and helped him create a demo at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis, with 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. Records in 1977. The record company agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and retain his publishing rights. Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California, where Prince's first album, For You, was recorded at Record Plant Studios. The album was mixed in Los Angeles and released on April 7, 1978. According to the liner notes of For You, Prince wrote, produced, arranged, composed, and played all 27 instruments on the recording, except for the song "Soft and Wet", whose lyrics were co-written by Chris Moon. In the United States, "Soft and Wet" reached number 12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached number 91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.
Around this time, a side enterprise that Prince began to pursue involved a then-teenage singer Sue Ann Carwell, where Prince hoped to mold her career as a solo artist after hearing her talented performances in the Minneapolis R&B scene. However, Carwell resisted his suggestion that she use the name "Susie Stone". Recordings he had been working on with her for a projected 1978 album, including "I'm Saving It Up", "Make It Through the Storm", "Since We've Been Together" and "Wouldn't You Love To Love Me?", went unreleased. Carwell was subsequently signed by Warner Bros. Records.
In 1979, Prince formed his first band, with 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 their music. In October 1979, Prince released the album Prince, which reached number three on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, number 22 on the Billboard 200, and was certified platinum. It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover", the latter of which sold more than a million copies, reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart for two weeks. Prince performed both songs on The Midnight Special on January 8, 1980, and then on American Bandstand on January 26. In a review of Prince for The Village Voice dated March 31, music journalist Robert Christgau predicted, "This boy is going to be a big star, and he deserves it".