Prince (1958–2016)

Prince was a Minnesota-based singer, songwriter, musician, studio engineer, actor, director, dancer, and music legend. Over his nearly forty-year career, he sold more than100 million albums; he also won seven Grammys and an Oscar. He was the main creator of the Minneapolis Sound, a blending of rhythm and blues, funk, rock, pop, punk, and new wave that defined the music of the 1980s.

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis on June 7, 1958. Growing up on the city's Northside, he taught himself the piano, guitar, bass, drums, and other instruments at a young age. His early musical influences included R&B, funk, rock, and soul music. Older local musicians and neighbors, like Sonny Thompson, exposed him to rock—an important component in his development of the Minneapolis Sound.

After Prince landed a major recording contract with Warner Brothers at nineteen, his first albums—For You (1978) and Prince (1979)—made their mark on the R&B charts but did not see the crossover to white audiences that he wanted. His early recordings did show his musical virtuosity and included the soon-to-be-common credit “produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince.”

Prince’s commercial and critical success grew in the early 1980s with the release of albums that solidified the Minneapolis Sound: Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982). His videos with his “multicultural, rainbow-coalition” and mixed-gender band, The Revolution, on the new music channel MTV, helped define the fashion, dance moves, and sounds of the new decade.

With no number-one hits and only one top-ten album (1999) under his belt, Prince pitched the idea of a major motion picture to his label. While initially unsure, Warner Brothers eventually backed the artist’s effort, and Prince spent much of 1983 and early 1984 writing and recording songs for, and filming, the movie Purple Rain. Prince and The Revolution recorded three of the soundtrack’s songs live at the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue in 1983 and shot over half of the movie at the venue.

The film and soundtrack, released in June 1984, were instant commercial and critical successes. Prince’s impact on music, fashion, and sexuality made him a cultural icon in league with Michael Jackson and Madonna.

During the last half of the 1980s, Prince continued to explore new musical sounds and switched between collaborative and solo works. He disbanded The Revolution in 1986 after the release of Parade. He returned to his roots by completing his next studio album (Sign o’ the Times) alone, but he also collaborated with other side bands and projects. He ushered out the most successful decade of his career with a number-one soundtrack for the Tim Burton movie Batman.

In 1991, Prince formed his next band, The New Power Generation, and began incorporating hip-hop and rap into his work, which he had previously resisted. With his superstar status, he took on the music industry’s contracting procedures, changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol to escape his recording contract with Warner Brothers. He often appeared with the word “slave” drawn on his face to underscore the unfair practices he saw in the recording industry.

In the early 2000s, Prince influenced the business side of the music industry more than the sonic landscape of the times. With slipping record sales but continuing success touring, Prince found innovative ways to distribute his albums and reach number one, such as selling them with concert tickets (Musicology) and giving people the chance to enter a sweepstakes to win a private performance (3121).

Prince was an early supporter of directly streaming music to his audience. He changed his mind, however, when he saw his work pirated on the internet. He eventually came to terms with the new technology and released albums online via a subscription service, which sold his music as well as tickets to his shows. He continued to collaborate extensively, including with his last band, 3rdEyeGirl, and performed massive worldwide tours as well as more intimate performances at his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen.

Prince died at Paisley Park on April 21, 2016, from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. He was fifty-seven years old.