Prince Rogers Nelson
BORN: June 7, 1958, Minneapolis, MN

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 has released, Prince has 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.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's Purple Rain.Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four 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 of Around the World in a Day (1985), which nevertheless sold over two million copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way was 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."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.In 1991, Prince formed The New Power Generation, the most versatile and talented best 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 twelfth 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 Brothers, 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 half-hearted Come under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.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 which guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label. The Gold Experience was 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. However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that Emancipation 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, partially because many listeners didn't realize it had been released.A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-milennium anthem, Prince issued 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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

(currently not on tour)

Vault-Old Friends 4 Sale

01. The Rest Of My Life
02. It's About That Walk
03. She Spoke 2 Me
04. 5 Women +
05. When The Lights Go Down
06. My Little Pill
07. There Is Lonely
08. Old Friends 4 Sale
09. Sarah
10. Extraordinary

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic

01. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
02. Undisputed
03. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold
04. Segue
05. Hot Wit U
06. Tangerine
07. So Far, So Pleased
08. The Sun, The Moon And The Stars
09. Everyday Is A Winding Road
10. Segue
11. Man'O' War
12. Baby Knows
13. I Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore
14. Silly Game
15. Strange But True
16. Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do

Chaos And Disorder

01. Chaos And Disorder
02. I Like It There
03. Dinner With Delores
04. The Same December
05. Right And Wrong
06. Zannalee
07. I Rock Therefore I Am
08. Into The Light
09. I Will
10. Dig U Better Dead
11. Had U

Hits 2

01. Controversy
02. Dirty Mind
03. I Wanna Be Your Lover
04. Head
05. Do Me, Baby
06. Delirious
07. Little Red Corvette
08. I Would Die 4 U
09. Raspberry Beret
10. If I Was Your Girlfriend
11. Kiss
12. Peach
13. U Got The Look
14. Sexy M.F.
15. Gett Off
16. Cream
17. Pope
18. Purple Rain

Hits 1

01. When Doves Cry
02. Pop Life
03. Soft And Wet
04. I Feel For You
05. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?
06. When You Were Mine
07. Uptown
08. Let's Go Crazy
09. 1999
10. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
11. Nothing Compares 2 U
12. Adore
13. Pink Cashmere
14. Alphabet St.
15. Sign 'O' The Times
16. Thieves In The Temple
17. Diamonds And Pearls
18. 7

Diamonds & Pearls

01. Thunder
02. Daddy Pop
03. Diamonds and Pearls
04. Cream
05. Strollin'
06. Willing and Able
07. Gett Off
08. Walk Don't Walk
09. Jughead
10. Money Don't Matter 2 Night
11. Push
12. Insatiable
13. Live 4 Love

Sign O' The Times

Disc1
01. Sign 'O' The Times
02. Play In The Sunshine
03. Housequake
04. Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
05. It
06. Starfish and Coffee
07. Slow Love
08. Hot Thing
09. Forever In My Life
Disc2
01. U Got The Look
02. If I Was Your Girlfriend
03. Strange Relationship
04. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
05. The Cross
06. It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
07. Adore

Parade

01. Christopher Tracy's Parade
02. New Position
03. I Wonder U
04. Under The Cherry Moon
05. Girls & Boys
06. Life Can Be So Nice
07. Venus De Milo
08. Mountains
09. Do U Lie?
10. Kiss
11. Anotherloverholenyohead
12. Sometimes It Snows In April

Purple Rain

01. Let's Go Crazy
02. Take Me With U
03. The Beautiful Ones
04. Computer Blue
05. Darling Nikki
06. When Doves Cry
07. I Would Die 4 U
08. Baby I'm A Star
09. Purple Rain

1999

01. 1999
02. Little Red Corvette
03. Delirious
04. Let's Pretend We're Married
05. D.M.S.R.
06. Automatic
07. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
08. Free
09. Lady Cab Driver
10. All The Critics Love U In New York
11. International Lover

Controversy

01. Controversy
02. Sexuality
03. Do Me, Baby
04. Private Joy
05. Ronnie, Talk To Russia
06. Let's Work
07. Annie Christian
08. Jack U Off

Prince

01. I Wanna Be Your Lover
02. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?
03. Sexy Dancer
04. When We're Dancing Close And Slow
05. With You
06. Bambi
07. Still Waiting
08. I Feel For You
09. It's Gonna Be Lovely