Prince Biography, Photos and Posters

Prince

Biography

Born: June 7, 1958
City and Country of Origin: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Music Background:
Awards: 2004 Grammy Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, "Call My Name;" Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, "Musicology;" 1986 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, "Kiss;" 1984 Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, Purple Rain - Music From The Motion Picture; Best Rhythm & Blues Song, "I Feel For You;" Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special, Purple Rain
Top Recordings: "Soft and Wet," "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?," and "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Raspberry Beret," "Kiss," "Batdance"
Prince Biography: Prince Rogers Nelson is the son of African-American jazz musicians John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw. His mother was of multi-ethnicity. After his parents divorced he was adopted by Andre Anderson later called Andre Cymone. In junior high school he formed the band Grand Central with Andre's cousin Charles Smith. During digh school the group evolved into Champagne. By the 70s Prince became a key figure of "Uptown" a part of Minneapolis' funk scene. While cutting a demo with Chris Moon he met up with Owen Husney who promoted Prince as a star of the future. This resulted in a bidding war finally won by Warner Records.

Prince started working as a recording studio employee for his cousin's husband Pepe Willie on his own recordings. In 1977 he worked as a session musician on recordings for Pepe's group 94 East. The tracks were later released as 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning in 1995. Prince's first album for Warner Records was For You, released in 1978, which barely made a dent in the top 200. The single "Soft and Wet" did well on the R&B charts. In 1979 he put together his first backup band for his second self-titled album which made the Billboard top 200 and included the singles "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover" which sere both performed on American Bandstand. He soon became known for his provocative outlandish dress and high heeled boots which he used to enhance his somewhat diminutive 5'2" stature. His 1980 sols album Dirty Mind was notable for its explicit sexual content. That year he supported singer Rick James on tour. The following year he broke through on the international charts with the album Controversy and the single of the same name. During this period he also performed with and wrote hits for such artists as Vanity, Sheila E., Sheena Easton and the Bangles.

1982 would prove to be the breakout year for the artist with his release of the double-album 1999 the title track of which was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became a top 10 hit internationally. "Little Red Corvette" made the top 10 on the Billboard to 100. Purple Rain from the movie of the same name would sell 13 million copies in the U.S. and spend 24 consective weeks on top of the Billboard top 200. Although the film garnered little critical acclaim it wound up grossing over $80 million dollars in the U.S. alone. "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" from Purple Rain both topped the U.S. single charts and enabled Prince to claim the number 1 spot on botht he single's charts and the album charts as well as the number 1 film all at the same time. The score also won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. After the Purple Rain tour Prince gave up making live performances and music videos with the release of Around the World in a Day which topped the U.S. charts for 3 weeks. However, he ended his ban on videos with the release of "Raspberry Beret" which reached number 2 on the Billborad top 100. The album Parade which was the soundtrack for the movie Under the Cherry Moon rose to number 3 on the Billboard 200 album hits list, while the singles "Kiss" topped the Billboard 100 singles charts and the single "Manic Monday" by the Bangles which Prince had written under the pseudonym Christopher hit number 2 on the Hot 100.

His 1987 release Sign O' The Times met with critical accalim and landed in the top 100 of the top 500 hits of all time. Following the Sign O' The Times tour of Europe Prince disbanded his long time performance band Revolution with him since Purple Rain, and regrouped adding Boni Boyer on keyboards, Sheila E on drums, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass, and Miko Weaver on guitar. Originally slated to due a joint recording with his chief rival on the pop charts Michael Jackson for the album Bad the 2 pop stars could not agree on artistic elements and Michael wound up hitting the top of the charts as a solo act. After his controversial experience with The Black Album Prince recorded Lovesexy in 1988. Neither the album nor the U.S. tour of the same name met with much success. "Batdance" his 1989 single from the soundtrack for the movie Batman hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

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