FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Peace Bloggers,
Like so many other prominent recording Artist, Prince’s father was a Jazz musician. Not only immensely influenced by his father, also notably the guitarist Sonny Thompson who later went on to perform with him as a member of “The New Power Generation” from 1991-1996. Born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was named after “Prince Roger Trio”, a jazz band his father performed with as a pianist. Prince embarked on his career in 1978 with his debut album “For You” where he wore many hats. In fact he wore all the hats of songwriter, producer, instrumentalist, and vocalist. In 1978 few Artist tackled this feat successfully. Among those were Stevie Wonder and Todd Rundgren. This accomplishment was followed by his self titled album “Prince” in 1979, “Dirty Mind” in 1980, “Controversy” in 1981, “1999” in 1982, also a film and album release in 1984 “Purple Rain” just to name a few. Although Prince was considered a neo soul funk artist, he had much success as a crossover artist into pop music. Among his credits is “Purple Rain” that sold over 10 million copies in the US alone and stood at #1 for 24 weeks, won an Oscar for Original Film Score, 2 Grammys with this album eventually going Platinum 10 times. Needless to say Prince is no stranger to success. With an upbringing in the religion of Jehovah’s Witness, the provocative sexual theme of his music would seem for some a misnomer. But this paradox is not uncommon in the music industry, playing a vital role in the form of creativity, and the exploitation of the imagination. Prince throughout his career changed his name, style of music, production methods, as well as label as he went forward in his career. There aren’t many periodicals printed about Prince, I suggest because he lived his life in the public eye from such a young age, leaving no guesswork for tabloids and journalist. His longevity in the music industry is credited to his unique ability to adapt to the sign of the times. He is no doubt a musical icon and a literary mystery for scholars and musicians alike to marvel. One of the reasons I chose Prince for this research blog is because I believe Prince is the one who made pop music cool for me. As a youth his work expanded my mind and prompted me to sit at the piano for hours on hours trying to play his music. I was unsuccessful except for maybe one song, but I enjoyed sitting at that piano, and pretending to be Prince. In the next five years I plan on implementing what I learned from the career of Prince, in particularly focusing on pop music, incorporating all the other genres I love into it while subtracting what I don’t, making my music palatable for the multitudes of listeners, while being artistically transparent. I almost forgot how much I love Prince. Until next time bloggers, I will say Peace.

biography.com. (n.d.). Bio.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/prince-9447278#early-life
Prince | Biography | AllMusic. (n.d.). AllMusic. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://www.allmusic.com/artist/prince-mn0000361393/biography
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum. (n.d.). Prince Biography. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from https://rockhall.com/inductees/prince/bio/
Numero Group Reissues Potentially Prince-Assisted Lewis Connection LP • News • exclaim.ca. (n.d.). Numero Group Reissues Potentially Prince-Assisted Lewis Connection LP • News • exclaim.ca. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://exclaim.ca/News/numero_group_reissue_potentially_prince-assisted_lewis_connection_lp