Prince HHV Records 70 Items

The miracle student Prince

Prince Roger Nelson, named after his father’s jazz trio, grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the early 1960s. Despite his size, he played basketball in high school, but soon found a new passion, music. He learned to play 18 different instruments, and when he was sent to music teachers, he taught the music teachers himself at the end of the lesson. He was a loner, but when it came to music, he was anything but shy. Everyone called him by his first name: Prince, which later became his stage name. At the age of 17, he signed a record contract with Warner Bros. Records and was allowed to produce his own records, because he didn’t want to work with a producer provided by Warner.

How to write history

His first self-produced album, For You, was released in 1978 and marked the start of his career. Prince, 1979 went platinum and his next three records – Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982) continued his success. With a mixture of funk, dance and rock music, he delighted thousands of new fans who admired his explicit lyrics and stage performances. In 1984, Prince decided to perform with his backing band called Revolution and release his biggest album to date: Purple Rain, the soundtrack album to his movie debut. It stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 for a full 24 consecutive weeks and sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The band Revolution broke up after the next two albums, Around The World (1985) and Parade (1986), after which Prince released his first solo double album, Sign o’ the Times (1987). As a solo artist, he spent the next four years producing new songs that can be heard on vinyls such as Lovesexy´ (1988), Batman (1989) and Music From Graffiti Bridge (1990). In 1991 he formed the band The New Power Generation, with which he recorded the album Diamonds and Pearls. During a contract dispute with Warner Bros. Records, he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol (Ƭ̵̬̊), also known as Love Symbol, and began releasing new albums at a faster pace. Between 1994 and 1996 he released five records before signing with Arista Records in 1998. In 2000, he dropped from Love Symbol and again referred to himself as Prince. He went on to release 16 studio albums, including the platinum album Musicology (2004).

Innovator and role model

Prince was notorious for his electrifying performances, flamboyant fashion and makeup sense, and vocal range. His own productions mixed styles such as funk, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelia and pop. 100 million vinyls sold worldwide speak for themselves. He is considered one of the best-selling music artists of all time. For his work he collected eight Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for the 1984 film Purple Rain. In 2004 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Prince died of a fentanyl overdose at the age of 57.