Prince (1958–2016) was Minneapolis's one-man revolution — funk, R&B, pop, rock, and gospel fused into the Minneapolis sound, with every instrument played at a virtuoso level. Purple Rain (1984) sold over 25 million copies worldwide; Sign o' the Times (1987) and 1999 (1982) run it close. Shop Prince vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958. He launched his recording career as a teenager and signed with Warner Bros. Records at age 18 (an unprecedented contract that included creative authority, including the right to produce his own work). He recorded early material at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis and established his foundational Minneapolis sound - combining funk, R&B, pop, rock, and gospel into a distinctive synthesis. He is widely cited as one of the most important musicians in popular music history, with virtuosic multi-instrumental skills (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals all played at virtuosic levels), prolific recording output (vault of unreleased material that has been released posthumously), and creative authority across his catalog (his early 1990s name-change to a unpronounceable symbol in protest of his Warner Bros. contract). His 1984 album Purple Rain - the soundtrack of the same-titled 1984 Albert Magnoli film - became one of the most commercially successful albums in popular music history with over 25 million copies sold worldwide. He died of an accidental fentanyl overdose on April 21, 2016 at age 57 at his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He won seven Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. His estate has continued releasing archival material from his vault, with multiple collaborations with the Sony Music estate management arrangement. His foundational influence on funk, R&B, pop, rock, and broader popular music history is widely cited as one of the most important contributions to the form.
Prince's sound is foundational to the Minneapolis sound - combining funk, R&B, pop, rock, soul, electronic, gospel, jazz, and hip hop with his distinctive multi-octave vocal delivery (range from intimate falsetto to powerful baritone), virtuosic multi-instrumental compositions (playing all instruments on recordings), and lyrical content addressing sexuality, religion, race, and personal experience drawing on American R&B and gospel traditions alongside varied stylistic exploration.
Original Warner Bros. Records, Paisley Park Records, and NPG Records pressings of the Prince catalog are foundational items in popular music collecting, with collector premiums on rare pressings.
Listeners new to Prince typically start with Purple Rain (1984) or Sign o' the Times (1987).
