Few artists are respected by their peers and gain popularity amongst music fans all over the world – and even fewer transcend generations. Prince Rogers Nelson – or simply Prince – is one of those musicians. Yes, one of those musicians, who only come along once in a lifetime; and like many other performers, greatness does not come along without sacrifice.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, MN, Prince learned to play multiple instruments fluently. On his 1978 debut album, For You, he not only played 27 instruments, he wrote, produced and arranged the entire album at the age of 17. The For You album did not resonate with listeners, except for the funky synthesizing track “Soft and Wet”. Prince’s self-titled follow-up album Prince brought moderate success on R&B radio with “I Wanna Be Your Lover” helping the album go platinum and breaking into the consciousness of American audiences. At this point in Prince’s career, he made a bold move – he changed his sound. Refusing to be known as only an R&B/Funk artist, Prince released the uber-sexual, New Wave sounding, Dirty Mind. This sound continued, with an addition of Funk, Dance, and Rock, on the albums Controversy, 1999 and his most celebrated work Purple Rain. The albums continued over the years with Around The World In A Day, Parade, Sign O’ The Times, all the way to his latest dual released work, Art Official Age and the 3rdeyegirl release PLECTRUMELECTRUM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF49nZ1ydJg
During Prince’s five-decade-long career, he wrote and performed songs surrounding many subjects dealing with love, sex, life, politics and spiritual reflection; heard in songs like “Adore“, “The Ladder“, “Let’s Go Crazy“, “Ronnie Talk To Russia“ and 2015’s “Baltimore“ – speaking of the civil unrest and death, in Baltimore, MD, of Freddie Gray in police custody. Prince was not a one-dimensional artist, he transcended all conventional wisdom in every aspect of his career and worked tirelessly on his craft.
Prince and his various bands over the years like The Revolution and The New Power Generation would rehearse for hours on the day of a performance, perform the concert, play an impromptu show at a small club late at night; often starting sets at 2 am and playing for 2-3 hours. After playing, immediately calling band meetings to review the show and correct any mistakes (or make improvements) and then continuing to the next city, to repeat it all again the next day. Not to mention, the constant songwriting and recording involved within that rigorous schedule.
Prince was known to be awake for days, never leaving a song or idea unfinished and often outlasting multiple recording engineers, in around the clock recording sessions and is rumored to have recorded over 10,000 songs worth of material. Prince had an incomparable dedication to his artistry – making it is easy to testify why Prince is considered (one of) the greatest of all time.
Prince’s dedication to music may have led to his untimely death on April 21, 2016. Several rumors circulate around the circumstances of his death, ranging from long-standing health issues, prescription drug addiction and more – however, despite all of the rumors, today on Prince’s birthday – and the official launch of Bandedbox.com, we celebrate the life and musical genius of Prince, not only today but for years to come.
