Prince, a modern musical genius and enduring pop star, a man of many styles and evolving philosophies, a recording industry pioneer and icon of creativity, died today at his Paisley Park home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Earlier this month he had been beset with flu-like symptoms, which prompted him to cancel a recent show. But some days later, he performed in Atlanta. Afterwards his plane made an emergency landing and he was taken to him home. He died there today, April 21, his publicist Yvette Noel-Schure told Associated Press. He was 57 years old.
Prince Rogers Nelson (his full name) was born in his hometown and longtime musical homebase of Minneapolis on June 7, 1958. He gravitated to music as early as age 7, and began playing in bands and releasing albums as a teenager—his first was the self-titled For You in 1978.
Many, many more albums would follow, flowing from his wellspring of growing talent, each one more deft and evolved than the last. His next album, 1979's self-titled Prince, went platinum. Then came Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, then 1984’s Purple Rain, accompanied by the semi-autobiographical film of the same name. At that point, he had summited the pop music world with only Madonna and Michael Jackson as rivals.
But even they didn't possess the breadth of his total command over his musical output. His albums touted that they had been "produced, arranged, composed and performed" by him; he taught himself to play just about any instrument he got his hands on and often played many or all of the instrumental tracks of his songs. He wrote songs for other artists including Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2U" and The Bangles’ “Manic Monday.”
In 1993, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to confound his record label at the time, Warner Bros., going by the moniker The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or just The Artist. When he had freed himself from contractual obligations, he reverted back to the name Prince and continued putting out music at a prolific pace—more than 40 studio and live albums.
He was one of the first high-profile artists to attempt online distribution directly to fans, a move that acts like Radiohead (see Prince's cover of their song "Creep" at Coachella) and Run the Jewels have followed, and he fought for the rights of musicians.
But by daring to take risks, he sometimes encountered controversy. He extended his quest for control over his music and likeness into fan videos and websites on YouTube. (One of his online fan community websites, Prince.org, was temporarily unavailable today due to the waves of traffic.) And his conversion to Jehovah's Witness, despite his previously sexually daring music and persona, confounded many (though his spiritual dimension was ever present).
He was responsible for now-classic songs blending rock, funk, R&B, pop and soul music, including "Purple Rain," "When Doves Cry," "Sign 'O' the Times" "1999." In the '80s he churned out music-centric movies. He formed his own record label.
He was a winner of seven Grammys (among 30 nominations) and an Oscar, sold over 100 million albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and, according to Charlie Murphy on Chappelle's Show, was quite a b-baller and pancake maker.
But he was far from done with music or with life.
He wrote a rallying song for his beloved Minnesota Vikings in 2010, and a protest song in tribute to Freddie Gray in 2015 called "Baltimore" in the wake of his death in police custody.
In 2014, he reunited with Warner Bros. for the 30th anniversary of his album Purple Rain. The next year he released a two-part double album, HITnRUN Phase One and Two, released on Jay-Z's Tidal music streaming service. He was seen recently at a Golden State Warriors basketball game. On Aug. 14, 2013 he sent his first tweet. He purportedly left behind hundreds of unreleased songs in various stages of completion at Paisley Park Studios.
The Washington Post has compiled a fitting tribute of tweets of respect, sadness and condolence from musicians like Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan, Lenny Kravitz, Justin Timberlake, Questlove, The Weeknd and former bandmates Wendy and Lisa. And his hometown newspaper, The Star Tribune, has more of the story.
Last month Prince had announced that he would be releasing a memoir titled, after one of his songs, The Beautiful Ones. He was one of them.