Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson, better known as just Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Famous for his flamboyance, powerful voice, and eclectic behaviour, he boasted of a career that spanned four long decades. With worldwide sales of 100 million records, he is counted amongst the best-selling artists of all time. 'Rolling Stone' ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He died at the age of 57 in 1998.

Prince was a vocalist and instrumentalist of distinctive vision. At his popular and artistic height in the '80s, this vision seemed to crystallize on Purple Rain. There wasn't an area of pop music that didn't bear his influence. His music was ceaselessly, endlessly alive and full of possibility. Prince's first two albums were solid if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. 1984's Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it sold over ten million copies in the U.S. 1999's Around the World in a Day was bizarre psycho-psychedelia; Parade was an ambitious art-rock record. 'Kiss' was a spare funk hit; it was the first time he had an impact that was grounded with a bang. In 2014, Prince released two new albums: Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum. In early 2016, Prince set out on a rare solo tour, a run of shows he called 'Piano and a Microphone.' On April 21, 2016, police were called to Paisley Park, where they found Prince unresponsive. He died that day at the age of 57. The archival Piano & A Microphone 1983 appeared in September 2018. The next major reissue was Originals, a collection of Prince's original versions of 15 songs. Sony reissued all of the 2002 albums released under the 'One Nite Alone' moniker in May 2020.