Prince Rogers Nelson 1958 – 2016

[pieter]

Prince 1958 - 2016



Prince was part of my youth of the late seventies and eighties. He was a phenomenon that existed next to Michael Jackson, Madonna, the Police, U2, Kiss and etc. He was unique in his musical talent, his own style, and the merger of various inlfuences and styles.

Prince was renowned as an innovator, and was widely known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, and wide vocal range. He is widely regarded as the pioneer of Minneapolis sound. His music integrates a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, soul, psychedelia, and pop.

Prince's early music was influenced by Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, Miles Davis, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and Todd Rundgren.

Personal life


Prince and Kim Bassinger

Over the years Prince was romantically linked with many celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Madonna, Vanity, Sheila E., Carmen Electra, Susanna Hoffs, Anna Fantastic, Sherilyn Fenn, and Susan Moonsie of Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Prince was engaged to Susannah Melvoin in 1985.[206] When he was 37, he married his 22-year-old backup singer and dancer Mayte Garcia on Valentine's Day 1996. They had a son named Boy Gregory on October 16, 1996, who was born with Pfeiffer syndrome and died a week later. Prince and Mayte divorced in 1999. In 2001, Prince married Manuela Testolini in a private ceremony; she filed for divorce in May 2006.




Prince and Sheila E.

Prince joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001, following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah's Witness musician Larry Graham. Prince said that he did not consider it a conversion, but a "realization". "It's like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix", he explained. He attended meetings at a local Kingdom Hall and occasionally knocked on people's doors to discuss his faith. Prince reportedly needed double hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but would not undergo the operation unless it was a bloodless surgery because Jehovah's Witnesses typically do not accept blood products. The condition was caused by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots.. Towards the end of his life, Prince regularly walked with a cane in public engagements, leading to speculation that he was being disabled by not having his surgery. However, he used canes as part of his outfit from the early 1990s onward.

Prince was a vegetarian. The liner notes for his album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic featured a message about the cruelty involved in wool production.

In 2016, Prince announced that he was writing a memoir, tentatively titled The Beautiful Ones.

[pieter]

There were two things Dutch teenage girls were crazy about in the eighties, and that were Madonna and Prince. I remember that girls and young women over here simply liked Prince. And musicians, and boys and men who appreciated his music and weren't annoyed by his androgynous, sometimes femine appearance. I thought girls liked him due to his sensitivity, aura, style and looks. So I liked his music because it was exciting music and because nice girls liked it too.

One of his most beautiful songs


For the best version of Purple rain go to this link:
www.izlesene.com/video/prince-purple-rain/8388098#

I loved this song as a teenager. You hear Prince as a back vocal






Prince in his later years here in 2012

[pieter]

[karl]

Pieter

Such a young man to lose his life in the prime of his career. The news came across the television this afternoon and was a surprise to many. His music was not in my taste but just the same, a loss to many others includant of his family.

Mick Jagger gave him a good revue that was both inspiring and sensitive.

With the loss of Mr. Prince, is a loss to the music world and those that enjoyed his work.

Karl

[pieter]

[pieter]

This girl reminds me of some young blond Dutch female Prince fans I remember from the eighties and early nineties. They bought all his albums, singles, ep's, cd's, posters, books, video's and pop music magazines with news about him. The wall of their teenage bed rooms were convered with Prince posters, flyers, leaflets, stickers, tickets of Prince concerts, and maybe some Madonna and George Michael posters. I knew girls/young women who went to all of his concerts in the eighties and early nineties. There was some magnetic attraction to Prince. Maybe it was the exotic, black, American performer with a lot of sex appeal that attracted these girls and women. But also due to his flamboient style, voice, funky music full of soul and energy, and the fact that he was a symbol of his time together with Madonna, George Michael and Michael Jackson.

Prince was part of our musical development. With our I mean my generation, people who were born in the late sixties and early seventies. He was part of our pop culture like Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Blondy, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, Jackson Brown, Soul, Disco music, Rock Music, Funk, R&B, rock 'n roll, New Wave, New Romantics and electronic music. He was different than other musicians, and due to his ecclectic style, he incorporated his time of the late seventies, eighties, nineties and the early 21th century.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

Here some of my favorite Prince songs:



He was still a good musician in his later years. I didn't know that he was this good. Look at this song & show. He plays and performs very good. You see that he gives everything.

[pieter]

Prince songs, covers and people who were influenced by Prince.

Chaka Kahn with a Prince cover song

Written by Prince, this is the first single and title track from her 1984 album. Stevie Wonder is on the harmonica. This is one of my favorite songs from the eighties.


Wendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band The Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasing their debut album in 1987. This is also one of my favorite songs. This music of Wendy and Lisa is also shaped by their previous cooperation and musical progression being members of Prince's band The Revolution.