Prince

Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince.

During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock.

Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults.

With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres.

Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole. Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop.

With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once.

The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant.

The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain. Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S.

and spent 24 weeks at number one.

Partially recorded with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made.

Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million copies.

In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss." By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times.

Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral.

Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster.

With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before.

The following year he released Graffiti Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment. In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled.

With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985.

The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol.

In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years.

Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold. In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album.

In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release.

By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label.

The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially.

In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist.

Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.

However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs.

Once it was clear that Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998.

With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores.

Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball; even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners didn't realize it had been released. A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master).

A collection of Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold.

He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to.

Prince rebounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology, a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005.

In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar.

A four-song appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E.

followed.

Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the album charts soon after its release in March 2006.

Planet Earth followed in 2007, featuring contributions from Wendy and Lisa.

In the U.K., copies were cover-mounted on the July 15 edition of The Mail on Sunday, provoking Columbia -- the worldwide distributor for the release -- to refuse distribution throughout the U.K.

In the U.S., the album was issued on July 24.

LotusFlow3r, a three-disc set, came in 2009, featuring a trio of distinct albums: LotusFlow3r itself (a guitar showcase), MPLSound (a throwback to his '80s funk output), and Elixer (a smooth contemporary R&B album featuring the breathy vocals of Bria Valente).

Despite only being available online and through one big-box retailer, the set debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.

A year later, another throwback-flavored effort, 20Ten, became his second U.K.

newspaper giveaway.

No official online edition of the album was made available.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Prince is being lined up for one of the headlining slots for Glastonbury 2011, with U2 and Coldplay also set to play.

(BANG) -

Prince is set to headline next year's Glastonbury festival.

The 'Purple Rain' hitmaker has reportedly taken one of the top slots at the UK music festival - one of Europe's largest - with U2 and Coldplay also being lined up by festival organiser Michael Eavis.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Michael was very keen to get the line-up sorted early and is over the moon at securing such massive acts. He is a huge fan of Prince and has been trying to nab him for years.

"The fact it's been tied up so quickly is a big, but welcome, shock."

Irish rockers U2 were forced to pull out of their first-ever appearance at Glastonbury this year after frontman Bono injured his back and organisers are said to be thrilled to have them secured for 2011.

The source said: "U2 were a fairly obvious capture. Michael immediately had his sights set on them after they were forced to cancel, and they were very happy to oblige."

U2 were left hugely upset by having to pull out of the iconic festival, which they had even written a special song, titled 'Glastonbury' for. Cartoon-led pop band Gorillaz stepped in to replace the band as headliners at the last minute.

Coldplay previously played the festival in 2005 and founder Michael has reportedly been trying to get them to return ever since.

The source added: "Michael has previously said Coldplay's set in 2005 was his personal favourite and is very pleased to be welcoming them back."

Michael recently confirmed all three headliners for next year have been booked, but refused to confirm who they are.

He said: "The headliners next year are absolutely fantastic - I can guarantee that. It'll be on a par with this year, and possibly slightly better even."

Pop superstar Prince believes playing the electric guitar his entire life has stopped him from going bald.

(BANG) -

Prince believes playing the electric guitar has stopped him from going bald.

The 52-year-old pop legend - who can play 27 different instruments - is convinced the electricity that flows through a guitar when he strums it is the reason he still has luscious locks.

He said: "Playing electric guitar your whole life does something to you. I'm convinced all that electricity racing through your body made me keep my hair."

Prince - who has released over 30 albums during his career - also admits he can't "function" properly if he can't record songs.

The 'Purple Rain' singer - who releases his new album '20TEN' for free in the UK this Saturday (10.07.10) through a promotion with the Daily Mirror newspaper - said: "Music is my life. It's my trade. If I can't get it out of my head I can't function. Someone told me recently they saw me at my peak, but how do they know when my peak is? I think I'm improving all the time. When I listen to my old records I'm ashamed of how I played them."

Singer Prince will win this year's BET Lifetime Achievement Award for his ''unique style.''

(BANG) -

Prince is to be awarded a lifetime achievement honour at this year's BET Awards.

The 52-year-old 'Kiss' singer will be acknowledged at the ceremony's 10th anniversary held in Los Angeles later this month.

In previous years, the award has been given to James Brown, Whitney Houston and Diana Ross.

President of programming, Stephen G. Hill said of the singer: "Prince is dynamic. Prince is genius. Prince is music."

He also said that the evening would be celebrating the star's "unique style".

The show, which will take place on June 27th, will be presented by singer and actress Queen Latifah and will also include a performance from hip-hop rapper Kanye West.

Throughout his career Prince has become known for changing his name. In the past he has asked to be called The Artist Formerly Known As Prince (TAFKAP), The Artist, a symbol, His Royal Badness and The Purple One.