Prince
1958 - 2016Prince was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and developed an interest in music as a young child. He signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. at the age of 18, and released his debut album For You in 1978. His 1979 album Prince went platinum, and his next three records—Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982)—continued his success, showcasing Prince's prominently sexual lyrics and blending of funk, dance, and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as the Revolution and released Purple Rain, the soundtrack album to his eponymous 1984 film debut. It quickly became his most critically and commercially successful release, spending 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and selling over 20 million units worldwide. After releasing the albums Around the World in a Day (1985) and Parade (1986), The Revolution disbanded, and Prince released the double album Sign o' the Times (1987) as a solo artist. He released three more solo albums before debuting the New Power Generation band in 1991.
In 1993, while in a contractual dispute with Warner Bros., he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol also known as the "Love Symbol", and began releasing new albums at a faster pace to remove himself from contractual obligations. He released five records between 1994 and 1996 before signing with Arista Records in 1998. In 2000, he began referring to himself as "Prince" again. He released 16 albums after that, including the platinum-selling Musicology (2004). His final album, Hit n Run Phase Two, was first released on the Tidal streaming service on December 12, 2015. Prince died from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57.
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Prince: Lovesexy Live
Egbert van Hees
Prince, Sheila E.
Lovesexy Live was the fifth Prince home video to be released and second live concert released on Home Video format. It was first released on 2 cassettes under the name of "Lovesexy Live 1" and "Lovesexy Live 2" in Europe. Confusingly Vol.1 contained the latter part of the concert, while Vol.2 contained the first part. The concert was later re-released as Lovesexy Live on one cassette (of 127 minutes) and on laserdisc.
Prince: Lovesexy Live
Prince and the Revolution LIVE!
Paul Becher
Prince, Bobby Z
“Prince and the Revolution: Live” is a legendary concert filmed toward the end of Prince's “Purple Rain” tour in Syracuse, NY on March 30, 1985. The performance has Prince at the height of his powers, backed by the classic Revolution lineup of Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Matt Fink, Mark Brown, Eric Leeds, and Bobby Z. The 20-song set features: Let's Go Crazy, Delirious, 1999, Little Red Corvette, Take Me With U, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Do Me Baby, Irresistible Bitch, Possessed, How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, Let's Pretend We Are Married, International Lover, God, Computer Blue, Darling Nikki, The Beautiful Ones, When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U, Baby I'm A Star, and Purple Rain.
Prince and the Revolution: Live
Prince: The Hits Collection
Sotera Tschetter, Bill Konersman
Prince, Wendy Melvoin
The Hits Collection is a collection of music videos released in 1993 to accompany the Prince's greatest hits collection, The Hits/The B-Sides. Being a single VHS cassette/DVD, the collection is only an hour long and excludes many tracks from the audio release
Prince: The Hits Collection
Slave Trade: How Prince Remade the Music Business
Elliot Riddle
Prince, Michael Bland
In the mid-1990s reports emerged that Prince had fallen into dispute with his record company. Having signed what was ostensibly a new, 100 million dollar contract just a couple of years before, Prince was now demanding - not unreasonably to most commentators - control of his masters and the freedom to release what he wanted when he wanted. After a bitter war of words, during which the star scrawled Slave across his cheek whenever he appeared in public and routinely dissed his label, the parties finally settled and Prince henceforth was free to take full control of his music and the way it was sold to consumers. Prince approached this task with devastating foresight as he routinely created new marketing concepts which, with time, became the norm across the music world.
Slave Trade: How Prince Remade the Music Business
Prince - Sign o' the Times
Prince
Prince, Sheila E.
In 1987, to capitalize on his growing success in Europe, Prince toured extensively to promote the album of the same name and sales increased accordingly. However, the United States remained resistant to his latest album, and sales began to drop; it was at this point that Prince decided to film a live concert promoting the new material, for eventual distribution to theaters in America. Featuring the band that accompanied Prince on his 1987 Sign o' the Times Tour, including dancer Cat Glover, keyboardist Boni Boyer, bassist Levi Seacer, Jr., guitarist Miko Weaver, drummer Sheila E. and former member of The Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink, the film sees the group perform live on stage (although "U Got the Look" is represented by its promotional music video).
Sign O' the Times
Prince: Rave un2 the Year 2000
Geoff Wonfor
Prince, Morris Day
"Rave un2 the year 2000" celebrates the joy of life as PRINCE performs music from his critically acclaimed album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, as well as selections from his vault of smash hits and pop classics. Filmed at Paisley Park Studio in Minneapolis, where a multi-piece band, including legendary bass player Larry Graham and members of the Family Stone, join Prince in this spectacular historic event. Special guests include Lenny Kravitz, Rosie Gaines, Maceo Parker George Clinton, Morris Day and The Time.
Prince: Rave un2 the Year 2000
Prince - Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas
Sanaa Hamri
Prince, Rhonda Smith
Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas is a 2003 direct to video film of Prince in concert at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. The concert was recorded December 12, 2002, and features several notable cover versions, an unreleased song and touches on some of his rarely performed backlog of material. Special guests included former band associates, Eric Leeds and Sheila E., funk legends Maceo Parker and Greg Boyer, as well as Nikka Costa. The soundcheck contains an excerpt of "The Rainbow Children" from the album of the same name and "Nagoya" from C-Note.
Prince - Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas
Prince: The Undertaker
Parris Patton
Prince, Michael Bland
This recording was made in a continuous single live-in-the-studio pass in collaboration with NPG drummer Michael Bland and bassist Sonny T. Prince originally intended to give this live CD away free with 1,000 copies of Guitar Player magazine in 1994, but he was reportedly barred by Warner Bros. from doing so. A video recording of the performance was released in Europe (on VHS and Laserdisc) with small edits throughout the performance and "Dolphin" replaced by the audio track from the official video of the song from The Gold Experience.
Prince: The Undertaker
Prince: A Purple Reign
Rhodri Huw
Trevor Nelson, Prince
Part of BBC Four's Black Music Legends of the 1980s, this documentary explores how Prince - showman, artist, enigma - revolutionized the perception of black music in the 1980s with worldwide hits such as "1999," "Kiss," "Raspberry Beret" and "Alphabet Street." He became a global sensation with the release of the Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical movie "Purple Rain" in 1984, embarking on an incredible journey of musical self-discovery that continues to this day.
Prince: A Purple Reign
Prince and the N.P.G. Present... 3 Chains o' Gold
Randee St. Nicholas, Prince
Prince, Mayte Garcia
In Egypt, princess Maytes father is assassinated by seven men, leaving her with the sacred three chains of gold. She decides to seek out the help of Prince in USA, and sends him a tape of her dancing. Prince immediately falls in love with her, but is frightened by the commitment. He tries to escape through having sex with others, but his heart isn't in it. His heart belongs to Mayte...
Prince and the N.P.G. Present... 3 Chains o' Gold