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Pretty much everyone alive in the ‘90s knows about Prince’s infamous name change. Here’s 11 things you might not have known about the artist currently known as Prince.
1. He’s a Jehovah’s Witness.
Baptized in 2001, the Purple Rain star is a devout Jehovah’s Witness. And he even goes door-to-door! In October 2003, a woman in Eden Prairie, Minnesota opened her door to discover the famously shy artist standing in front of her home. He introduced himself as Prince Nelson and came inside along with his bassist, former Sly and the Family Stone member Larry Graham.
2. Prince is his real name.
Born to two musical parents on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Prince Rogers Nelson was named after his father’s jazz combo.
3. He’s written a lot of hit songs for other artists.
In addition to penning several hundred songs for himself, Prince also composed music for other artists, including “Manic Monday” for the Bangles, “I Feel For You” for Chaka Khan, and “Nothing Compares 2 U” covered by Sinead O’Connor.
4. His symbol actually had a name.
Even though the whole world referred to him as either The Artist or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, that weird symbol Prince used was actually known as “Love Symbol #2.” It was copyrighted in 1997, but when Prince’s contract expired at midnight on December 31, 1999, he announced that he was reclaiming his given name.
5. His sister sued him.
In 1989, Prince’s half-sister, Lorna Nelson, sued him, claiming that she’d written the lyrics to “U Got the Look,” a song from his ninth studio album that features the voice of pop artist Sheena Easton. After a long court battle, a judge finally sided with Prince.
6. He ticked off the Vice President’s wife.
After purchasing the Purple Rain soundtrack for her 11-year-old daughter, Tipper Gore—wife of Clinton vice president Al Gore—became enraged over the explicit lyrics of “Darling Nikki,” a song that references masturbation and other graphic sex acts. Gore felt that there should be some sort of warning on the label and formed the Parents Music Resource Center, which pressured the recording industry to adopt a ratings system similar to the one employed in the movies. To Prince’s credit, he didn’t oppose the label system and became one of the first artists to release a “clean” version of explicit albums.
7. He lost a child.
Prince’s son, Gregory, was born in November of 1996. Tragically, he died just one week later from a rare genetic condition called Pfieffer Syndrome, which affects to growth of the skull. Prince and his then-wife, Mayte Garcia, refused to discuss the incident publicly and divorced in August of 2000.
8. He’s a little like Willy Wonka.
In 2006, Universal hid 14 purple tickets—seven in the US and seven internationally—inside Prince’s latest album, 3121. Fans who found a purple ticket were invited to attend a private performance at Prince’s Los Angeles home.
9. He simultaneously held the number 1 spots for film, single and album.
During the week of July 27, 1984, Prince’s film Purple Rain hit number one at the box office. At the same time, “When Doves Cry,” was holding the top spot as both an album and a single. Talk about the best week ever.
10. He effed up SNL.
During Prince’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live, he performed the song “Party Up” and sang the lyric, “Fightin’ war is a such a f*ing bore.” It went unnoticed at the time, but in the closing segment, Charles Rocket clearly said, “I’d like to know who the f* did it.” This was the only episode of SNL where the F-bomb was dropped twice.
11. He had a spiritual epiphany.
In 1987, Prince was due to release “The Black Album.” However, mere days before it was scheduled to drop, Prince scrapped the whole thing, calling it “dark and immortal.” (It’s supposedly also really terrible.) The musician claims to have reached this decision following “a spiritual epiphany.” Some reports say that it was actually an early experience with drug ecstasy, but maybe The Artist just knew it would flop.
Comments (22)
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I effin’ LOVE Prince! He’s such a genius. His music is supreme. And he’s very sexy (for reasons I can’t even begin to explain).
Also, I’m very tired of pseudo-music afficionados asking the dumbest question on earth: “Prince or Michael Jackson?” Is there even a comparison? Just because they’re both wildly popular black men with mega hits doesn’t mean they have anything in common, artistically speaking.
posted by Liz on 7-28-2008 at 8:04 am
i still think the funniest prince story came from kevin smith. in his documentary he tells about how he did a video for prince that will never be released.
posted by casey on 7-28-2008 at 8:16 am
I came to post about #7 as well. I would have no problem believing that they divorced in 2000 but conceived a child in 2006, but the wording says that the child was born before they divorced.
And Liz, I totally agree… they’re not in the same category at all.
posted by Jane on 7-28-2008 at 8:49 am
One of my favorite memories of Prince is when I was in college (1982 or 83) and was at a club when “When Doves Cry” came over the speakers…most of the club went and sat down – they had never heard the song before…but I had managed to catch it somewhere and was familiar with it, and a few of us stayed out there…of course a few days later, he was known by everyone…
posted by donner on 7-28-2008 at 9:13 am
Something I learned about Prince:
YOu don’t have to be rich, to be his girl.
You dont’ have to be cool, to rule his world.
Ain’t no particular sign he’s more compatible with
He just wants your extra time and your…
Kiss.
posted by Zach on 7-28-2008 at 10:24 am
I have a friend who is a Jehovah’s Witness, and she sees Prince at their annual conventions. She’s even brought pictures. She said there’s never a big todo, with bodyguards and whatnot. He comes to worship and leaves.
posted by Pearl on 7-28-2008 at 10:40 am
Prince let main squeeze Stevie Nicks use the song structure of “Little Red Corvette” for her hit “Stand Back”.
posted by Johnny Cat on 7-28-2008 at 11:12 am
Prince = yum
If only he’d come knocking on my door.
posted by mrs.djs on 7-28-2008 at 11:26 am
I’m a huge Prince fan. Just wanted to point out a mistake-
#9-When Doves Cry was not the name of the album, it was Purple Rain.
posted by elih on 7-28-2008 at 12:51 pm
Dark and immortal?
posted by BassMan on 7-28-2008 at 1:07 pm
Where there’s an article on the God of Music- I’m there! =)
You should have included the little-known fact that he used to be dirt poor and lived with like 12 cousins and used to stare into McDonald’s wishing he could afford a burger- now he’s one of the most charitable artists out there.
Also- Prince never assigned himself the moniker “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”… that was the media, who was upset at the fact his logo is unpronounceable. Mention should also be made WHY he did it- to use a loophole in his stifling Warner Brothers contract that was attempting to limit his music output.
The “Love Symbol” reference was a store capitulation- systems simply couldn’t handle a symbol with no name. The 2 is because the original version didn’t contain the horn flourish. However, the symbol has no pronounciation. I also do not find it weird at all- I find it awesome, personally. =)
(My credentials on the matter: I’ve met him twice, many band members, and a former friend has been doing his album art and had been running his website for the past near decade.)
posted by Jaym on 7-30-2008 at 2:32 am
He’s really good at basketball. And making pancakes
posted by MyZine.com on 7-30-2008 at 3:02 am
His “Black Album” was indeed issued, in 1994:
amazon.com/Black-Album-Prince/dp/B000008JLN
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Album_(Prince_album)
posted by haydesigner on 7-30-2008 at 3:27 am
Great list, but the Black album was legitimately released in 1994 by Warner Bros, so it’s not that hard to get hold of a copy to find out how good it is, rather than just reporting someone else’s hearsay on it. It’s neither his best nor worst album, and to call the whole thing terrible does a great disservice to his eccentric drama ‘Bob George’.
posted by Sean McManus on 7-30-2008 at 4:03 am
Yep, I’m not sure if that’s ‘to his credit’ either. Sounds more like a business decision than anything else.
But – this list did remind me of how many great songs he has written for other people. The man’s a (tiny) genius.
Joe – http://www.anewbandaday.com
posted by Joe | A New Band A Day on 7-30-2008 at 5:05 am
He’s a sexy little man!
I think the funniest story re: Prince is told by Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy’s brother) on The Chappelle Show. It involved a game of basketball and pancakes..
Also..picky point…writing a song that was later covered by Sinead isn’t technically writing it FOR her, since he sang the song first.
posted by Dawn on 7-30-2008 at 5:07 am
Prince is totally cool. Best living guitarist on the planet second only to Jimi Hendrix!
JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
posted by Jim Woods on 7-30-2008 at 6:02 am
He dontates to charities – his foundation anonymously donates to charities, often that benefit children.
posted by niel on 7-30-2008 at 6:22 am
I do think it is to his credit. They didn’t ask him to censor the albums, just label them. Sounds like a good middle way approach to me.
posted by Scoats on 7-30-2008 at 7:23 am
Over Rated !!!
posted by Marc on 7-30-2008 at 11:17 am
Dark IS immortal. There is nothing immoral about darkness.
posted by Cenobite on 7-30-2008 at 12:06 pm
You probably meant “dark and immoral,” not immortal.
posted by Jayk on 11-5-2009 at 7:55 pm