by André Depienne

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1958. His father was the Jazz piano player John L. Nelson. When his parents divorced in 1968, Prince stayed with his mother and her new husband Hayward Julius Baker, who he didn't like from the beginning, as he would later admit in an interview.

After disputes with Baker, 12 year old Prince moved back to his father, only to be kicked out by him 2 years later, for meeting a girl. After that he lived with his aunt, and in 1973 was taken in by his neighbour Bernadette Anderson.

In 1976, after graduating from Central Highschool, he moved into his own apartment in Minneapolis. Only one year later, he signed his first record deal with Warner Bros. Records, where he was offered a $180,000 budget for his first three albums. He stayed with Warner until December 1999.

His debut album ‘For You’ came out in April 1978, wasn't a major success, as it didn't reach gold status in the USA. His second, self-titled album ‘Prince’ was well received, but Prince found it to be too much of a concession to popular taste. He himself would have preferred to try different musical directions.

By releasing his third album Dirty Mind in 1980, Prince finally moved away from the image of being the “next Stevie Wonder”. He got rid of his afro-look, wore his hair short and started to perform in extravagant outfits. For example, he would wear a thong underneath a trenchcoat combined with straps and high heels. He became more adventurous in his music, too, and explored new musical directions on his album, Dirty Mind.

Especially in the 1980s Prince's combination of different music genres had a huge impact on the international music scene. His style ranged from R&B, Funk, Soul, Pop and Rock to Blues and Jazz. He composed, arranged and produced his songs and also wrote the lyrics.

He played the bass, the guitar, the piano, the keyboard and the drums which resulted in him playing almost all instruments on his recordings himself.

In 1984, releasing the album and single Purple Rain, Prince had his international breakthrough. He won the Oscar for Best Soundtrack for the film in which he also played the leading part.

In his lifetime he sold over 100 million records, won 7 Grammy Awards and 1 Golden Globe Award. In 2004 he was accepted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

In 1993, after years of conflict with Warner Bros. Records, Prince announced that he would be changing his name into the unpronounceable symbol later dubbed Love Symbol #2.

By that time, his success had reduced and he couldn't pick up at his record sales from the 1980s.

In 2016, Prince passed out during a flight and was treated in hospital. 6 days later on the morning of April 21st, his personal assistant Meron Bekure and his employee Kirk Johnson found his body in an elevator of Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. According to the forensics, the cause of death was an accidental overdose of Fentanyl.