Prince renamed himself a symbol during a Warner fight
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958–2016), Minneapolis-born son of jazz singers, signed with Warner Bros. at eighteen and issued For You two years later. In 1993, mid-contract war, he replaced his name with the unpronounceable Love Symbol to reclaim authorship in public.
American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, actor, and filmmaker Prince is routinely listed among popular music's greatest artists for funk-rock-soul hybrids and virtuoso live shows. Minneapolis upbringing and a teenage Warner deal launched For You; subsequent albums made him a chart and style force through the 1980s. Awards later spanned Grammys' President's Merit, American Music Achievement honors, a Billboard Icon Award, and an Academy Award.
He was born 7 June 1958 at Mount Sinai Hospital to Mattie Della Shaw and pianist-songwriter John L. Nelson, taking his first and middle names from his father's stage moniker with the Prince Rogers Trio. He wrote his first song, Funk Machine, on his father's piano at seven, and his parents divorced when he was ten. After the symbol years fans called him the Artist Formerly Known as Prince until an Arista deal in 1999 let him reclaim his name in 2000.
Warner signed him in 1977 with creative control over three albums, and For You was recorded in Sausalito. His first band played its opening show at the Capri Theater on 5 January 1979; Dirty Mind followed in October 1980, and the 1982 double album 1999 sold more than four million copies. In 1984 Purple Rain, its soundtrack and When Doves Cry topped the American movie, album and singles charts simultaneously, a first for any singer. He released 39 albums in his lifetime and died at 57 at his Paisley Park home and studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, after an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
Source: Prince (musician)
