Prince

Born in Minneapolis in 1958, Prince Rogers Nelson began, in the late 1970s, to build a body of work at the crossroads of funk, R&B, soul, rock and pop, characterized by highly rhythmic songwriting, compact melodies and a marked taste for blending styles. A multi-instrumentalist, Prince made his debut on Warner with For You in 1978 and then refined what would be identified as the Minneapolis sound on Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982). In the mid-1980s, surrounded by The Revolution, he expanded his range with Purple Rain in 1984, followed by Around the World in a Day (1985), Parade (1986) and Sign o’ the Times (1987), where minimal funk, psychedelic pop, rock, soul and more stripped-down ballads coexist. Prince also worked with groups and close collaborators such as The Time, Sheila E. and The New Power Generation, while writing and producing for other artists from Chaka Khan to Madonna. In 1993, amid a contractual dispute with Warner, Prince adopted the Love Symbol as his stage name before reverting to Prince in 2000. Remaining active into the 2010s with releases such as Musicology (2004), 3121 (2006) and Hit n Run Phase Two (2015), Prince died in 2016 at Paisley Park, Minnesota.