  Prince or  or "The Artist" was
born Prince Roger Nelson on June 7, 1958 in
Minneapolis. Prince taught himself how to
play many instruments and self-produced his
first LP, For
You, by 1978. As his success grew,
he eventually founded his own label: Paisley
Park. Prince's musical styles have been
compared to James Brown,
Jackie Wilson and other r&b
heavy weights, but as Prince's career grew,
Prince became a legend on his own merit with
a knack for delivering funk, rock and soul
with an occasional pop feel. Prince has
amassed 11 #1 hits and 22 Top 10 hits on the
pop charts. Prince released a string of LPs
throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s in
addition to touring, writing and producing
for other artists and staring in a few
movies. His first 4 LP releases were modest
hits with R&B audiences and are
considered to be some of his best work.
Prince was allowed great independence from
his record label, Warner Brothers, to create
his own kind of music.
 For
You was released and contained the
hit "Soft And Wet" - the only track
on the LP not written exclusively by Prince.
Prince also produced the debut LP and played
all the instruments.
 Prince's 2nd LP, Prince, became his first
million seller and contained his first pop
Top 10 hit, "I Wanna Be Your
Lover."
 # 104
Singles Artist of the Year
Prince hit the Top 10 with "I Wanna Be
Your Lover."
Prince was certified
platinum.
The single "I
Wanna Be Your Lover" was certified gold.
 Dirty
Mind was released and received great
reviews by critics (ranking # 18 on Rolling
Stone's "100 Best Albums of the
80s."
 # 178
Singles Artist of the Year
Prince released Controversy with the hit title
track and "Let's Work." Prince's
suggestive lyrics continued with the tracks
"Do Me, Baby" and "Jack U
Off."
Prince hit the Top 40
with "Controversy."
 # 188
Singles Artist of the Year
 Controversy was certified gold.
Prince released a 2-LP
set, 1999 which introduced
Prince more to pop audiences the following
year. The set included the hits "1999," "Little Red Corvette,"
"Delirious," and "Let's
Pretend We're Married."
Prince hit the Top 40
with "1999."
 # 12
Singles Artist of the Year
1999 was certified gold.
 Prince's appeal on the
pop charts didn't occur until "Little Red Corvette" became a hit in
1983. 1999, was Prince's first
major crossover hit and prepared him for
super stardom. Prince received even more
notoriety with his radio and video hits,
"1999" and
"Delirious." The LP was later
ranked at #16 on Rolling
Stone's "100 Best Albums of the
80s."
Prince hit the Top
10
with "Little Red Corvette."
1999 was certified
platinum.
 Prince hit the Top 40
with "1999."
Prince hit the Top 10 with "1999."
Prince hit the Top 40
with "Delirious."
Prince hit the Top 10 with "Delirious."
 # 3
Singles Artist of the Year
Prince was nominated
for 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Male
Artist
and Favorite Soul/R&B
Album
(1999).
Prince was nominated
for a Grammy
Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance -
Male
("International Lover").
 It might be said that
1984 was the year of Prince. He starred in
the movie Purple
Rain which found sound
success with the critics, but more
importantly created a soundtrack to the movie
that exemplified the musical genius of
Prince. The LP sold over 13 million copies
and produced the #1 hits: "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and "Purple Rain." The LP also
contained the hits "I Would Die 4
U" and "Take Me With You," the
controversial track, "Darling
Nikki" and the haunting "The
Beautiful Ones." Prince went on to win
an Academy Award for the film's music. When Rolling
Stone ranked the "100 Best
Albums of the 80s," Purple
Rain came in at # 2.
Dirty
Mind was certified gold and the
single "When Doves Cry" was certified
platinum.
 Prince hit the Top
10
with "When Doves Cry."
Prince hit #1 for 5 weeks with "When Doves Cry."
The Purple
Rain soundtrack was
certified platinum.
Prince hit the Top 40
with "Let's Go Crazy."
 Prince hit the Top
10 and
#1 for a week with "Let's Go Crazy."
1999 was certified 2x
platinum.
Prince hit the Top 40
and Top 10 with "Purple Rain."
The Purple
Rain soundtrack was
certified 8x platinum and the single "Let's Go Crazy" was certified
gold.
Prince hit #1 for a week with "Purple Rain."
 The single "Purple Rain" was certified
gold.
 # 9
Singles Artist of the Year
Controversy was certified platinum
and the Purple
Rain soundtrack was
certified 9x platinum.
Prince won 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Purple
Rain) and Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("When Doves Cry"), and was
nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock
Male Video Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Single, Favorite Soul/R&B Male
Artist,
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Video Artist, and
Favorite Pop/Rock Video and Favorite
Soul/R&B Video ("When Doves Cry").
 Prince won 3 Grammy
Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group, Best Album of Original Score
Written for a Motion Picture or TV Special (Purple
Rain) and Best R&B Song (songwriter) (Chaka
Khan's "I Feel For You")
and was nominated for Album of the Year (Purple
Rain).
The Purple
Rain soundtrack was
certified 10x platinum.
 Prince's much
anticipated follow-up LP came in 1985 with Around
The World In A Day. The LP was described
as a more pop-friendly Prince with less
sexual overtones in his music. Prince topped
the charts with "Raspberry Beret" and had success
with "Pop Life" and
"America."
Prince hit the Top 40
with "Raspberry Beret."
 Prince hit the Top
10
with "Raspberry Beret."
Prince hit #1 for a week with "Raspberry Beret."
1999 was certified 3x
platinum and Around
The World In A Day was certified 2x
platinum.
The video for "When Doves Cry" was nominated
for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Choreography.
 # 18
Singles Artist of the Year
 Prince was nominated
for 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male
Artist,
and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Video Artist.
Prince tried his hand
at the movie/soundtrack combination again
with Parade, the soundtrack to Under
The Cherry Moon. Critical praise was very hard
to find for the film, but Prince's music did
continue his success with the #1 track "Kiss" and hits
"Anotherloverholenyohead" and
"Mountains."
 Prince hit the Top 40
and Top 10 with "Kiss."
Prince hit #1 for 2 weeks with "Kiss."
The single "Kiss" was certified
gold.
 Parade was certified
platinum.
Prince & The
Revolution hit the Top 40 with "Mountains."
The video for "Raspberry Beret" won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Choreography.
 # 10
Singles Artist of the Year
 Prince was nominated
for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Kiss").
Prince won anther Grammy
Award for Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Kiss") and was
nominated for Best R&B Song (songwriter) ("Kiss").
 The release of Sign
O' The Times returned Prince to the top of
the critic's choices lists and earned him a
Grammy nomination for Album Of The Year. The
2-CD set contained the hits "U Got The Look," "I Could Never Take The
Place Of Your Man," "Housequake,"
"If I Was Your Girlfriend,"
"Hot Thing," and the #1 title
track. The LP was ranked as the 74th
"Greatest Album of the 80s" by Rolling
Stone.
Prince hit the Top 40
with "Sign 'O' The Times."
The same year, a
bootleg Prince LP, The
Black Album was "released." The
LP was later officially released to the
public in 1994 in limited amounts.
 Prince hit the Top 10 and #1 for a week with "Sign 'O' The Times."
Sign
O' The Times was certified platinum.
Prince hit the Top 40
with "U Got The Look."
 Prince hit the Top 10 with "U Got The Look."
Prince hit #1 for a week with "U Got The Look."
Prince hit the Top 40
with "I Could Never Take The
Place Of Your Man."
 # 34
Singles Artist of the Year
 Prince hit the Top 10 with "I Could Never Take The
Place Of Your Man."
Prince was nominated
for 3 Grammy Awards for Album of the Year (Sign
O' The Times), Best R&B Song (awarded to
songwriter) Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("U Got The Look") with Sheena Easton).
 Prince released | 
