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Prince

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Minneapolis, United States

Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958), known from 1993 to 2000 as an unpronouncable symbol (or informally, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, Tafkap, or simply The Artist), is a popular American musician. He had the most massive hit song of 1984 with “When Doves Cry” and is best known for his album and movie “Purple Rain”.
As for the mega-superstars only Michael Jackson & Madonna were comparable to Prince only in terms of star power. None could match the formidable breadth of his talents, which included not just singing and dancing but also composing, producing, and playing instruments (not to mention directing videos and movies). In fact, Prince played nearly all the instruments on his first five albums, and has produced himself since signing with Warner Bros. at age 21 (Rolling Stone).

His music has spanned myriad styles; from his early material, rooted in funk and soul, he has constantly expanded his musical palette throughout his career, absorbing many other genres including new wave, pop, rock, blues, jazz and hip hop. Born in Minneapolis, he has based his entire career in Minnesota. He now resides in Los Angeles.

The distinctive characteristics of the early-to-mid 1980s work that raised him to super-stardom - which includes industrial sounding drum machine arrangements, the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role of horn riffs traditionally used in earlier R&B, funk and soul music - became known as “the Minneapolis sound”. He has a reputation as a workaholic, having released over a thousand songs both under his own name and through other artists, and is known for having composed and recorded many more songs that remain unreleased.
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funk, pop, 80s, soul, rock
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  • BackNDaDay90 wrote:
    yesterday evening
    check out my group. http://www.last.fm/group/I+Love+the+80s! this week's throwback video comes from prince.

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  • lolzunicorn wrote:
    yesterday morning
    <333333333

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    yesterday morning
    Fine. Maybe I'm not as up-to-date on Prince as I thought I was. Also, I never said that he's "lost his guitar".

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  • Trelock wrote:
    Saturday morning
    I live in London and was lucky enough to see Prince at the O2 twice on his 21 nights tour..... it was completely sold out, he effectively played to about a million people between August and September 2007. That is not waning popularity, whetever it may be. very few if any artists would be able to sustain that let alone attract those numbers, even the big boys and girls of today's pop culture. Add to that the fact that each night had a different line up and feel, he wasn't exactly playing the same set 21times. Brilliant. I don't agree that he has lost his guitar either... even tracks like Get Off and Melt with u are heavily ladden with guitar, you just have to listen for it beneath the techno.

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    Saturday morning
    Well, I'm only going by how we seem to feel about him now. I wouldn't know about his popularity here in the early 90s, but his success here at that time does surprise me.

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  • hotterthanjuly wrote:
    Friday evening
    Actually, in the late 80s and early 90s, Prince was more successful in the UK than he was here. At least in terms of charts. For example, Lovesexy peaked right outside the US top 10 and quickly tumbled down. But it did exceptionally well in the UK, where it went to #1 and had a string of successful singles. Only "Alphabet St." would be a hit here.

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    Friday afternoon
    Although I think that has something to do with the fact that us Brits haven't taken to him as much as you Americans. I only know ONE Prince fan (other than myself, of course). Whenever I ask someone if they like Prince, they either say he's "I don't like him!" or they say "He's weird!"

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    Friday afternoon
    Fair enough. I guess I underestimated his popularity.

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  • hotterthanjuly wrote:
    Friday morning
    Of course, but what artist IS shifting those numbers these days? 3121 debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 back in 2006 and quickly went Gold. Musicology, before that, went on to sell over 2 million copies in the U.S. More that solid proof that plenty of people out there are still getting their Prince on.

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    Friday morning
    @hotterthanjuly - He's definitely not as popular now as he was in the early/mid 80s. You can bet that most of the albums that have been sold are from albums he did around that period. I don't think his 90s and 00s work will have sold as much as "Purple Rain", "1999" and "Sign 'O' The Times". That's what I mean by he's not "in" at the moment. Sure, people will buy his classic work, but I don't his more recent stuff attracts as many people.

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  • placental_fluid wrote:
    Friday morning
    No one cares.

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  • Helloyoumars wrote:
    Wednesday evening
    I just reached 1,000 scrobbles for Prince.

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  • coleman17 wrote:
    Tuesday evening
    <3

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  • VincentVanGogh wrote:
    Tuesday morning
    I used to be aghast at the lack of scrobbles too, but please everybody, just chill and get fonkay. Most of last.fm's userbase was born post 80s. Prince still has it, he's just not as commercial as an artist as before. He was never a true mainstream artist either, he's too creative for that. Peace.

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  • hotterthanjuly wrote:
    Monday morning
    MrLJM, how do you suppose the 20+ million units Purple Rain (alone) sold worldwide account for Prince never being "in??" C'mon now...

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    8 days ago
    Admittedly, I don't like all of his catalogue, but I can appreciate that he's always trying to do something different. I prefer his earlier "Purple Rain" style to his "Gett Off" and "Black Sweat" style. I prefer him in the rockier format. It's always an added bonus when he shows off his guitar skills. "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain" and "I Can Never Take the Place of Your Man" are prime examples of his soloing abilities (which I'm sure you all know anyway). Of course, I realise that the man can play 23 instruments but seeing as I play guitar I always appreciate it when I hear him "letting one rip". I'm sure I've heard him play guitar on his newer stuff, but I just prefer the whole sound of his earlier work. But, at times, I do get the feeling that he tries to be controversial for the sake of it in his early albums, like in "Lady Cab Driver." But I guess perversity is in his nature, and I think that's a good thing in Prince's case.

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  • 2Serenity wrote:
    8 days ago
    Preach @mrljm and that makes me appreciate his art even more! I've been addicted to his sound since 1979 (when I was until) to the present. He never disappoints me. I appreciate his catalogue of music.

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    8 days ago
    When I said "point", I meant to say "moment."

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  • MrLJM wrote:
    9 days ago
    He has so little plays because he's not exactly "in" at the point. Well, I don't think he ever was "in". He's only "in" his own world and most people can't deal with it. His music can make you uncomfortable, joyous, sad and ecstatic all at once. I think the sway of emotions is too much for some. Or they just don't like this music, for whatever reason (which is probably more likely). I think the fact that he does whatever he hell he wants and doesn't compromise has something to do with it. Their loss, I guess.

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  • optimistic_tour wrote:
    9 days ago
    No merging, that's just silly. The records were clearly released with different names, in different eras. Having a high playcount is a lame reason to want a merge - I think his tens of millions of album sales are enough evidence that he's loved, even if last.fm doesn't show it.

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