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| FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Prince, widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive and influential musicians of his era with hits including "Little Red Corvette," ''Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry," was found dead at his home on Thursday, April 21, 2016, in suburban Minneapolis, according to his publicist. He was 57. |
CHANHASSEN,
Minn. (AP) -- Prince could play guitar like Carlos Santana or
Jimi Hendrix, sing like James Brown, turn out pop melodies worthy of
Motown or lay down the deepest grooves this side of Sly and the Family
Stone. But no one could mistake his sound for anyone but Prince.
The
dazzlingly talented and charismatic singer, songwriter, arranger and
instrumentalist who died Thursday at his home drew upon the history of
modern popular music and created a gender- and genre-defying blend of
rock, funk and soul. With hits including "1999," ''Purple Rain" and
"Little Red Corvette," Prince's records sold more than 100 million
copies and earned him Grammys and an Academy Award.
The
Minneapolis native stood just 5 feet, 2 inches, yet made a powerful
visual impact at the dawn of the MTV era, proving to be the Little
Richard for the '80s, from his wispy moustache and tall pompadour to his
colorful and suggestive outfits - the counterpart to the openly erotic
lyrics that made him one of the most sexually daring artists of the era.
But
his greatest legacy was as a musician, summoning original and
compelling sounds at will, whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style
that drew on Hendrix, switching his vocals from a nasally scream to an
erotic falsetto, or turning out album after album of stunningly
innovative material. Among his other notable releases: "Sign O' the
Times," ''Graffiti Bridge" and "The Black Album."
"He
rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock
that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge music in the Eighties,"
reads his dedication in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "Prince made
dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky
backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous,
sly, sexy and provocative."
The 57-year-old
superstar passed away Thursday at his home in suburban Minneapolis. The
local sheriff said deputies found Prince unresponsive in an elevator
late Thursday morning after being summoned to his home, but that
first-responders couldn't revive him.
"I am
confirming that Prince, the legendary iconic performer has died at his
home this morning at Paisley Park," his publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure,
told The Associated Press in a phone call.
No
details about what may have caused his death have been released. Prince
postponed a concert in Atlanta on April 7, after falling ill with the
flu, and he apologized to fans during a makeup concert last week. An
autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
Mick Jagger
was among numerous musicians, actors and other public figures praising
the artist, tweeting: "Prince's talent was limitless. He was one of the
most unique and talented artists of the last 30 years."
Madonna called
him a "true visionary," while Oprah Winfrey tweeted: "Prince the doves
really are crying now. Listening to your music. Remembering you."
Even
President Barack Obama - for whom Prince was a White House guest last
year - released a statement, saying he and his wife "joined millions of
fans from around the world" in mourning Prince's sudden death.
"Few
artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more
distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent," Obama
said. " 'A strong spirit transcends rules,' Prince once said - and
nobody's spirit was stronger, bolder, or more creative."
Born
Prince Rogers Nelson, Prince broke through in the late 1970s with the
hits "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover," and
soared over the following decade with such albums as "1999" and "Purple
Rain." The title song from "1999," his funky and flippant anthem about
an oncoming nuclear holocaust, includes one of the most quoted refrains
of popular culture: "Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999."
He
won seven Grammys and received an Academy Award in 1985 for his music
from "Purple Rain," the movie in which he starred as a young musician.
In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame, which
hailed him as a musical and social trailblazer.
Prince
was fiercely protective of his independence, battling his record
company over control of his material and even his name. Anxious to get
out of his contract with Warner Bros., he identified himself by a
key-like symbol with an unpronounceable name. (Journalists called him
"TAFKAP," or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince). Prince also once
wrote "slave" on his face in protest of not owning his work and famously
fought and then departed Warner, before returning a few years ago.
"What's
happening now is the position that I've always wanted to be in," Prince
told The Associated Press in 2014. "I was just trying to get here."
Music
was in his blood. Prince's father played in a jazz band in Minneapolis,
under the name "Prince Rogers," and his mother was the singer. The
precocious young Prince taught himself to play the piano at age 7, the
guitar at 13 and the drums at 14. But his home life was also troubled.
His parents separated when he was 10, and Prince, who ended up with six
siblings and half siblings, moved back and forth between the homes of
his mother and father.
In 1978, the year he
turned 20, Prince debuted with the album "For You." It was a
declaration, if nothing else, that he could do anything: He wrote and
sang the material, and served as his own one-man band on guitar, bass,
drums, synthesizers, chimes and assorted other instruments.
The
album received mixed reviews, but his second album - called "Prince" -
sold more than a million copies and launched his run of hit albums and
singles over the next few years.
But he didn't
just become a star in his own right: He was a veritable music factory,
whether with side projects, such as as Vanity and Morris Day and The
Time, or the songs he wrote for others. Sinead O'Connor had a hit with
"Nothing Compares 2 U," while other covers included Cyndi Lauper's "When
You Were Mine" and the Bangles' "Manic Monday."
Prince's
influence even extended to politics, well before Obama's time. In the
mid-1980s, Tipper Gore, wife of then-Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee, heard
one of her daughters listening to Prince's "Darling Nikki." Horrified by
the song's reference to masturbation, she helped launch an organization
dedicated to a labeling system for explicit content, the Parents Music
Resource Center. A nationwide debate about censorship soon followed,
including congressional testimony from Frank Zappa among others, and the
refusal by some record sellers to offer releases deemed in need of
advisories.
Prince had been touring and
recording right up until his death, releasing four albums in the last 18
months, including two on the Tidal streaming service last year. He
performed in Atlanta last week as part of his "Piano and a Microphone"
tour, a stripped-down show that featured a mix of his hits, like "Purple
Rain" or "Little Red Corvette," and some B-sides from his extensive
library.
Prince debuted the intimate format at
his Paisley Park studios in January, treating fans to a performance
that was personal and both playful and emotional at times.
The
musician seemed to be shedding his reclusive reputation. He hosted
several late-night jam sessions where he serenaded Madonna, celebrated
the Minnesota Lynx's WNBA championship and showcased his latest protege,
singer Judith Hill.
Ever surprising, he
announced on stage in New York City last month that he was writing his
memoir, "The Beautiful Ones," which was expected to be released in the
fall of 2017 by publishing house Spiegel & Grau. A press release
about the memoir said Prince would "take readers on an unconventional
and poetic journey through his life and creative work," and include
stories about his music, family and the "people, places and ideas that
fired his creative imagination."
A spokeswoman for Spiegel & Grau, Theresa Zoro, said Thursday the publisher had no immediate comment on the book's status.
About
200 fans had gathered by Thursday afternoon outside Paisley Park,
Prince's home and music studio, where his gold records are on the walls
and the purple motorcycle he rode in his 1984 breakout movie, "Purple
Rain," is on display. The sprawling white, stone building is surrounded
by a fence in Chanhassen, a city about 20 miles southwest of
Minneapolis.
Steven Scott, 32, of Eden
Prairie, said he was at Paisley Park last Saturday for Prince's dance
party. He called Prince "a beautiful person" whose message was that
people should love one another.
"He brought people together for the right reasons," Scott said.
---
Moody
and Italie reported from New York. Associated Press writers David
Bauder in New York, Paul Newberry in Atlanta and Steve Karnowski in
Chanhassen also contributed.
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