American singer, composer and all-around rock actor; he signed with Warner Bros Records in 1977 on the basis of a one-man demo tape. His first film was “Purple Rain,” 1982. A workaholic obsessed with his music, he is admittedly “not normal, exactly.”
Slight in build with a slinky sexuality, he changed his name for publicity in 1993, choosing an unintelligible symbol. After that time he was often referred to as “The Artist Formerly Known as Sane.” With doe-brown eyes and a sweet spaniel smile, he wears lace gloves, velvet and ruffles. Even though the sexuality of his show was just short of raunchy, his personal sexual preference appeared questionable for some time before his name was linked with several beautiful women.
There is no question as to his talent. He first made an impression as a one-man combination of James Brown, John Lennon, George Clinton, Todd Rundgren and Henry Miller. With the same combination of exhibitionism and need for attention that Madonna has, he sings about such taboos as incest, bi-sexuality and the deflowering of an underage child-woman, along with today’s mainstream approach of “shake your booty” and various stages of nudity.
He and his wife, Mayte Garcia-Nelson, had a baby boy 10/16/96, born with a rare skull deformity. The baby died a week later. Twin women employees, Erlene and Arlene Mojica contacted authorities about the case, instigating an inquiry into the baby’s death. Neither the birth nor the death certificate lists a father and the death certificate does not clearly identify the baby’s mother. The two employees had been fired 12/23/96. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office in Minneapolis concluded that the baby died of natural causes when he was seven days old.
In 1999, Prince was a homebody, enjoying TV, playing pool and bowling, living 17 miles west of Minneapolis. He dresses like a Sultan to grace his ornate mansion. He and Mayte annulled their marriage contract in January 1999 but not their bond. She now spends much of her time in their palatial home in Marcella, Spain, but the two still see each other often, as long as Prince is able to relate without any hint of “bondage.”
In May 2000, Prince once more adopted his single name, explaining that he had used a symbol for the past seven years “to free myself from all undesirable relationships.” Prince became a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2001 following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah’s Witness, musician Larry Graham. He married Manuela Testolini, 25, in a Jehovah’s Witness ceremony in Hawaii on 31 December 2001.
The singer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 15 March 2004.
Prince is a vegetarian. Since 2007, he has been involved in various lawsuits with YouTube and fan websites, regarding alleged copyright infringement on music, photos and video material.
He died at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, near Minneapolis, on 21 April, 2016, after suffering flu-like symptoms for several weeks.
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