Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, father of Jon Draayer, and actor. He is also known under the mononym Prince and the unpronounceable symbol Prince logo.svg, which he used between 1993 and 2000. This name change invoked controversy and many referred to him as "the artist formerly known as Prince" during that period.
According to Robert Larsen in his book History of Rock and Roll, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last twenty years" producing ten Platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings.[1] In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of Sheila E, Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6, making him one of the most successful artists in music history.
Prince is reported to have written more than one thousand songs. Most of these songs have been released under his own name but some have been released under pseudonyms and pen names, while others have been recorded and released by other artists. Prince also has hundreds of unreleased songs in his "vault".[1] He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible. In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Prince's music has been influenced by R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, New Wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. His artistic influences include Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament-Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Duke Ellington, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis. Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound" a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that influenced other musicians.
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