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Prince playing at Coachella 2008. Photo by Penner.

Top 10 Incredible Facts about Prince (Musician)

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince Rogers Nelson was born. He was unusual, with strong interests in an unusual fashion and thought-provoking art. Prince was 157.5 cm tall, but the musician demonstrated to the entire world that people with the smallest stature can have the greatest impact.

Prince is widely regarded as the father of the Minneapolis Sound, which emerged in the 1980s. His early music career saw the release of Prince, Dirty Mind, and Controversy, which were notable for their fusion of religious and sexual themes.

He then released the successful albums 1999 and Purple Rain, which cemented his superstar status with No. 1 hits such as “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy.” Prince was a seven-time Grammy winner.

1. Prince was a guitar brainchild

Prince playing MadCat holding a guitar, Coachella 2008. Photo by Scott Penner.

He was known for his stylish and flamboyant custom guitar collection, which included 121 guitars. One notable series is his Cloud Guitars, which were commissioned and released in white, yellow, and purple colourways. The white version is featured prominently in the Purple Rain film and the “Raspberry Beret” music video.

Other notable guitars include The Love Symbol guitars, which were designed in gold and purple. The H.S. Anderson Madcat guitar – a Hohner Telecaster copy – was used for the majority of Prince’s musical career. Several versions of the guitar were used throughout his career, one of which was donated for charitable purposes and one or more of which were stolen.  

The Vox HDC-77, which was introduced to him by 3rdeyegirl member Ida Kristine Nielsen, was another guitar that the legendary artist primarily used in his later years. Prince used both a Black burst and a White, Ivory version. Other notable guitars include the G1 Purple Special and the black-and-gold Gus G3 Prince bass, which would be his final two guitars.

2. Prince trained legions of protégés

Throughout his career, Prince advocated for women in the music industry. During a time when the music industry was dominated by men, many of his band members were women, including his most recent band, 3rdEyeGirl. He also assisted in the advancement of the careers of younger female artists.

3. He was a basket baller in high school

Ball under basketball ring. Photo by Magne.

Prince, who stood 5 feet, 2 inches tall, was an unlikely basketball star. Nonetheless, his high school basketball coach referred to him as “an excellent ball handler,” and various opponents praised his ability with a basketball.

4. Prince was a firm believer in Jehovah’s Witnesses

Despite being raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, Prince converted to Jehovah’s Witnesses and was baptized shortly after. Following the artist’s death in 2016, the Jehovah’s Witness Church issued a statement in his honour.

5. He was instrumental in developing the Minneapolis Sound

Prince playing at Coachella 2008. Photo by Penner.

Unlike other Minnesota musicians, Prince stayed in the state and helped establish the Minneapolis Sound, which Rolling Stone described as a “hybrid of rock, pop, and funk, with blatantly sexual lyrics.”

The scene bred musicians and producers like Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Apollonia 6, Sheila E., Morris Day, and others who would go on to have a huge influence on 1980s pop and R&B.

6. Prince was an extremely prolific musician

Prince cosplayer at the 2017 WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Over the course of 37 years, Prince released 39 albums and had five No. 1 singles, including “When Doves Cry,” “Kiss,” and “Let’s Go Crazy.”

According to Discogs, he has produced approximately 160 singles and EPs, as well as well over 1,000 recorded appearances in total, in addition to the studio albums.
Throughout his career, Prince collaborated with several bands, including Grand Central (later known as Champagne), The Revolution, The New Power Generation, and, most recently, 3rdEyeGirl.

7. He was a staunch supporter of creative control

Prince at the Channel Fashion Show, Spring-Summer 2010. Photo by Nicolas genin.

Prince, ever the trailblazer, removed his catalogue from all music streaming services except Tidal, Jay-lossless Z’s audio streaming service. He was notorious for defending his work, once suing fans for $22 million over bootleg recordings.

Nonetheless, he appears to have seen hope for digital music in Tidal, throwing his full support behind the site and giving it exclusive release rights to two of his recent albums. In the summer of 2015, Prince hosted a dance party at Paisley Park for attendees of the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference in Minneapolis. Prince, a long-time supporter of creative control, told a group of ten journalists there that record contracts were like “slavery.”

8. His album “Purple Rain” is the most popular in Minnesota

Prince’s 1984 album “Purple Rain” and the film based on it catapulted him from cult icon to superstar. “Purple Rain” is the best-selling album in Minnesota history, selling 13 million copies, and is widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time.

In 2007, Prince performed the album’s title track at Super Bowl XLII in the rain. Years later, Rolling Stone named it one of the best Super Bowl half-time shows of all time.

9. Prince had an uncontrollable cocaine addiction

 At 9:43 a.m. on April 21, the Carver County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call requesting that an ambulance be dispatched to Prince’s Paisley Park home. The caller told the dispatcher that an unidentified person in the house was unconscious, then said he was dead, and finally identified the person as Prince.

The caller was Kornfeld’s son, who had flown in that morning with buprenorphine to devise an opioid treatment plan. Emergency personnel discovered Prince unresponsive in an elevator and began CPR, but a paramedic stated that he had been dead for at least six hours and that they were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m., 19 minutes after they arrived. 

There was no indication of suicide or foul play. According to a press release issued by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Anoka County on June 2, the musician died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at the age of 57.

10. Prince’s death triggered reactions from a lot of musicians and cultural figures

President Obama mourned him, and the United States Senate passed a resolution praising his achievements “as a musician, composer, innovator, and cultural icon”.  Cities across the United States held vigils and tributes, and buildings, bridges, and other structures were lit purple.

“Prince” was the top trending (most-used) term on Twitter for the first five hours after his death, and Facebook had 61 million Prince-related interactions. MTV paused its programming to show a marathon of Prince music videos, including Purple Rain. 

Purple Rain was screened in select AMC and Carmike Cinemas theatres the following week. [250] Saturday Night Live aired an episode in his honour, titled “Goodnight, Sweet Prince,” that featured his show performances.