He Didn’t Follow The Rules
Prince broke every rule in the pop star playbook—he wrote, produced, and performed like no one else. He didn’t chase the macho image, but women still chased him. And while his charm was front and center, the dark truth he kept hidden would only come to light after it was far too late.
1. He Really Was Prince
Of all the people in show business, you’d expect pop phenomenon Prince to have used a stage name. But nope, he was born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis. But the name “Prince” did come from show biz. Prince’s parents were musicians and Dad used Prince Rogers as his stage name.
But it would be the younger Prince who would take the name to fame and fortune.
2. He Started Young
When he was just seven years old, Prince sidled up to his dad’s piano and didn’t just annoyingly pound on the keys like most kids that age. Prince actually wrote a song that he called “Funk Machine”. Clearly, Prince was already something special, but life was about to throw him a curveball.
3. He Moved Between His Parents
Prince's parents got a divorce when Prince was just 10 years old. Luckily, his stepdad also liked music, and he took Prince to see James Brown in concert. For the next few years, Prince flip-flopped between living with his dad and with his mom and stepdad. Until one day, he had nowhere to go.
Uncredited photographer for the Jambalaya, Wikimedia Commons
4. He Got Kicked Out
While Prince’s dad did buy Prince his first guitar, Dad was also the guy who threw him out of the family house. With nowhere else to go, Prince wound up living in the basement of a neighbor. The Andersons lived upstairs, and Prince became friends with their son André Cymone.
This friendship would soon lead to musical fame.
Randi St. Nichols; Distributed by Columbia Records, Wikimedia Commons
5. He Got A Break
Prince and Cymore were both into music, and they got a lucky break. Pepe Willie, Prince’s cousin’s husband, was forming a new band called 94 East and it had spots for both Prince and Cymone. Prince was still in high school, but he was thinking of much bigger things.
6. He Had A Mentor
Upon graduating from Central High School, Prince met a producer names Chris Moon, who was dabbling in music and photography. When Moon heard Prince play bass guitar, piano, and drums all equally well, he knew he had a star on his hands. This partnership was about to explode.
Chris Moon Interview About Prince, MoonSoundStudios
7. He Played With Words
Moon had everything Prince needed to learn how to record and produce demo tapes. He also taught Prince something else. He taught him to use wordplay with a double meaning to make his songs sound more “naughty”. The result of this was their racy-sounding song “Soft and Wet”.
Moon next worked on Prince’s “brand”.
8. He Had A Name Change
At this time, Prince was still going by Prince Nelson, and Moon didn't want any confusion with country singer Willie Nelson. Prince, still unhappy with his first name, proposed “Mr Nelson” but Moon had a better idea. It was a “keep it simple” sort of situation, and Moon decided on just Prince.
A legend was about to be born.
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9. He Was The New Wonder
Prince had aligned his rise to fame with Moon, but Moon saw bigger things for Prince and they went to New York City to find an agent. Moon thought Prince could get famous as the “new Stevie Wonder" and even lied about being Wonder’s agent to get interviews. This didn’t help as none of the agents they visited wanted Prince.
They returned to Minneapolis with their tails between their legs—but they didn't stay down for long.
Allen Beaulieu, Wikimedia Commons
10. He Did It All
Moon arranged to have Prince represented by Owen Husney, and the two were soon off to LA to get Prince’s career going. Warner Bros quickly signed Prince on and arranged for his first album. But Warner Bros was in for a shock. Prince insisted on writing, producing, arranging, composing, and playing all the instruments.
As far as they were concerned, Prince was still young and inexperienced. This had “disaster” written all over it. But they were in for an even bigger shock.
11. He Hit The Charts
The album Prince made with Warner Bros was For You, and it, against all odds, received its fair share of accolades. The album was No. 21 on the Billboard Soul chart and the lead single—remember “Soft and Wet”?—hit the top 20 spot on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. Not bad for a brand-new artist.
Prince was likely feeling very confident, but his confidence was about to take a punch.
Yves Lorson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
12. He Got Up On Stage
Prince hadn’t forgotten his friend André Cymone, and together they formed a band. The six-member group performed their first show at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis on January 5, 1979. Executives from Warner Bros were there to assess Prince’s value to them as a pop star.
Prince’s entire future seemingly rested don their response to the show...
13. They Ate Their Words
The executives at Warner Bros decided that Prince and his band weren’t quite ready. Just nine months later, Prince proved them wrong. He released Prince, which hit the No 4 spot on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums chart. On the Billboard 200, it managed a very respectable No 22. Better yet, it also went platinum.
But Prince was just getting started.
14. He Had A Dirty Mind
Prince’s next album was 1980’s Dirty Mind. Prince remembered what Moon had taught him about using double meanings, and he let it rip with the suggestive lyrics. Critics had trouble making sense of Prince. They saw him as “shy-mannered”, but called his lyrics “positively filthy”. But it wasn’t just the audacious lyrics that made Dirty Mind stand out.
Richard E. Aaron, Getty Images
15. He Was Intoxicating
The thing was, Prince’s Dirty Mind was not just pushing the boundaries of good taste. Prince was fusing new wave and funk and this combination was intoxicating to a new generation of music lovers. Later, critics called Dirty Mind Prince’s coming-of-age album.
But despite his success, Prince soon realized that not everyone was a fan.
16. They Threw Things At Him
At the beginning of the 1980s, Prince appeared on American Bandstand and Saturday Night Live. He then opened for the Rolling Stones. For his wardrobe, Prince chose a trench coat and black bikini underwear. But Rolling Stone fans were not on board with Prince’s androgynous look and started throwing garbage on the stage. Sadly, he had to leave the concert after singing only three songs.
But Prince didn’t let this ordeal slow him down. He was ready for his next step: movies.
17. He Had A Big Ask
Sometime in the early 1980s, Prince asked his management team to find him a movie that he could be the star of. Prince’s team hired Starsky and Hutch writer William Blinn to draft a screenplay for Prince’s movie debut. When Prince received Blinn’s screenplay Dreams, he had only two requests. He wanted him to put the word “purple” in the title—and change the entire story.
18. He Was Almost Replaced
Once they had a script that Prince approved of, the producers had the first meeting for Purple Rain. After the meeting, some executives from Warner Bros cornered Prince’s manager, Robert Cavallo, who was co-producing the film. Their idea was to replace Prince with Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta.
There was no way Prince was leaving this film. But someone else was.
19. He Lost Her
Prince’s first choice for his love interest in Purple Rain was Vanity of the band he created called Vanity 6. He and Vanity were in a relationship, so it seemed like an obvious choice. But during the pre-production phase of the film, Vanity walked off the set for unknown reasons.
Prince was suddenly stuck with no girlfriend and no leading lady.
Ron Galella, Ltd., Getty Images
20. She Gave Him A No
One of the actors Prince tried to hire for the female lead in Purple Rain was Gina Gershon. Prince lured Gershon into making the film with a ride in a purple limo. Gershon, who would later make the very spicy Showgirls and Bound, rejected Prince because she wanted nothing to do with the explicit love-making scenes in the script.
The search for Prince’s leading lady continued.
21. He Wanted It To Be Believable
Prince then hired unknown actor Apollonia Kotero, but Prince had a problem: she wasn’t single. Prince wanted as many things as possible to be true to life. He wanted the public to believe that she was his real girlfriend, except she was married to rocker David Lee Roth. To keep his fantasy going, Prince made her keep that a secret, so fans would think they were a real couple.
Purple Rain also was true to life when it came to his relationships with his friends.
22. He Saw The Future
Most of the actors in Purple Rain used their own names as character names. This is because they were more or less playing themselves. In Purple Rain, Prince tells friends and collaborators Wendy Melvoi and Lisa Coleman that “nobody cares about your music”. Of their five recorded albums, none of them would be successful in the US.
Prince certainly knew talent. No wonder, he was swimming in it.
23. He Was Fast
Sometime during the production, the director asked Prince for a favor. He needed one more song and it had to reflect the theme of Purple Rain. Prince didn’t waste any time. The next day he arrived with a song already produced and recorded. It was “When Doves Cry” which went on to be the top-selling single of 1984.
Purple Rain went on to be a hit, but it certainly ruffled some feathers.
Prince - Purple Rain (complete movie scene), Lokomiusek
24. She Got A Shock
One day, the then-vice-president’s wife, Tipper Gore, heard her 11-year-old daughter listening to a song. When Gore heard the words her daughter was listening to, she got a shock. The song was Prince’s “Darling Nikki” from the Purple Rain soundtrack, and it talked about how Nikki wanted to grind.
A shocked Gore was in a position to make this stop.
25. He Was Not Suitable For Children
Gore made a pretty drastic move. She got together with Republican Susan Baker and formed a committee. They called themselves the Parents’ Music Resource Center (PMRC) and they began the practice of warning parents about musical lyrics that were inappropriate for children.
Prince may not have been family-friendly, but the Academy loved him.
Gary Leonard, Wikimedia Commons
26. He Was The Youngest
When Prince and Purple Rain took home the Academy Award for Best Score he set a record. At just 26 years old he was the youngest ever to win that award. Before that, it had been George Harrison who was 27 when won for Let It Be.
But it wasn’t just Prince who’d won with Purple Rain.
27. They Were The Big Winners
While Prince obviously scored big with Purple Rain, there was another entity that scored even bigger. Warner Bros hit a triple with this film. The huge box office was a boon to their film division, then the soundtrack sales buoyed the record division, and finally, the home video division scored big when Purple Rain went to VHS.
Prince also got another interesting perk along with all his big wins—a chance to use his success to get dates.
Warner Bros., Purple Rain (1984)
28. He Dated A Big Hollywood Star
In the late 1980s, Prince began dating one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. This was Kim Basinger who had just made Batman. Basinger helped Prince out on his EP by contributing spoken word and some very sensual moaning. The word on the street was that her moaning sounds were actually recorded during a real-life intimate session in Prince’s bed.
But Prince didn’t stop at Basinger. There were more Hollywood beauties out there, after all.
29. He Gave Her Her Name
Prince also dated the stunning beauty Tara Leigh Patrick, but they did more than date. It was Prince who convinced Patrick to take on the more provocative name of Carmen Electra. Electra later said that Prince inspired her and believed in her. Next, Prince would enter the world of multi-generational dating.
Manfred Werner (Tsui), Wikimedia Commons
30. He Dated A Teen
Around this same time, Prince began dating the teenage daughter of singer Marvin Gaye. She was 18 years old when they met, and they were together for about three years.
The next teenager in Prince’s life would end up being more than just a girlfriend.
Los Angeles Times, Wikimedia Commons
31. He Met Her Through Her Mother
Mayte Garcia met Prince in a very unusual way. Her mother actually sent Prince’s team a video of her 18-year-old daughter dancing. Prince hired her as a backup dancer for his Diamonds And Pearls Tour and by Valentine's Day 1996, they were ready to walk down the aisle.
Sadly, this union would end in tragedy.
32. He Lost His Only Son
About eight months after the wedding, Mayte was ready to give birth to a son. Sadly, Boy Gregory was born with a rare disorder called Pfeiffer syndrome, and he passed only one week after the birth. The marriage couldn't survive the loss, and they got an annulment in 1999.
But Prince was not through with marriage.
Pool ARNAL/CHARRIAU, Getty Images
33. He Tried Again
Prince actually married one more time, This was to 24-year-old Manuela Testolini, who was working on Prince’s charitable foundation. The marriage lasted from 2001 to 2006. Testolini broke Prince’s heart and went on to hitch up with Eric Benet who was Halle Berry’s ex.
Luckily for him, one thing that helps with a broken heart is oodles and oodles of cash.
34. He Signed A Big One
After he released his Diamonds and Pearls album, Prince decided to continue his contract with Warner Bros. But this was not an easy renewal of a contract, at least not for the record label. Prince held out for a stunning $100 million contract. For this Prince promised Warner Bros six more albums.
He got right down to work.
jimieye, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
35. He Played With Language
Prince had already mastered the art of the double entendre, now he was ready to change the way we looked at language. He replaced “you” with “U” and “two” as “2”. Eventually, he created entire sentences like the album title Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.
But it wasn’t just his album titles that were getting a linguistic makeover.
Warner Bros., Wikimedia Commons
36. He Was Pretentious
Back in 1993, Prince had changed his name to a symbol. Some saw it as the height of pretension, but there was another reason. Prince was battling with his record company, and he wanted to infuriate them. Fans and the media simply called him TAFKAP: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. In 2000, Prince went back to just being Prince—but he wasn't done creating controversy.
penner, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
37. He Gave His Support
In 2015, Black youth Freddie Gray passed while in the custody of officers. The country called foul and riots ensued. Prince supported the rioters with his song “Baltimore” and with a special concert at Paisley Park in a tribute to Gray. Prince was more than willing to fight for what was important.
His greatest fight would be for his life.
38. He Had Health Problems
The first sign that there was trouble with Prince's health was when he postponed two shows from his Piano & a Microphone Tour. He gave the excuse of influenza, but we now know he had visited a specialist named Michael T Schulenberg and had received a prescription.
While he was in his private jet, an emergency occurred.
39. He Needed A Hospital
While in the air, Prince was suddenly unresponsive. The pilot of Prince’s private jet made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois. When he got to the hospital, doctors immediately saw the problem and started giving him a medication called naloxone. Prince would respond to this in a shocking way.
40. He Left
Naloxone is used when someone has taken too much opioids. When Prince came to, he wanted one thing and one thing only: to get out of the hospital. Doctors tried to stop him, but he was intent on leaving. The next day, someone saw him on his bike in his hometown. Maybe he thought everything was going to be okay.
Sadly, that wasn’t true.
nicolas genin, Wikimedia Commons
41. He Needed Help
On April 20, 2016, addiction specialist Howard Kornfeld got an unexpected call from Prince’s people. Prince needed help. Kornfeld made a plan to see Prince two days later and then reached out to a local doctor to arrange for an appointment. The morning of his appointment with the local doctor, Prince found himself in very serious trouble.
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers, Getty Images
42. There Was A Frantic Call
It was just before 10 AM on April 21 that the Sheriff’s Office in Carver City got an emergency call. The caller just said that there was an unconscious person he was dealing with at Prince’s home. A few minutes later, the caller admitted that the person suffering was actually the star himself.
43. They Knew The Cause
When the emergency team arrived at Prince's home, they found the pop star in an elevator and completely unresponsive. They made an attempt with CPR, but they were too late. Later, the Midwest Examiner’s Office issued a press release saying that he passed due to ingesting too much fentanyl.
Now, everyone wanted to know how fentanyl got into Prince’s system.
44. They Were Not Real
Upon examination, the pills that Prince had in his possession were fake versions of a painkiller called Vicodin. This medicine is an opioid commonly used for pain relief but also for recreational purposes. They called a search of Prince’s home and of the Walgreens pharmacy close to Prince’s home.
The more they found, the more heartbreaking the story became.
45. They Found The Truth
During the search of Prince’s home, authorities found pills scattered throughout his premises. But, at the end of the investigation, the Carver County Attorney stated that there would be no charges filed. The one thing that came out of the investigation was a stunning discovery. Prince had an addiction to opioids.
Even so, someone had to pay for giving Prince fentanyl.
46. They Charged The Doctor
The only punishment doled out in regards to Prince’s passing landed on Dr Schulenberg, the man who prescribed Prince opioid painkillers. Schuleberg paid $30,000 in a civil charge that stated that he wrote a prescription for Prince and put it in someone else’s name. With that settled, all that was left now was to handle was the hefty pile of money the star left behind. As you can imagine, it didn't settle easily.
Court Docs: Doctor Prescribed Medicine To Prince Day Before Death, WCCO - CBS Minnesota
47. He Had A Huge Estate
Prince was obviously worth a lot of money, and he had no wives or children to inherit it. The sizable estate had six potential heirs: Prince’s sister and five half-siblings. Seems simple? Nope. It was about to get much more complicated than that.
48. They Came Out Of The Woodwork
Once the word got out that Prince had never written a will, distant relatives came out of the woodwork. In just three weeks, an astonishing 700 people had come forward as distant relatives of Prince. Thankfully, DNA testing determined who the real heirs of his estate were. It was his sister and half-siblings.
With that settled, fans could focus on mourning their beloved musical hero.
49. We Paid Respect
The reaction to the sad loss of Prince was immediate and frenzied. Five hours after the announcement of his passing, “Prince” was the term most used on X (then called Twitter) and Facebook. It had over 60 million interactions. Across the country, people held tribute and vigils in his honor and lit bridges and buildings in a lovely purple.
But just because his life on earth had ended, didn't mean his story was over.
50. The Music Kept Flowing
After his passing, Prince's family uncovered a trove of unreleased music kept safe and under wraps at the pop star's home. And while many people still enjoy the classics, they can also continue to enjoy new music released years after his untimely demise.
They say legends never die, and in this case, it certainly seems Prince's influence never will.
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