FACTS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE ARTIST YOU KNEW AS PRINCE

PRINCE’S REAL NAME WAS PRINCE ROGERS NELSON,

BUT EVERYBODY CALLED HIM “SKIPPER”

WHEN HE WAS A BOY

HE PUT TOGETHER HIS FIRST BAND WHEN HE WAS

THIRTEEN. HE FIRST NAMED THE GROUP GRAND CENTRAL,

THEN CHAMPAGNE, BUT NEITHER NAME APPARENTLY

WORKED FOR HIM OR THE BAND

“PURPLE RAIN,” ARGUABLY HIS MOST POPULAR SONG,

WAS INITIALLY ELEVEN MINUTES LONG. A VERSE

AND CHORUS WERE CUT BECAUSE HIS RECORD

COMPANY CONSIDERED THE THEME OF MONEY

TO BE INAPPROPRIATE

THE YELLOW GUITAR PRINCE PLAYED IN THE VIDEO

FOR “GETT OFF” IS ON DISPLAY AT THE SMITHSONIAN

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT PRINCE WROTE OVER

SIX HUNDRED SONGS DURING HIS AMAZING

MUSICAL CAREER.

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT PRINCE ONCE PAID A SALON IN

WASHINGTON, D.C., TO CLOSE DOWN, BLACK OUT ALL

THE WINDOWS, AND DO HIS HAIR

PRINCE’S PURPLE RAIN MADE ALMOST $70 MILLION AND

ONLY COST $7 MILLION TO MAKE. NOT BAD FOR A

MUSICIAN WHOSE FIRST FORAY INTO ACTING

CAME WITH THIS FILM

IN 1984 PRINCE MADE MUSIC HISTORY WHEN HE TIED

A RECORD OF THE BEATLES: HE BECAME THE

FIRST SOLO ARTIST TO TOP THE CHARTS

SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH AN ALBUM, A FILM, AND A

SINGLE (PURPLE RAIN (THE ALBUM), PURPLE RAIN

(THE FILM), AND “WHEN DOVES CRY,” RESPECTIVELY)

UNLIKE PURPLE RAIN, PRINCE’S SECOND FILM,

GRAFFITI BRIDGE, WAS A BOX-OFFICE

AND CRITICAL FLOP