Prince Rogers Nelson, the provocative and prodigious rock star, hails from Minneapolis, where he was born on June 7, 1958, and still resides. By age 18, he not only signed with Warner Bros., but also insisted on the right to self-produce.

Prince, whose parents were members of a local jazz band, taught himself to play the piano, the guitar and the drums. As a teenager, he was part of a band called Grand Central. Prince released his first album, For You, in April 1978, "significantly upped his profile" with his second album, Prince, in 1979, and reached a "new level of pop stardom" in 1982 with the double album 1999, Rolling Stone reports, and "superstardom in 1984 with [the soundtrack album] Purple Rain," which won an Oscar for best original score.

"No other pop star could match the range of his talents, which included not just singing and dancing but also composing, producing and playing many, many instruments," the publication wrote in a biography of the artist.
Earlier this year, Prince launched a new website, that features new content.

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