Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson was born on 7 June 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to musician parents, and displayed prodigious musical talent from childhood, learning to play numerous instruments and writing his first song by age seven.

Prince signed his first record deal at just 18 years old and, unusually for the era, insisted on producing, arranging and playing virtually every instrument on his own albums himself, establishing a reputation as an uncompromising creative visionary from the very start of his career.

His 1984 album and film Purple Rain became a cultural phenomenon, spending 24 weeks at number one on the Billboard chart and earning Prince an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score, cementing his status as one of the most innovative and electrifying performers in popular music.

Throughout a prolific career spanning over three decades, Prince blended funk, rock, R&B, pop and new wave into a wholly original sound, releasing dozens of albums, and in 1993 famously changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol during a public dispute with his record label over creative and financial control of his own work.

Prince died suddenly in 2016 at his Paisley Park studio complex in Minnesota at age 57; he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians in popular music history, celebrated for his virtuosic guitar playing, boundary-pushing artistry, and fierce advocacy for artists' ownership of their own creative work.