Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson  (born June 7, 1958), better known as simply Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has been known under the unpronounceable symbol, which he used between 1993 and 2000. During that period he was frequently referred to in the media as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", often abbreviated to "TAFKAP", or simply "The Artist". Prince has so far produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career, to date. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings. In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of Sheila E., Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6, and has written songs for these artists and others (including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O'Connor). Prince also had several hundred unreleased songs in his "vault". He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible. Rolling Stone has ranked Prince #27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Prince's music has been influenced by rock, R&B, soul, funk, rap, blues, New Wave, electronica, disco, psychedelia, folk, jazz, and pop. His artistic influences included Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Curtis Mayfield, and Stevie Wonder. Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians. Prince had a wide vocal range and is known for his flamboyant stage presence and costumes. He died at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, near Minneapolis, after suffering flu-like symptoms for several weeks. Description above from the Wikipedia article Prince, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia