Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999
Prince gained critical acclaim with his 1980 release of Dirty Mind, again entirely self-recorded, this time, to cut cost, not in a Studio in California, but in his North Arm Drive Home Studio in Orono, Minnesota. Dirty Mind is particularly notable for its sexually explicit material, in particular the title track, Head, and controversial Sister. During this period, Prince began to attract attention for the clothes he wore on-stage: high-heeled shoes, a trench coat and bikini brief,s and tended to flaunt and express an intense sexuality on-stage. By this time Lisa Coleman had replaced keyboardist Gayle Chapman, who felt the sexually explicit lyrics and stage antics of Prince’s concerts conflicted with her religious beliefs.
In October 1981 Prince played two shows opening for The Rolling Stones at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Here he was infamously pelted with garbage and eventually booed off the stage for his wardrobe and androgynous lyrics. These shows occurred just before the release of Controversy. By now André Cymone was replaced by bassist Mark Brown (later Brown Mark).
Soon after he released the album Controversy, with the single of the same name charting internationally for the first time.
In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live] performing Partyup.
Starting with the album Controversy, Prince used Controversy Music for publishing his songs, which he would continue to do for his following sixteen records until Emancipation in 1996.
In 1981, Prince formed a "side project" (a misnomer label, given that his band was only used for performances and contributed little to recording sessions) band called The Time. They would released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing all instruments and backing vocals throughout and lead vocals handled by Morris Day for their first three albums, with The Time’s four outing also having contributions by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, whom by then had tremendous success as producers on their own merit, but hailed from The Time originally.
In 1982, Prince released the 1999 double-album (released in some countries as a single-album) which "broke" him into the mainstream in the US and internationally, selling over three million copies. The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit internationally.
With his video for Little Red Corvette he joined Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie as part of the first wave of African American artists on MTV. The song Delirious also went top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was placed at number six in The Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1983. Around this time Prince began, subtly at first, crediting his band as The Revolution. Their name was printed in reverse in a doodle on the cover of 1999; however Prince further refrained from using the name "The Revolution" until after the 87-date 1999 Tourof the USA when Dez Dickerson left the band and was replaced in spring of 1983 by 18 year old Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend and at that point partner of Lisa.
The Revolution
Prince’s 1984 album, Purple Rain (concurrent with the film of the same name) sold more than thirteen million copies in the US and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. The Academy Award-winning film grossed more than $80 million in the US alone, and proved to be Prince’s biggest cinematic success.
Two songs from Purple Rain, When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy, topped the US pop singles chart and were hits around the world, while the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Prince simultaneously held the spots #1 film, #1 single, and #1 album in the US. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain", and the album ranks at 72 in the top 100 of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list; the album is also listed in The All-TIME 100 Albums of TIME Magazine.
In November 1984 Prince and The Revolution embarked on highly successful Purple Rain Tour, which would comprise a total of 98 shows in the USA and Canada. At the end of that tour Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances.
Around The World In A Day was released in April 1985 and held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks. Its first single Raspberry Beret, reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, but later singles Pop Life Paisley Park and Single: America struggled to find chart success in the US.
In March 1986 Prince’s next album Parade was released. The album hit #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B charts. The first single, Kiss, would top the Billboard Hot 100. At the same time, another Prince song, Manic Monday by The Bangles, reached #2 on the Hot 100. Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince’s second film Under The Cherry Moon.
Prince both directed and starred (as Christopher Tracy) in the movie, that featured Kristin Scott-Thomas in her first feature film role, as Christopher’s love interest, Mary Sharon.
Following the film and album release, Prince expanded The Revolution by adding Miko Weaver on guitar, Eric Leeds (saxophone and flute), Atlanta Bliss (trumpet), (former) bodyguards Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks.
and former The Time valet and Under The Cherry Moon co-star Jerome Benton as dancers and back-up vocalists, before playing several scattered Hit & Run shows in the U.S. In August he embarked on a 18-date Parade Tour, his first full scale European tour and first appearances in Japan.
In October 1986 Prince disbanded The Revolution. He let go Wendy and Lisa and Bobby Z., while Brown Mark quit, having wanted to leave since before the Parade Tour. All that remained of the original [Revolution line-up was keyboardist Matt Fink.
Solo Again
Prior to the disbanding of The Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects. The Revolution album, Dream Factory and a solo effort, Camille. Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory included significant input from the band members and even featured a number of songs with lead vocals by Wendy and Lisa, while the Camille project saw Prince create a new persona primarily singing in a sped up, higher pitched voice. With the dismissal of The Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. However, with the disappointing sales of his previous two albums, Warner were reluctant to release a three-disc album and told Prince to make the release a double album instead. This album became Sign O’ The Times, released in March 1987.
The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The first single, Sign O’ The Times, would chart at #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, If I Was Your Girlfriend charted poorly at #67 on the Hot 100, but went to #12 on R&B chart. The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton, U Got The Look charted at #2 on the Hot 100, #11 on the R&B chart, and the final single I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man finished at #10 on Hot 100 and #14 on the R&B chart.
Despite the album receiving the greatest critical acclaim of any album in Prince’s career, including being named the top album of the year by the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, album sales steadily declined, although it eventually sold 3.2 million copies. In Europe however, it performed well and Prince promoted the album overseas with the 34-date Sign O’ The Times Tour, putting together a new backing and (colloquially referred to as The 87-89 Band), retaining Revolution" holdovers Dr. Fink, Miko Weaver, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss and the (former) bodyguards (Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks), and adding Sheila E. on drums, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass, Boni Boyer on keyboards, and replacing Jerome Benton with dancer/choreographer Cat Glover.
The tour was a success overseas with Warner and Prince’s management wanting to bring it to the U.S. to resuscitate lagging sales of Sign O’ The Times, however Prince balked at a full U.S. tour. A compromise was made where he filmed the last three nights of the tour to be released in movie theaters as a concert film. Unfortunately, the having not been shot with proper lighting for film, its quality was deemed sub-par and re-shoots were performed at his Paisley Park studios. The film Sign O’ The Times was released on November 20 1987. Much like the album, the film was critically praised, (at least more than the previous year’s Under The Cherry Moon) however its box office receipts were minimal and it quickly left theaters.
The next album intended for release was to be “The Black Album”. More instrumental and funk and R&B themed than recent releases, “The Black Album” also saw Prince experiment with rap. Prince was set to release the album in December 1987 with a complete monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number (9-25677) printed, but at the last minute, Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had the album recalled, even though 500,000 copies had been pressed. In November 1994 the album would be released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album. Prince went back in the studio and in a period of 8 weeks recorded the material of what would become his next album Lovesexy.
Released on May 10 1988, Lovesexy serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark “The Black Album”. It would reach #11 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the R&B albums chart. The lead single, Alphabet St., peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart but subsequent single Glam Slam an I Wish U Heaven were less successful.
With his nameless backing band (colloquially referred to as The 87-89 Band), minus 'the Bodyguards' Prince embarked on the Lovesexy Tour, with 77 dates in Europe, America and Japan, that, although it played to huge crowds and were well received shows, failed to make a net profit due to the expensive sets and props incorporated.
In 1989, Prince began work on a number of musical projects, including Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic but this project was put on hold when he was asked by director Tim Burton to record songs for his upcoming live-action adaptation of Batman. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire 9-track album that Warner Bros. released in June 1989. Batman peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.4 million copies. The single Batdance topped the Billboard and R&B charts. Additionally, the singles Partyman charted at #18 on the Hot 100 and at #5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad Scandalous went to #5 on the R&B chart.
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NPG & Name Change
In 1990, Prince went back on tour with a revamped band for his stripped down, back-to-basics Nude Tour. With the departure of Boni Boyer, Sheila E., the horns, and Cat, Prince brought in Rosie Gaines on keys, drummer Michael B, and dancing trio, The Game Boyz comprising Tony M., Kirk Johnson, and Damon Dickson. The 56-date Nude Tour of European and Japan was a financial success with its greatest hits setlist.
In August the album Graffiti Bridge was released, a few months ahead of Prince’s fourth film, Graffiti Bridge for which is served as soundtrack. Graffiti Bridge reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and R&B albums chart. The single Thieves In The Temple reaching #6 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart.
The film, released in November 1990, was a critical and box office flop, grossing just $4.2 million.
1991 marked the debut of Prince’s new band, the The New Power Generation. The name come from a concept developed into his previous album, through the number New Power Generation. With guitarist Miko Weaver and long-time keyboardist Dr. Fink gone, Prince had Levi Seacer, Jr. switch to guitar and added bass player Sonny T., Tommy Barbarella took over on keyboards.
With significant input from his band members, Diamonds And Pearls was released in October 1991. Reaching #3 on the Billboard 200 Diamonds And Pearls saw the singles Gett Off chart at #21 on the Hot 100 and #6 on the R&B charts while Cream gave Prince his fifth US number one single.
A successful 50 date Diamonds And Pearls Tour of Japan, Australia and Europe was undertaken between April and July 1992. The New Power Generation was augmented with a five piece horn section, collectively known as the Hornheadz and dancers Lori Elle (Werner) (as Diamond), Robia LaMorte (as (Pearl) and Mayte, as well as a Deejay William 'Diamond J.' Graves.
1992 saw Prince and The New Power Generation release his twelfth album titled with the unpronounceable symbol:  (later copyrighted as Love Symbol #2). would peak at #5 on the Billboard 200. The albums first single Sexy M.F. charted only at #66 on the Hot 100 and #76 on the R&B chart. its follow-up My Name Is Prince managed to reach #36 on Billboard Hot 100 and #23 on the R&B chart. The label’s preferred lead single choice 7 would be the album’s lone top ten hit reaching #7. would go on to sell 2.8 million copies worldwide.
After two failed attempts in 1990 and 1991, Warner Bros. finally released a greatest hits compilation with the three-disc The Hits / The B-Sides in 1993. The first two discs were also sold separately as The Hits 1 and The Hits 2.
In addition to featuring the majority of Prince’s hit singles (with the exception of Batdance and other songs that appeared on the Batman soundtrack, due to licensing reasons), The Hits / The B-Sides includes an array of previously hard-to-find recordings, notably B-sides spanning the majority of Prince’s career, as well as a handful of previously unreleased tracks such as The Revolution -recorded Power Fantastic and a live recording of Nothing Compares 2 U with Rosie Gaines. Two new songs, Pink Cashmere and Peach, were chosen as promotional singles to accompany the compilation album.
1993 also marked the year in which Prince changed his stage name , which is a combination of the symbols for male (♂) and female (♀). Because the symbol was and is unpronounceable, he was often referred to as "Symbol", "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", or simply "The Artist".
Prince toured the USA on the Act I- and later in the year Europe on the Act II Tour. For these performances the line up of The New Power Generation was changed. Rosie Gaines had left following the Diamonds And Pearls Tour and was replaced by Morris Hayes. dancers Diamond and Pearl as well as a Deejay William 'Diamond J.' Graves were no longer part of the band either. The Game Boyz (Tony M., Kirk Johnson, and Damon Dickson) still had a role in the show on the Act I Tour in the USA, but were phased out on the European Act II tour.
Increased Output
In 1994, Prince’s attitude towards his artistic output underwent a notable shift. He began to view releasing albums in quick succession as a means of ejecting himself from his contractual obligations to Warner Bros. The label, he believed, was intent on limiting his artistic freedom by insisting that he release albums more sporadically. He also blamed Warner Bros. for the poor commercial performance of the album, claiming that it was insufficiently marketed by Warner. It was out of these developments that the aborted Black Album was officially released, approximately seven years after its initial recording and near-release.
Following that disappointing venture, Warner Bros. succumbed to Prince’s wishes to release an album of new material, to be entitled Come. When Come was eventually released, it confirmed all of Warner’s fears. It became Prince’s poorest-selling album to date, struggling to even shift 500,000 copies. Even more frustrating was the fact that Prince insisted on crediting the album to "Prince 1958–1993".
Prince pushed to have his next album The Gold Experience released simultaneously with -era material. Warner Bros. allowed the single The Most Beautiful Girl In The World to be released via a small, independent distributor, Bellmark Records, in February 1994. The release was successful, reaching #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in many other countries, but it would not prove to be a model for subsequent releases. Warner Bros. Records still resisted releasing The Gold Experience, fearing poor sales and citing "market saturation" as a defense.
When eventually released in September 1995, The Gold Experience failed to sell well, although it reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 initially, and many reviewed it as Prince’s best effort since Sign O’ The Times.
With The NPG (now sans the brass section The Hornheadz) Prince performed many one-off shows in 1994 and 1995, mainly in the USA and a 20-date The Ultimate Live Experience Tour in Europe in March 1995 and a 7-date Tour of Japan in January 1996. .
Chaos And Disorder, released in 1996, was Prince’s final album of new material for Warner Bros. as well as one of his least commercially successful releases.
Free at last
Later in 1996 Prince attempted a major comeback when, free of any further contractual obligations to Warner Bros. he released Emancipation. The album was released via his own NPG Records with distribution through EMI. To publish his songs on Emancipation, Prince did not use Controversy Music, which he had used for all his records since 1981, but rather used Emancipated Music Inc..
While certified Platinum by the RIAA, some critics felt that the sprawling 36-song, 3-CD set (each disc was exactly 60 minutes long) lacked focus, and might have worked better as a single or double disc set. Emancipation is the first record featuring covers by Prince of songs of other artists: Joan Osborne’s top ten hit song of 1995 One Of Us; The Stylistics’ Betcha By Golly Wow!;  Can’t Make U Love Me, famous by [Bonnie Raitt; and La, La, La Means Love U, originally La-La Means I Love You by The Delfonics.
Prince and The NPG toured the USA and Canada extensively in 1997 with two tours: the 21-date Love 4 One Another Charities Tour and the 65-date Jam Of The Year World Tour, The band line-up was again mostly overhauled with only Morris Hayes on keyboards remaining, augmented by former dancer and occasional percussionist in the band, Kirk Johnson on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass, and Kat Dyson and Mike Scott on guitar. Marva King was added as backing vocalist.
In 1998 Prince released Crystal Ball a 5-CD collection of unreleased material. The distribution of this album was disorderly, with some fans pre-ordering it via his website up to a year before it was eventually shipped to them, and months after the record had gone on sale in retail stores. The retail edition has only four discs, as it is missing the Kamasutra disc.
The Newpower Soul, officially attributed to The NPG, but by all purpose and intend a Prince album, released in late June 1998 failed to make much of an impression on the charts. His collaboration on Chaka Khan’s Come 2 My House, and Graham Central Station’s GCS 2000, both released on the NPG Records label in the periphery of Newpower Soul met with the same fate, despite heavy promotion and live appearances on Vibe with Sinbad, and the NBC Today show’s Summer Concert Series.
Tours in the USA New Power Soul Tour (17 dates) and Europe New Power Soul Festival Tour (15-dates) were also undertaken in 1998; For these the line-up of The NPG was the same as in 1997, minus Kat Dyson as second guitarist.
in August 1999 The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale is released. a collection of unreleased material recorded by Prince throughout his career, and his final recording commitment on his contract with Warner Bros.. No singles were released from the album.
In November 1999, Prince once again signed with a major label Arista Records to release a new record, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic. Its lead ingle: Single:_The_Greatest_Romance_Ever_Sold|The Greatest Romance Ever Sold]] peaked at 63 in the Billboard Hot 100.
The biggest success he had during the year was with the EP 1999: The New Master, released in time for Prince to collect a small portion of the sales dollars Warner Bros. had been seeing for the album and singles of the original 1999. Both critics and fans panned 1999: The New Master, declaring it unimaginative.
The pay-per-view concert, Rave Un2 the Year 2000, was broadcast on 31 December 1999 and consisted of footage from performances recorded on 17 and 18 December 1999 at Paisley Park Studios. The concert featured appearances by many guest musicians including Lenny Kravitz, George Clinton, and The Time. It was released to home video the following year. A remix album, Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (as opposed to "Un2") was released exclusively through Prince’s NPG Music Club in April 2000.
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Turnaround
On 16 May 2000 Prince ceased using the moniker and returned to using "Prince" again, after his publishing contract with Warner/Chappell expired. In a press conference, he stated that, after being freed from undesirable relationships associated with the name "Prince", he would formally revert to using his real name. Prince still frequently uses the symbol as a logo and on album artwork and continues to play a [[[File: Symbol_no2.svg|14px|link=Alias: Symbol]]-shaped guitar.
In late 2000 Prince embarks on another tour of The USA. The Hit N Run Tour 00-01 comprises 20 dates in November-December 2001. Besides Rhonda Smith on bass and Morris Hayes on keyboards The NPG now has John Blackwell on drums, Kip Blackshire on keyboards]], Najeeon saxophone and flute, completed with dancer Geneva. 20 more dates follow in April 2001 now with backing vox of Milenia, made up of the sisters Mikki, Malikah, Niyoki and Tia White. In June Prince and The NPG play 6 more shows in the USA, with the same line up, now under the moniker A Celebration.
For several years following the release of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Prince primarily released new music through his Internet subscription service, NPGOnlineLtd.com (later NPGMusicClub.com). In 2001 The Rainbow Children was released with limited success.
During this time, Prince sought to engage more effectively with his fan base via the NPG Music Club, pre-concert sound checks, and at yearly "celebrations" at Paisley Park, his music studios.
Fans were invited into the studio for tours, interviews, discussions and music-listening sessions. Some of these fan discussions were filmed for an unreleased documentary, directed by Kevin Smith. Smith discusses what happened during those days at length in his An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD. Performances were also arranged to showcase Prince’s talents, as well as to collaborate with popular and well-established artists and guests including Alicia Keys, The Time, Erykah Badu, Nikka Costa, George Clinton, Norah Jones.
Released on 14 May 2002 (first shipment arrive) the 25th full-length studio album by Prince is his first album of new material to be released exclusively through the NPG Music Club. The album was mailed to NPG Music Club members worldwide in May 2002 and later in the year, included as a separately-packaged fourth disc with the NPG Music Club edition of One Nite Alone... Live!.
On 1 March 2002, Prince embarks on the One Nite Alone... Tour to promote his latest outputs in the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan. A total of 64 shows were played in 14 countries when the tour ended in Nagoya, Japan in late November. The line-up of The NPG was again changed for the tour. The Rhythm-section was unchanged with John Blackwell on drums and Rhonda Smith on bass. Renato Neto took over from Morris Hayes on keyboards. and there was a two or three piece horn section with Greg Boyer on trombone, Maceo Parker on saxophone on most dates and alternating Najee on saxophone and flute (on the US dates) augmented by Candy Dulfer (US and Europe) or Eric Leeds (Europe and Japan) on saxophone. Dudley D. completed the band as deejay.
The setlist mainly focused on his last two efforts, added with a few hits and and selected tracks from his Warner-era albums. Jazz oriented, reminiscent of the sound produced on The Rainbow Children, the concerts included a piano solo piece to enable Prince to showcase tracks from One Nite Alone. At rare occasions, Prince replaced the piano solo piece by a guitar acoustic solo segment.
A lot of efforts were made to continue to engage with fans: NPG Music Club members were given early entry to venues, enabling them to witness soundchecks. Members were also given priority ticketing to aftershows on the website, a first in Prince’s career.
The One Nite Alone... Tour over, decision was made to issue a live album and a DVD out of it.
Released his first live album, One Nite Alone... Live!, which features performances from the One Nite Alone tour. The 3-CD box set, which also includes a disc of "aftershow" music entitled One Nite Alone... The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over!, failed to chart.
The first audio document of Prince’s concerts, the two first CDs includes tracks from nine different shows from eight venues on the One Nite Alone... Tour. The tracklist is fairly representative of a typical night’s show on the tour, although it misses a number of cover versions performed regularly on the tour, leaving only Prince compositions.
The third CD One Nite Alone... The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over is the first official audio document of Prince’s aftershow concerts and includes tracks from three different concerts following shows on the One Nite Alone... Tour.
Released as a surprise mp3 download on New Year’s Day 2003 to members of the NPG Music Club, Xpectation was the 26th full-length studio album by Prince, and the first instrumental album released under his own name, No singles were released from the album, and the album was not eligible for any charts as it was not available on the commercial markets measured by charts.
The 27th full-length studio album by Prince, N.E.W.S. was released in June 2003 and again a fully instrumental effort. The album contained only four tracks, each exactly 14:00 long and was recorded all in one day, (6 February 2003), No singles were released from the album, and it did not enter the charts in the USA, but was nominated for the 2004 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album
In late 2003 A short World Tour 2003 followed which despite its name only played 8 shows in Australasia. The band remained the same as the previous tour, but with the horn section now settled on Greg Boyer, Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer and the addition of Chance Howard and rad. on keyboards.
On 8 February 2004, Prince appeared at the Grammy Awards with Beyoncé Knowles. The following month, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As well as performing a trio of his own hits during the ceremony, Prince also participated in a tribute to fellow inductee George Harrison in a rendition of the deceased artist’s "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", playing a worldwide lauded extended guitar solo.
In April 2004, Prince released Musicology through a one-album agreement with Columbia Records. The album rose as high as the top five on a number of international charts (including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia). The US chart success was assisted by the CD being included as part of the concert ticket purchase, and each CD thereby qualifying (as chart rules then stood) towards US chart placement.
The Musicology Tour played a total of 89 shows in the USA and Canada. with a band that was the same as in 2003, but with keyboardist rad. gone and Mike Scott returning on guitar. Pollstar named Prince the top concert draw among musicians in USA. Grossing an estimated $87.4 million, Prince’s Musicology Tour was the most profitable tour in the music industry for 2004. 89 shows were played with an average ticket price of $ 61. Further highlighting the success of the album, Prince’s Musicology went on to receive two Grammy wins, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for Call My Name and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the title track.
Musicology was also nominated for Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album, while Cinnamon Girl was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The album became the artist’s most commercially successful since Diamonds And Pearls, partly due to a radical scheme devised which included in Billboard’s sales figures those that were distributed to each customer during ticket sales for the Musicology Tour.
Prince was ranked 7th Greatest Artist of All Time in Acclaimed Music’s list of The 1000 Greatest Artist of All Time. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Prince #28 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In December 2004, Prince was ranked #5 on the Top Pop Artists of the Past 25 Years list by [www.rockonthenet.com]. He was the highest-ranked male performer on the list.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city of New Orleans on 29 August 2005, Prince offered a personal response by recording two new songs, S.S.T. and the instrumental Brand New Orleans, at Paisley Park in the early hours of 2 September. Prince again performed all instrumental and vocal parts. These recordings were quickly dispersed to the public via Prince’s NPG Music Club, and S.S.T. was later picked up by iTunes, where it reached #1 on the store’s R&B chart. On 25 October, Sony Records released a version of the single on CD.
Move To Universal
In late 2005 Prince signed with Universal Records. He updated his backing band that from now on consisted of Cora Coleman-Dunham on drums and her husband Josh Dunham on bass. Morris Hayes was back in the fold on keyboards, while Prince himself took on guitar duties. Other additions were twin sisters Maya and Nandy McClean (together as The Twinz) and DJ Rashida as deejay.
With this band Prince first went on the road again for a 13-show tour promote his protegée Támar Davis between January and March 2006. Prince himself took a backseat on these performances and focused on guitar playing.
3121, was released on 21 March 2006, (3/21). The first single was the Latin-tinged Te Amo Corazón. The video for the second single, Black Sweat, was nominated at the MTV VMAs for Best Cinematography, but neither song made a great impact on the Billboard single charts. The Album 3121 however gave Prince his first #1 debut on the Billboard 200.
To promote the new album, Prince was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 4 2006, seventeen years after his last SNL appearance. He performed two songs from the album, Fury and Beautiful, Loved And Blessed, with Támar Davis. He also appeared at multiple award ceremonies in 2006. On February 15 2006, Prince performed at the BRIT Awards along with Wendy and Lisa and Sheila E. He played Te Amo Corazón and Fury from 3121 and Purple Rain and Let’s Go Crazy from Purple Rain. On June 27 2006, Prince appeared at the BET Awards, where he was awarded Best Male R&B Artist.
On June 12 2006, Prince received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his "visionary" use of the Internet; Prince was the first major artist to release an entire album 1997’s Crystal Ball, exclusively on the internet. A few weeks after winning the award, Prince abruptly shut down his official NPG Music Club website at 12:00 a.m. on July 4 2006 after over five years of operation. The NPG Music Club sent out an email, claiming that:
"In its current 4m there is a feeling that the NPG Music Club gone as far as it can go. In a world without limitations and infinite possibilities, has the time come 2 once again make a leap of faith and begin anew? These r ?s we in The NPG need 2 answer. In doing so, we have decided 2 put the club on hiatus until further notice."
On the day of the music club’s shutdown, a lawsuit was filed against Prince by the British company HM Publishing (owners of the Nature Publishing Group, also NPG). Despite these events occurring on the same day, Prince’s attorney called it pure coincidence and stated that the site did not close due to the trademark dispute.
On August 22 2006, Warner Bros. Records released Ultimate, a compilation of remastered material. The double disc set contains one CD of previous hits, and another of extended versions and mixes of material that had largely only previously been available on vinyl record B-sides.
In November 2006, Prince was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, appearing to collect his award but not performing. Also in November 2006, Prince announced a Las Vegas residency at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. He performed weekly on Friday and Saturday nights until April 2007 when his contract with the Rio ended.
For these shows Prince included a horn section again, initially consisting of Greg Boyer on trombone, Maceo Parker and Mike Phillips on Saxophone. The horn section was further augmented in January 2007 with Lee Hogans on trumpet. At this time Maceo Parker stopped being a permanent band member. Also in January Shelby J. joined the band as vocalist.
In February 2007 Prince performed the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in Miami, Florida. The event was carried to 140 million television viewers, the largest audience of his life ,and later lauded as the best Super Bowl halftime show performance.
In May 2007 Prince announced that he would play 21 concerts in London over the summer of 2007. The 21 Nights In London : The Earth Tour comprised 21 nights at the 20,000 capacity O² Arena. with tickets priced at £31.21, an admission price that included including a free copy of Prince’s latest album Planet Earth,
In June the UK national newspaper The Mail on Sunday revealed it would give Prince’s new album, Planet Earth, away for free with an "imminent" edition of the paper, making it the first place in the world to get the album. This move sparked controversy among music distributors and also led the UK arm of Prince’s distributor, Sony BMG, to withdraw from distributing the album in UK stores. The UK’s largest high street music retailer, HMV decided to stock the paper on release day due to the giveaway.
In July, ahead of the 21 Nights in London Prince performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. His band was unchanged from the La Vegas residency. For the 21 Nights In London : The Earth Tour, Marva King returned on backing vox, performing alongside Shelby J.. The shows were a great success and all 21 nights sold out.
In October 2008 Prince released a live album entitled Indigo Nights, as well as 21 Nights, an accompanying book of poems, lyrics and photos. The book chronicled his record-breaking tenure at London’s O² Arena in 2007, while the album is a collection of songs performed live at aftershows in the IndigO².
In December 2008 Prince announced his intention to release three separate albums in 2009: LotusFlow3r, MPLSound, and an album, credited to the new protege, Bria Valente, called Elixer. These album were released in March, LotusFlow3r and MPLSound being his 33rd and 34th full-length studio albums.
Following his residencies in Las Vegas and London Prince set a new standard for his live performances in March 2009, when in Los Angeles, playing three concert within a single day at three different venues. He revised the idea later in the year with the "2 in 1" night formula, when he played the Monteux festival once more, on July 18th: two concerts the same night in the same venue. Much like he also had done sometimes on his early tours, but not since 1982, at the beginning of the 1999 Tour. He refined it further a month later on 13 August in Monaco. And after seeing a fashion show in Le Grand Palais, in Paris, Prince revamped "2 in 1" into "All Day, All Night" and performed two consecutive concerts there i9n October.
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Rejection of the Internet and touring
Prince released his album 20Ten in July 2010 as a free covermount with publications in the UK, Belgium, Germany, and France. Prince refused access to the album to digital download services.
On July 4 2010 Prince began his 20TEN Tour, a 7-show summer concert tour in Europe. The band was essentially the same as it had been since 2005, but the live horns were now replaced with Cassandra O’Neal as an extra keyboardist. Marva King also left again and Shelby J. was now accompanied by Elisa Deaseand Liv Warfield on backing vox, and ever more often as soloists on cover songs in the set. Furthermore Frédéric Yonnet played harmonica on these shows, with occasionl guest’s like Sheila E. on percussion.
For a 7-date follow-up tour Prince Live 2010 that began on October 15 and ended with a concert following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 14, the line-up of
NPG was revised once again. John Blackwell returned on drums intead of Cora Coleman-Dunham, while Danish bassplayer Ida Nielsen replaced. Josh Dunham]] Renato Neto also returned on keyboards, while Sheila E. now played percussion on all shows. Frédéric Yonnet did not appear any longer.
Welcome 2 America
In October Prince also announced what would be his next tour in America Welcome 2 America Tour. It would end up playing 33 dates between 15 December 2010 and 29 May 2011 , including a 'Welcome 2 America: 21 Night Stand residency that in spite of its name comprised only 15 dates the the Inglewood Forum. The band for this shows was the same as in late 2010, albeit with Sheila E. only guesting at selected shows. and The Twinz Maya and Nandy McClean returning from 14 April 2011 onward.
In June Prince took the tour to Europe, now under the moniker of Welcome 2 America Euro 2011 Tour. 21 shows were played in Europe. The Twinz and Elisa Dease did not come to Europe, and new to the band was Andy Allo on guitar and vox and Maceo Parker joined on selected dates. For the rest the band was the same as previously.
In November and December Prince came to Canada with the concept, now as Welcome 2 Canada Tour for an 11-date tour. Elisa Dease re-joined the band on backing vocals for this stint.
Eight more shows with the "Welcome 2..." concept were played in Australia in May 2012. For these shows The Twinz returned as back-up dancers and occasional vocalist, joined by Damaris Lewis. Andy Allo was gone and Maceo Parker did now no longer perform, but instead acoustic guitarist Andy McKee played with the band on selected Australian dates.
The final three "Welcome 2..." shows were played in Chicago in September 2012. Andy Allo was back again, while the dancers were gone. Prince did introduce a new 11-piece horn section with Sylvester Onyejiaka, BK Jackson, Marcus Anderson, Adrian Crutchfield, Keith Anderson on saxophone, Lynn Grissett, Steve Reid, Phil Lassiter and Nick Marchione on trumpet, and Roy Agee and Joey Rayfield on trombone.
3rdEyeGirl
Late in 2012, Prince assembled a new compact band 3rdEyeGirl with Hannah Ford on drums, Ida Nielsen on bass and Donna Grantis on guitar, initially to acomany ghim on selected gigs while the larger The NPG was also still in play. In fact with 3 shows at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis, in January, Prince introduced three band line-ups. Apart from 3rdEyeGirl who made their live debut, there was also a revised line-up of The NPG with Ronald Bruner Jr. on drums, Andrew Gouché on bass, Ida Nielsen on guitar, Cassandra O’Neal on keyboards and backing singers Shelby J., Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield. Furthermore the 11-piece horn section from before was condensed to six players: BK Jackson, Marcus Anderson and Adrian Crutchfield on saxophone, Lynn Grissett and Steve Reid on trumpet and Joey Rayfield on trombone
Lastly there was a jazz oriented condensed NPG quartet with Ronald Bruner Jr. on drums, Andrew Gouché on bass and Cassandra O’Neal on keyboards.
On 4 February 2013 European record label Purple Music released Prince’s single Screwdriver in digital format.
The next day, Prince new merchant website 3rdEyeGirl.com released an unreleased remix of Screwdriver and a new song, Breakfast Can Wait, in digital format.
In Februey a new website, prince2013.com was launched, and released a Screwdriver|video for the song Screwdriver, Boyfriend, That Girl Thang, Live Out Loud, in audio and Live Out Loud|video formats. More content followed in March and April.
An tour with 3rdEyeGirl was launched in April, 34 shows were played primarily on the American west coast of America, with an additional stop in Vancouver as tour opener, and a last concert organized in Minneapolis, Myth Live. Almost all dates featured two concerts an early and late show. The tour, meant to present 3rdEyeGirl to the public, was mostly promoted on the band an associates social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube). After the tour, videos and new songs continued to regularly be streamed or released online.
Launched by Prince on 12 June 2013 via LiveStream.com, the new TV channel had broadcast for the first four days of its existence in a row, Two more broadcasts were then aired a few daly later. All these were from Paisley Park Studios. On 30 June 2013, part of a show was broadcast live from Chicago. After that the broadcasts continued with an irregular interval. Broadcasts were usually not advertised until about one hour before show time. An announcement was often made on the channel’s blog, reading for example "Tune in shortly for a surprise". Some Broadcasts were not advertised though, and went on air without notice. Members could subscribe to get a notification via e-mail or text when the TV broadcast went live. Duration of the broadcasts varied from three to 90 minutes.
For most of July 2013 3rdEye TV temporarily ceased broadcast, while Prince, The NPG and 3rdEyeGirl played selected shows in Europe. The last episodes mainly consisted of live material from those European shows. Between mid-August to October 2013, live material was posted on 3rdEyeGirl social media channels instead of 3rdEye TV. 3rdEye TV ceased broadcast after episode #21, on 5 October 2013.
In February Prince and 3rdEyeGirl went to England for a string of one-off shows usually announced with little advanced notice. In March he turned to the USA to play shows with The NPG. in May and June Prince and 3rdEyeGirl returned to Europe for what was now called the Hit And Run Part II Tour.
Plectrumelectrum & Art Official Age
The release of PlectrumElectrum late September 2014 marks both a return to work with Warner Bros. Records and the final act of the 3rdEyeGirl. The album reached number 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, and 8 on The Billboard 200. It also entered the main charts in Europe, Australia and Japan. on the same day
Prince released Art Official Age, his 37th full-length studio album, four years after the previous album 20Ten. Prince worked heavily with Joshua Welton on the album, and Welton received co-producer credit on it. The album achieved better success that its 3rdEyeGirl counterpart, reaching number 1 on on both the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart and Billboard R&B albums chart, and 5 on The Billboard 200. It also entered the main charts in Europe, Australia and Japan.
Tidal, Hitnrun Phase One & Two
In May 2015, Prince returns to using an internet platform as a promotion and selling tool with a partnership with Tidal.
On 7 September 2015 Prince’s new album Hitnrun Phase One was available as a Tidal exclusive, and when the album was made available on Tidal it was accompanied by a significant presence of other exclusive material on the platform.
In addition to Hitnrun Phase One, several out-of-print albums were made available, including some NPG Music Club albums that had not previously been available in high definition: The Chocolate Invasion (with a slightly altered tracklist from its initial release in 2004), The Slaughterhouse, Xpectation and C-Note. Also available was The Truth, previously only available as part of the Crystal Ball set, as well as the majority of the rest of Prince’s main album catalog.
Initially announced as a Tidal exclusive Hitnrun Phase One was released worldwide in a more conventional way on 14 September 2015. The album, recorded solely by Prince and Joshua Welton, was very electronic oriented.
The album reached position 7 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and 70 on the Billboard 200. It failed to reach top 10 positions in Europe, Australia and Japan.
Released on 12 December 2015, via Tidal with no prior announcement Hitnrun Phase Two is the counterpart of Phase One, focusing on a more traditional old school funk in Prince’s canon. It received a conventional release on CD, but wasn’t distributed in retail stores throughout the world. It has been given away at concerts and other events and besides on Tidal was also made available on iTunes with little to no promotion.
After plans to tour Europe with a Prince: Piano & A Microphone show, playing his hits accompanying himself on piano, were thwarted. Prince launched the tour in Australia on 16 February 2016. He continued touring with it in March and April in the USA and Canada.
Death
On 21 April 2016 Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his studio and home Paisley Park Studios.
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