50 Fun Facts About Prince

In which city was Prince born and raised?

He was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in June 1958 and pioneered what became known as the Minneapolis sound.

Prince was named after what?

John Nelson performed as Prince Rogers in a jazz trio; he later said he wanted his son 'to do everything I wanted to do'.

What was the title of the first song Prince wrote, on his father's piano at age seven?

He also trained in classical ballet through a Minneapolis public schools programme.

Prince signed his first major record deal at what age?

His debut For You followed two years later, in 1978.

According to its liner notes, how many instruments did Prince play on his 1978 debut For You?

He also wrote, produced and arranged everything except the co-written lyrics of 'Soft and Wet'.

Prince recorded For You at the Record Plant in which California town?

He and manager Owen Husney had left his home city for the sessions.

Prince wrote most of the music for which Morris Day-fronted band, sometimes credited as 'Jamie Starr'?

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis left the group in 1983 and became superstar producers.

With 'Billie Jean', which Prince video was among the first two by Black artists in heavy MTV rotation?

CBS boss Walter Yetnikoff had threatened to pull all his label's videos over MTV's reluctance.

Prince got the idea for his 1983 car-themed hit after dozing off in whose car?

It was a 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder, not a Corvette at all.

What inspired the song '1999', according to Prince and drummer Bobby Z.?

They saw the end-of-the-world special during a hotel stop on the Dirty Mind tour.

Where was the word 'Revolution' first hidden on the 1999 album?

The line-up was Lisa Coleman, Doctor Fink, Bobby Z., Brown Mark and Dez Dickerson.

Which single completed Prince's 1984 sweep of the US number-one film, album and single?

'Purple Rain' itself peaked at number two.

What is famously missing from the biggest hit single of the Purple Rain album?

Prince removed it after a conversation with singer Jill Jones, deciding the song was too conventional with it.

How many consecutive weeks did the Purple Rain album spend at number one on the Billboard 200?

It sold more than 13 million copies in the US alone.

Which Academy Award did Purple Rain win?

The film itself got mixed reviews but was added to the National Film Registry in 2019.

In the film Purple Rain, Prince's character is known only as what?

He plays the First Avenue club and feuds with Morris Day's character.

Which Purple Rain track prompted Tipper Gore to found the Parents Music Resource Center?

She heard her 11-year-old daughter Karenna listening to it.

Which Duran Duran Bond theme kept 'Raspberry Beret' at number two on the Hot 100 in 1985?

The song came from Around the World in a Day, which spent three weeks at number one.

Prince wrote the Bangles' hit 'Manic Monday' under which pseudonym?

It stalled at number two behind his own 'Kiss'.

'Kiss' began as a rough acoustic demo Prince handed to which funk band before taking it back?

They worked it up with producer David Z next door to Prince's own studio, and he reclaimed it.

Prince's 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon had which album as its soundtrack?

Some critics reappraised the film after his death as a cult classic.

Sign o' the Times was cut down by his label from a planned triple album called what?

Dream Factory and Camille were the two shelved projects folded into it.

Prince's shelved Camille project featured what vocal gimmick?

The androgynous persona survives on Sign o' the Times tracks like 'If I Was Your Girlfriend'.

Which 1988 album did Prince release as a 'spiritual opposite' to the withdrawn Black Album?

The Black Album had seen him try hip-hop on 'Bob George' and 'Dead on It'.

Which director asked Prince to write songs for a 1989 film, yielding the number-one single 'Batdance'?

He put Graffiti Bridge on hold to do it.

Prince's band the New Power Generation made its debut in 1991 at which festival?

Diamonds and Pearls followed that October and gave him his fifth US number one, 'Cream'.

In 1993 Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol during a dispute with which company?

He also appeared with 'slave' written on his face; fans call the glyph the Love Symbol.

What did Prince write on his face during public appearances in the mid-1990s?

He reverted to his real name in 2000 after signing with Arista.

Prince's 1996 comeback set Emancipation was how long?

It ran to 36 songs and included covers of 'One of Us' and 'Betcha by Golly Wow!'.

Prince wrote 'Nothing Compares 2 U' in 1985 for which of his side projects?

Sinéad O'Connor's 1990 cover made it a worldwide hit.

At which 2004 induction ceremony did Prince play a solo on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' for George Harrison?

He was inducted the same year Musicology won him two Grammys.

Rolling Stone named Prince the world's highest-earning musician in 2004 with income of about how much?

The Musicology Tour was that year's top US concert draw according to Pollstar.

Prince's 2006 Webby Lifetime Achievement Award largely honoured which 1998 online-only album?

His NPG Music Club subscription service was years ahead of the industry.

Prince's Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007 opened with an intro from which Queen song?

It closed, in a genuine downpour, with 'Purple Rain'.

Which university's marching band was secretly recruited for Prince's Super Bowl halftime show?

Even his keyboardist did not know until the first joint rehearsal; Prince reportedly asked if they could make it rain harder.

Prince's 2007 London residency at the O2 Arena eventually ran to how many nights?

All 140,000 tickets for the original seven shows sold out in 20 minutes.

Prince gave away his 2007 album Planet Earth free with which British newspaper?

The stunt infuriated retailers and his UK label.

Prince died in 2016 from an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with what?

He was 57 and had been found in the elevator of his Chanhassen home and studio.

Paisley Park, Prince's studio complex in Chanhassen, officially opened in which year?

It cost about $10 million and opened to the public as a museum in October 2016.

Prince intended Paisley Park to become a public venue like which other musician's home?

It opened as a museum six months after his death.

Prince sold roughly how many records worldwide?

That places him among the best-selling artists of all time.

Prince's first Grammy nomination came for which 1999 album track?

The double album sold more than four million copies.

Which two Revolution members did Prince fire when he disbanded the group in 1986?

The pair had sung lead on songs for the shelved Dream Factory album.

Vanity 6, the trio Prince originally wanted to call the Hookers, are best known for which 1982 hit?

Prince had first wanted to call the group the Hookers.

Prince played football, basketball and baseball at which of his hometown's schools?

He graduated in 1976 and cut his first demo with producer Chris Moon that year.

Warhol's 1984 silkscreen of Prince illustrated a Vanity Fair article called what?

The magazine said the image caught Prince 'at the height of his powers'.

Prince's parents were both members of which church?

Prince later became a Jehovah's Witness.

Prince said he was 'born epileptic'; what did he suffer as a young child?

His younger sister Tyka was born in 1960 and shared his interest in music.

On which 1989 Madonna album did Prince co-write and sing the duet 'Love Song'?

He also played uncredited electric guitar on 'Like a Prayer', 'Keep It Together' and 'Act of Contrition'.

In November 2006 Prince opened a nightclub named 3121 inside which Las Vegas hotel?

The same month he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, collecting the award without performing.