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Famously reticent, perverse, and controversial, Prince is one of the few remaining superstars of the 1980s who still, perhaps, remains an enigma. Now a firm fixture in the pop canon, where such classics as "Purple Rain," "Sign o' the Times," and "Parade" regularly feature in Best Ever Album polls, Prince is widely held to be the greatest musician of his generation. His live performances are legendary and his influence on music--across pop, indie rock, hip hop, and R & B--has never been more evident. Matt Thorne's Prince has been written from years of research and interviews with dozens of intimate associates, and examines every phase of Prince's career over thirty-five years.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Prologue: Come 2 My House (Part 1)
1 Justifications from a Mamma-Jamma
2 The Business of Music
3 Wouldn’t You Love to Love Me?
4 Still Waiting
5 Creating Uptown
6 Gigolos Get Lonely Too (Part 1) 73 7 Royal Jewels
8 Nikki’s Castle
9 There Aren’t Any Rules
10 New Position
11 Roadhouse Garden and Songs for Susannah
12 The Story of a Man I Am Not
13 Rebirth of the Flesh
14 Crystal Ball . . .
15 . . . Or Sign o’ the Times?
16 For Those of U on Valium . . .
17 Spooky and All That He Crawls for . . .
18 Cross the Line
19 Dance with the Devil
20 What’s Wrong with Graffiti Bridge?
21 Gigolos Get Lonely Too (Part 2)
22 Playing Strip Pool with Vanessa
23 The Chains of Turin
24 Part I: Introducing the Friction Years
25 Part 2: ‘It Was Just About Needing to Get It
Done . . .’
26 Part 3: ‘All I Gotta Do Is Sell a Million and I Can
Quit . . .’
27 Wasted Kisses . . .
28 . . . And Missed Opportunities
29 Join My Club
30 New Directions in Music
31 True Funk Soldier
32 Come 2 My House (Part 2)
33 21 Nights in London: A Fan’s Notes
34 Gigolos Get Lonely Too (Part 3)
35 An Entirely New Galaxy Awaits . . .
36 Ending Endlessly
Epilogue: Living Out Loud
Afterword to the American Edition
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Notes
Illustration Credits
General Index
Index of Works by Prince
About the Author
About the author
Matt Thorne was born in Bristol in 1974 and educated at Cambridge University and the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of six novels, including Eight Minutes Idle, which won an Encore Award and which he adapted into a 2014 film, and Cherry, which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He is also the author of three children’s books and the coeditor of the anthologies All Hail the New Puritans and Croatian Nights. He teaches Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, London and is also currently working in TV and on a book exploring famous collaborations and conflicts in popular music between 1960 and 2020.
Summary
The newest, most updated book on Prince available today—now updated with information about the afterlife of his work following his untimely death.
Famously reticent and perennially controversial, Prince was one of the few music superstars who remained, largely, an enigma—even up to his premature death on April 21, 2016. A fixture of the pop canon, Prince is widely held to be the greatest musician of his generation and will undoubtedly remain an inspiring and singular influence throughout our culture.
This revised and updated second edition of this meticulously researched biography is the most comprehensive work on Prince yet published. Unlike other Prince books, this one eschews speculation into the artist's highly guarded private life and instead focuses deep and sustained attention exactly where it should be: on his work. Acclaimed British novelist and critic Matt Thorne draws on years of research and dozens of interviews with Prince's intimate associates (many of whom have never spoken on record before) to examine every phase of the musician's 35-year career, including nearly every song—released and unreleased—that Prince has recorded. Originally released in the UK in 2012, this revised and updated second US edition of Prince includes updated content regarding work released and made available after the artist’s death..
This astonishingly rich, almost encyclopedic biography is a must-have for any serious fan of Prince.
Foreword
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