Prince had a very long and illustrious career, which spanned over 4 decades and saw
many twists, turns, and groundbreaking moments. His debut album, For You dropped in 1978, and he played all the major instruments on this album. But major success didn’t come until “I Wanna Be Your Lover” from his second album hit the top 20. His third album explored themes of sexuality, a subject he often revisited in later works. Much of his work also contained many references to spirituality, beauty, and wonder. Perhaps his most famous and enduring work, was his album, Purple Rain, which was the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Known for pushing the envelope with lyrics steeped in sexuality, the song “Darling Nikki” from the Purple Rain album caused then Senator Al Gore’s wife to push for albums to carry warning labels for explicit content. In 1992, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Brothers, worth $100 million dollars and was the most lucrative recording and music publishing contract of all time. He worked on numerous collaborations with many other big names at the time, including Madonna, Patti Labelle, and Chaka Kahn.
When Prince and the New Power Generation released Love Symbol Album, It was a less
than stellar earner and this caused a tension with Warner Brothers which caused Prince to feel that the company was being too controlling. In retaliation, he changed his name to a single symbol made by fusing female and male astrological symbols, which generally was not approved of by his fan base. He eventually was able to gain a release from his contract and released a triple album called Emancipation, which was wildly successful. Prince released several more albums and then, in 2007 he performed during the Super Bowl XLI halftime show, which was viewed by over 140 million people worldwide. The performance was considered iconic. It led to him being named by Billboard.com the greatest Super Bowl performer. Later that year, he was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
On April 21st, 2016, Prince was discovered dead in an elevator in his Paisley Park Studios complex. His death went ahead of the impact points of his last show at Atlanta’s Fox Theater, on April fourteenth, and a crisis arrival of his private plan, with the FAA revealing an unresponsive man onboard. Prince was assisted to a Moline, Illinois medical hospital, where he emerged, and after two days offered fans a dance party at his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He presented his new purple Yamaha piano and purple guitar. His enthusiasts were excited by this unforeseen experience. In what ultimately turned into a tragically prophetic statement, Prince cautioned his fans and told his fans to hold up a couple of days before any of his fans waste any prayers. In exactly a couple of days, Prince was dead.At his death, much was made of the presence of a vault of unpublished recordings and songs. That vault was situated in his Paisley Park Studio, and drilled open by Bremer Trust, a wealth management company, given temporary control of Prince’s estate. It is estimated that there is such a great amount of music in the big vault, that another collection of the album could be released each year for the following 100 years. The estimation of Prince’s estate will probably change to untold measure throughout the next couple of years.Prince legacy have put out two lessons for us to learn and apply for our daily lives.His first lesson was to be true to ourselves, prince showed something or have done something in the music world that no one have came close to him he made sure that his music’s could never be boxed into one niche or one genre, so that he would never be defined as anything but himself. And his second legacy is having perfect practice makes perfection, He was not anything but just ego, but. rather, he was amazing at what he did. And that didn’t just come to him either. He worked extremely hard to be that tremendous, being intensely devoted to his work. In fact, on his first five albums Prince played nearly every instrument, most of which were self-taught instrument, and that’s what makes his legacy memorable.
Work Cited
Brychta, Benedict. “5 Life Lessons We Can All Learn From Prince.” Addicted 2 Success, 30 May 2016, addicted2success.com/life/5-life-lessons-we-can-all-learn-from-prince/.
“Prince.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 22 Apr. 2019, http://www.biography.com/musician/prince.
Ultius. “Sample Reflective Essay on the Life and Death of Prince.” Ultius, http://www.ultius.com/ultius-blog/entry/sample-reflective-essay-on-the-life-and-death-of-prince.html.
The State of Minnesota 