RIP PRINCE: HERE ARE 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE RECENTLY DEPARTED STAR

The twenty first 'centurers' may not know who the star is but today CharismaSpot compiled 10 facts that will help you catch up with who he was

10 Facts you should know
1. Great Music: 100 million in worldwide album sales pretty much speaks for itself. Thirteen million of his sales are credited to Purple Rain, one of the greatest rock albums of all-time. In his thirty five year career, Prince has released thirty albums (twenty five studio albums and five soundtrack albums). He also released twelve EPs and several internet albums. During his prolific hot streak between 1979 and 1994, each of the fourteen albums he released were, at the minimum, certified gold, meaning that all of those albums sold at least 500,000 copies. Along with Michael Jackson and Madonna, Prince was one of the biggest pop stars in the world during the 1980s and early 1990s.

2. Groundbreaking Sound: Prince is credited with being the pioneer of The Minneapolis Sound, a fusion of R&B, funk, pop, New Wave and progressive rock that would later incorporate elements of New Jack Swing, metal, hip hop, synth-pop and even gospel. With so many disparate genres at work, he was able to make music that truly sounded like nothing else around. This unique sound is what made albums like Purple Rain, Sign "O" the Times, Dirty Mind and 1999 outright classics. Prince was ahead of his time, and unlike much of the music of the 1980s that now sounds dated, a lot of Prince's songs, particularly from Purple Rain, have aged very well. 

3. Fashion Sense: If there were a hall of fame for fashion, Prince would surely be a first-ballot inductee. This is a man who wears high heels at almost every public  appearance. Silk and velvet suits in colors like purple or red are regulars in his wardrobe. Ruffled shirts: he's got plenty of those. Do you remember when he performed at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards in a yellow jump suit and with a matching yellow guitar? Do you recall when he turned his back to the audience halfway through the performance, revealing his exposed butt cheeks? 

4. Reinvention: Prince. Prince and the Revolution. Prince and the New Power Generation. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. The Artist. And of course, 

. There was a point where Prince seemed to come up with a new alias or backing group every few years. The repeated rebranding represented  his artistic growth. Never one to limit himself musically, whenever Prince felt the need to reinvent himself, he would change 

5. Songwriting - Unsurprisingly, Prince writes all of his own material. He also wrote dozens of hit songs for others. Here are just a few hits he penned. 

• The Bangles' "Manic Monday."
• Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls," under the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind.  
• Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing compares 2 U", staying at #1 in many jurisdictions for weeks
• The Time's  "Jungle Love," "Ice Cream Castles" and "The Bird," all under the pseudonym Jamie Starr.
• Sheila E's "Glamorous Life" and "A Love Bizarre"
• Vanity 6's "Nasty Girl"
• Tevin Campbell's - "Round and Round"
• MoKenStef - "He's Mine"
• Kid Creole and the Coconuts - "For The Sex of It," under the name Paisley Park
• Monie Love - "Born To BREED"

With the exception of "Nasty Girl" and "Ice Cream Castles," all of these songs charted in the Billboard Top 40 Pop Charts. The other two reached the R&B Top 40. All of these songs, either by lyrical content or production, have a heavy Prince influence. One listen and you know it fits his signature style. This contributed to the overall sense of ubiquity that he once had. Even the songs that weren't his felt like Prince songs.

6. Film - Prince was a visionary in that he recognized early in his career that film is an excellent medium to reach a larger audience. He released five albums that were connected to films. 

• Purple Rain is connected to the eponymously-titled film.
• He also did the music for Purple Rain's sequel, Grafitti Bridge.
• Parade was the soundtrack for his starring vehicle, Under The Cherry Moon.
• He did the music for Spike Lee's Girl 6.
• He also handled the eclectic soundtrack for Tim Burton's 1989 Blockbuster filmBatman.
• He released a concert film, "Sign O the Times," which featured live versions of the songs from the album of the same title.

Purple Rain and Batman were Multi-Platinum sellers. Parade went Platinum. Grafitti Bridgereached Gold sales.

7.  Raw Sexuality: Before his conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses, Prince wrote and performed some of the raciest, raunchiest songs in all of pop music. His 1984 song "Darling Nikki" was the inciting event for Tipper Gore to create the Parents Media Resource Center, the organization that would later usher in the use of the Parental Advisory stickers on all music with explicit content. "Darling Nikki" is No. 1 on their "Filthy Fifteen" list, the fifteen songs they felt were "most objectionable" at the time. No. 2 on their list is Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls," which Prince wrote. Both earned notoriety for sexually explicit lyrics. That's just a rough idea of what Prince's music was all about. 

Beyond the music, Prince made sexuality a part of his image. It's something of a paradox: he is virile and masculine, yet somewhat androgynous. Observe the cover of his 1988 album Lovesexy, where a naked Prince suggestively stretches out like a female model in a painting. Men and women alike, he defies you to look at his nude form. 

8 . Prince Net Worth.

Net Worth:$300 Million

Prince is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor with an estimated net worth of $300 million.

Prince’s music style has been influenced by rock, R&B, soul, New Wave, electronica, disco, funk, folk, jazz, rap, blues, psychedelia, and hip hop. Prince (real name Prince Rogers Nelson) grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prince released his first album For You on April 17, 1978. Prince’s self-titled album, Prince, in October 1979, catapulting him to fame with two top hits.

During a drawn out confrontation with his then recording company, Prince went by an unpronounceable symbol as his name, and also at that time known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. The recording artist reportedly has several hundred unreleased songs in his catalog. Prince founded his own label and recording studios Paisley Park Records and NPG Records, self-producing, writing, and playing most, if not all, of the instruments on his recordings. Prince has won a Golden Globe, seven Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award during his career.

9. Controversy - Prince seems to court controversy, and it constantly keeps him in the news. When Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" dominated the charts, Prince publicly stated that "Sexy never left," starting a rivalry between him and JT (ironic since JT was a Prince fan). He has threatened legal action against YouTube and E-Bay. His explicit music, movies, music videos and outrageous fashion sense have upset many people over the years. As a staunch Jehovah's Witness, he has become a vocal advocate for a religion that is a constant source of controversy. These are just some of the controversies that make him all the more compelling. His fans and critics always wonder what he's going to do next. It's fitting that "Controversy" was the title of one of his successful songs and albums.

10. Elite Musician: Any discussion about Prince should begin with the fact that his is an incredibly talented musician. Though he is widely recognized as a gifted vocalist and guitarist, he is also an accomplished pianist/keyboardist, drummer, bassist and saxophonist. He played all instruments on his first two albums, For You and Prince. He is a great composer and songwriter. And much like James Brown and other great live R&B performers, he can dance really we

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