Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon

Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon PDF Author: Stan Hawkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317075935
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
The career of the prolific pop artist Prince has become inextricably intertwined with the history of popular music since the late 1970s. This multi-instrumental icon, who remains one of the highest-grossing live performers in America, has been called a genius for his musicianship, composition and incredible performances. But Prince holds iconic status for more than his music. Best known for his racial blurring and extravagant sexual persona, Prince's music and visual iconography has always chimed with the ambiguity of subjectivity at any given moment. 'Prince' the sign offers a space for fans to evaluate and reconfigure their attitudes towards their own identities, and towards their position as subjects within the socio-cultural sphere. This much-needed interdisciplinary analysis is the first of its kind to examine critically Prince's popular music, performances, sounds, lyrics and the plethora of accompanying visual material such as album covers, posters, fashions, promotional videos and feature films. Specifically, the book explores how and why he has played such a profoundly meaningful and significant role in his fans' lives.

Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon

Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon PDF Author: Stan Hawkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317075935
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Get Book Here

Book Description
The career of the prolific pop artist Prince has become inextricably intertwined with the history of popular music since the late 1970s. This multi-instrumental icon, who remains one of the highest-grossing live performers in America, has been called a genius for his musicianship, composition and incredible performances. But Prince holds iconic status for more than his music. Best known for his racial blurring and extravagant sexual persona, Prince's music and visual iconography has always chimed with the ambiguity of subjectivity at any given moment. 'Prince' the sign offers a space for fans to evaluate and reconfigure their attitudes towards their own identities, and towards their position as subjects within the socio-cultural sphere. This much-needed interdisciplinary analysis is the first of its kind to examine critically Prince's popular music, performances, sounds, lyrics and the plethora of accompanying visual material such as album covers, posters, fashions, promotional videos and feature films. Specifically, the book explores how and why he has played such a profoundly meaningful and significant role in his fans' lives.

Prince

Prince PDF Author: Eric Braun
Publisher: Lerner Publications (Tm)
ISBN: 1512434566
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Profiles the life and career of the multitalented musician and songwriter, discussing his childhood, rise to fame, and contractual dispute with his record label.

The Words and Music of Prince

The Words and Music of Prince PDF Author: James E. Perone
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
An analysis of the songs, recordings, and influence of one of the most colorful and controversial American artists of the past quarter century.

The Beautiful Ones

The Beautiful Ones PDF Author: Prince
Publisher: One World
ISBN: 0399589651
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death NAMED ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE GUARDIAN • NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. He was a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of “Uptown” to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of “Paisley Park.” But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, one of the greatest pop stars of any era. The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince—a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The book is told in four parts. The first is the memoir Prince was writing before his tragic death, pages that bring us into his childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us through Prince’s early years as a musician, before his first album was released, via an evocative scrapbook of writing and photos. The third section shows us Prince’s evolution through candid images that go up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the book’s fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain—the final stage in Prince’s self-creation, where he retells the autobiography of the first three parts as a heroic journey. The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated—and annotations that provide context to the book’s images. This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image—his undying gift to the world.

I Would Die 4 U

I Would Die 4 U PDF Author: Touré
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 1476737401
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
An expansive and insightful exploration of one of the most iconic and electrifying artists ever, this book reveals the stunning, multi-generational influence and appeal of Prince and his revered music—from celebrated journalist, author, and host of the popular podcast The Touré Show. Infused with Touré’s unique pop-culture fluency, I Would Die 4 U is as passionate and radical as its subject matter. Building on his lifelong admiration for Prince’s oeuvre and interviews with those closest to the late artist, including band members, his tour manager, and music and Bible scholars, Touré deconstructs the life and work of the enigmatic icon who has been both a reflective mirror of and inspirational force for America. By defying traditional categories of race, gender, and sexuality, but also presenting a very conventional conception of religion and God, Prince was a man of profound contradictions. He spoke in the language of 60s pop and soul to a generation fearing Cold War apocalypse and the crack and AIDS epidemic, while simultaneously being both an MTV megastar and a religious evangelist. He creatively blended his songs with images of sex and profanity to invite us into a musical conversation about the healing power of God and religion. By demystifying Prince as a man, an artist, and a cultural force, I Would Die 4 U shows us how he impacted and defined a generation.

Prince and the Parade and Sign O' the Times Era Studio Sessions

Prince and the Parade and Sign O' the Times Era Studio Sessions PDF Author: Duane Tudahl
Publisher: Prince Studio Sessions
ISBN: 9781538166345
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 728

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Book Description
[W]ill command the rapt attention of casual fans and scholars alike. Booklist, Starred Review - This 2nd book in the Prince Studio Sessions series chronicles the years immediately following the Purple Rain era.

Dig If You Will The Picture

Dig If You Will The Picture PDF Author: Ben Greenman
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571333273
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Ben Greenman's monumental yet intimate book on Prince comes a year after the star's death at the age of 57 in an elevator at the legendary Paisley Park complex. With the release of a string of critically acclaimed albums and a new solo tour, the Minneapolis Genius looked set for a renaissance after a quiet-ish (by his standards) decade or so. And then: the silence, forever. Dig If U Will The Picture is a portrait of The Artist, who was also the artist who will be remembered by many as the brightest, most seductive and enigmatic pop star of his generation. In thematically structured chapters, Ben Greenman anatomizes a career and an aesthetic that at times seemed otherworldly. Drawing on over 40 studio albums, a repertoire of 2,000 plus live shows and close analysis of the unreleased highlights of the Vault, Dig If U Will the Picture is a critical consideration of Prince's art, a testimony to the author's deep and abiding personal connection to the work, and a fitting memorial.

My Life in the Purple Kingdom

My Life in the Purple Kingdom PDF Author: BrownMark
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452963576
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
From the young Black teenager who built a bass guitar in woodshop to the musician building a solo career with Motown Records—Prince’s bassist BrownMark on growing up in Minneapolis, joining Prince and The Revolution, and his life in the purple kingdom In the summer of 1981, Mark Brown was a teenager working at a 7-11 store when he wasn’t rehearsing with his high school band, Phantasy. Come fall, Brown, now called BrownMark, was onstage with Prince at the Los Angeles Coliseum, opening for the Rolling Stones in front of 90,000 people. My Life in the Purple Kingdom is BrownMark’s memoir of coming of age in the musical orbit of one of the most visionary artists of his generation. Raw, wry, real, this book takes us from his musical awakening as a boy in Minneapolis to the cold call from Prince at nineteen, from touring the world with The Revolution and performing in Purple Rain to inking his own contract with Motown. BrownMark’s story is that of a hometown kid, living for sunny days when his transistor would pick up KUXL, a solar-powered, shut-down-at-sundown station that was the only one that played R&B music in Minneapolis in 1968. But once he took up the bass guitar—and never looked back—he entered a whole new realm, and, literally at the right hand of Twin Cities musical royalty, he joined the funk revolution that integrated the Minneapolis music scene and catapulted him onto the international stage. BrownMark describes how his funky stylings earned him a reputation (leading to Prince’s call) and how he and Prince first played together at that night’s sudden audition—and never really stopped. He takes us behind the scenes as few can, into the confusing emotional and professional life among the denizens of Paisley Park, and offers a rare, intimate look into music at the heady heights that his childhood self could never have imagined. An inspiring memoir of making it against stacked odds, experiencing extreme highs and lows of success and pain, and breaking racial barriers, My Life in the Purple Kingdom is also the story of a young man learning his craft and honing his skill like any musician, but in a world like no other and in a way that only BrownMark could tell it.

Let's Go Crazy

Let's Go Crazy PDF Author: Alan Light
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476776776
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Alan Light, former writer for Rolling Stone, editor-in-chief of Vibe and Spin magazines, and author of The Holy or the Broken, “gets inside Prince’s mind palace in Let’s Go Crazy—a history of the making of his historic, semi-autobiographical musical masterwork, Purple Rain” (Vanity Fair). Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film—widely considered to be among the most important albums in music history and often named the best soundtrack of all time. It sold over a million copies in its first week of release in 1984 and blasted to #1 on the charts, where it would remain for a full six months and eventually sell over 20 million copies worldwide. It spun off three huge hit singles, won Grammys and an Oscar, and took Prince from pop star to legend—the first artist ever simultaneously to have the #1 album, single, and movie in the country. In Let’s Go Crazy, acclaimed music journalist Alan Light takes a timely look at the making and incredible popularizing of this once seemingly impossible project. With impeccable research and in-depth interviews with people who witnessed and participated in Prince’s audacious vision becoming a reality, Light reveals how a rising but not yet established artist from the Midwest was able not only to get Purple Rain made, but deliver on his promise to conquer the world. “A must-read for the Prince die-hards who have remained devoted through the musical meanderings of the last three decades” (Kirkus Reviews), Let’s Go Crazy examines how the masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds altered the recording landscape and became an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans.

Prince

Prince PDF Author: Dave Hill
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780571150618
Category : Rock musicians
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description