{"id":21027,"date":"2016-04-22T08:02:16","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T15:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/pop-superstar-prince-dead-at-57\/"},"modified":"2016-04-22T08:02:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T15:02:16","slug":"pop-superstar-prince-dead-at-57","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/pop-superstar-prince-dead-at-57\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop superstar Prince dead at 57"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHANHASSEN, Minn. <\/strong> \u2014 Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times with hits including \u201cLittle Red Corvette,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Go Crazy\u201d and \u201cWhen Doves Cry,\u201d was found dead at his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis, according to his publicist. He was 57.<\/p>\n

His publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Associated Press that the superstar \u201cdied at his home this morning at Paisley Park.\u201d The local sheriff said deputies found Prince unresponsive in an elevator late Thursday morning after being summoned to his home, but that first-responders couldn\u2019t revive him.<\/p>\n

No details about what may have caused his death have been released. Prince postponed a concert in Atlanta on April 7, after falling ill with the flu, and he apologized to fans during a makeup concert last week.<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama, for whom Prince was a White House guest last year, said he and his wife \u201cjoined millions of fans from around the world\u201d in mourning Prince\u2019s sudden death.<\/p>\n

\u201cFew artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent,\u201d Obama said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cA strong spirit transcends rules,\u2019 Prince once said \u2014 and nobody\u2019s spirit was stronger, bolder, or more creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dazzlingly talented and charismatic singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist drew upon musicians ranging from James Brown to Jimi Hendrix to the Beatles, creating a gender- and genre-defying blend of rock, funk and soul.<\/p>\n

He broke through in the late 1970s with the hits \u201cWhy You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?\u201d and \u201cI Wanna Be Your Lover,\u201d and soared over the following decade with such albums as \u201c1999\u201d and \u201cPurple Rain.\u201d The title song from \u201c1999,\u201d his funky and flippant anthem about an oncoming nuclear holocaust, includes one of the most quoted refrains of popular culture: \u201cTonight I\u2019m gonna party like it\u2019s 1999.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minneapolis native, born Prince Rogers Nelson, stood just 5 feet, 2 inches \u2014 yet he made a powerful visual impact at the dawn of MTV. Prince was a Little Richard for the \u201880s, from his wispy moustache and tall pompadour to his colorful and suggestive outfits, the counterpart to the openly erotic lyrics that made him one of the most sexually daring artists of the era.<\/p>\n

But his greatest legacy was as a musician, summoning original and compelling sounds at will, whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style that drew on Jimi Hendrix, switching his vocals from a nasally scream to an erotic falsetto, or turning out album after album of stunningly innovative material. Among his other notable releases: \u201cSign O\u2019 the Times,\u201d \u201cGraffiti Bridge\u201d and \u201cThe Black Album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rarely lacking in confidence, he effortlessly absorbed the music of others and made it sound like Prince, whether the James Brown guitar riff on \u201cKiss\u201d or the Beatle-esque, psychedelic pop of \u201cRaspberry Beret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mick Jagger was among numerous musicians, actors and other public figures praising the artist, tweeting: \u201cPrince\u2019s talent was limitless. He was one of the most unique and talented artists of the last 30 years.\u201d Madonna called him a \u201ctrue visionary,\u201d while Oprah Winfrey tweeted: \u201cPrince the doves really are crying now. Listening to your music. Remembering you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince was fiercely protective of his independence, battling his record company over control of his material and even his name. Anxious to get out of his contract with Warner Bros., he identified himself by a key-like symbol with an unpronounceable name. (Journalists called him \u201cTAFKAP,\u201d or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince). Prince also once wrote \u201cslave\u201d on his face in protest of not owning his work and famously fought and then departed Warner, before returning a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happening now is the position that I\u2019ve always wanted to be in,\u201d Prince told The Associated Press in 2014. \u201cI was just trying to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince\u2019s records sold more than 100 million copies. He won seven Grammys and received an Academy Award in 1985 for his music from \u201cPurple Rain,\u201d the movie in which he starred as a young musician. In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which hailed him as a musical and social trailblazer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge music in the Eighties,\u201d reads the Hall\u2019s dedication. \u201cPrince made dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music was in his blood. Prince\u2019s father played in a jazz band in Minneapolis, under the name \u201cPrince Rogers,\u201d and his mother was the singer. The precocious young Prince taught himself to play the piano at age 7, the guitar at 13 and the drums at 14. But his home life was also troubled. His parents separated when he was 10, and Prince, who ended up with six siblings and half siblings, moved back and forth between the homes of his mother and father.<\/p>\n

In 1978, the year he turned 20, Prince debuted with the album \u201cFor You.\u201d It was a declaration, if nothing else, that he could do anything: He wrote and sang the material, and served as his own one-man band on guitar, bass, drums, synthesizers, chimes and assorted other instruments.<\/p>\n

The album received mixed reviews, but his second album \u2014 called \u201cPrince\u201d \u2014 sold more than a million copies and launched his run of hit albums and singles over the next few years.<\/p>\n

Prince became not just a star in his own right, but a veritable music factory, whether with such side projects as Vanity and Morris Day and The Time or the songs he wrote for others. Sinead O\u2019Connor had a hit with \u201cNothing Compares 2 U,\u201d while other covers included Cyndi Lauper\u2019s \u201cWhen You Were Mine\u201d and the Bangles\u2019 \u201cManic Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince\u2019s influence even extended to politics, well before Obama\u2019s time. In the mid-1980s, Tipper Gore, wife of then-Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee, heard one of her daughters listening to Prince\u2019s \u201cDarling Nikki.\u201d Horrified by the song\u2019s reference to masturbation, she helped launch an organization dedicated to a labeling system for explicit content, the Parents Music Resource Center. A nationwide debate about censorship soon followed, including congressional testimony from Frank Zappa among others, and the refusal by some record sellers to offer releases deemed in need of advisories.<\/p>\n

Prince had been touring and recording right up until his death, releasing four albums in the last 18 months, including two on the Tidal streaming service last year. He performed in Atlanta last week as part of his \u201cPiano and a Microphone\u201d tour, a stripped-down show that featured a mix of his hits, like \u201cPurple Rain\u201d or \u201cLittle Red Corvette,\u201d and some B-sides from his extensive library.<\/p>\n

Prince debuted the intimate format at his Paisley Park studios in January, treating fans to a performance that was personal and both playful and emotional at times.<\/p>\n

The musician seemed to be shedding his reclusive reputation. He hosted several late-night jam sessions where he serenaded Madonna, celebrated the Minnesota Lynx\u2019s WNBA championship and showcased his latest protege, singer Judith Hill.<\/p>\n

Ever surprising, he announced on stage in New York City last month that he was writing his memoir, \u201cThe Beautiful Ones,\u201d which was expected to be released in the fall of 2017 by publishing house Spiegel & Grau. A press release about the memoir said Prince would \u201ctake readers on an unconventional and poetic journey through his life and creative work,\u201d and include stories about his music, family and the \u201cpeople, places and ideas that fired his creative imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Spiegel & Grau, Theresa Zoro, said Thursday the publisher had no immediate comment the status of the book.<\/p>\n

About 200 fans had gathered by Thursday afternoon outside Paisley Park, Prince\u2019s home and music studio, where his gold records are on the walls and the purple motorcycle he rode in his 1984 breakout movie, \u201cPurple Rain,\u201d is on display. The sprawling white, stone building is surrounded by a fence in Chanhassen, about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Steven Scott, 32, of Eden Prairie, said he was at Paisley Park last Saturday for Prince\u2019s dance party. He called Prince \u201ca beautiful person\u201d whose message was that people should love one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brought people together for the right reasons,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHANHASSEN, Minn. \u2014 Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times with hits including \u201cLittle Red Corvette,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Go Crazy\u201d and \u201cWhen Doves Cry,\u201d was found dead at his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis, according to his publicist. He was 57. His publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Associated Press that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":21028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-21027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21027"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}