New York: Prince, who died suddenly on Thursday at 57, transformed the music landscape with his infectious funk before becoming a reclusive rebel who brazenly challenged industry conventions.
The so-called Kid from Minneapolis created 1984’s “Purple Rain,” which regularly tops lists of the greatest albums of all time, but he was so startlingly prolific that he entered a legendary feud with his label as it tried to rein him in.
Prince became famous in his later career for eccentricities that included changing his name to an unpronounceable “love symbol,” announcing his concerts at the last minute and refusing to let reporters take notes on — let alone record —encounters with him.
But beyond the oft-satirised public persona, Prince was universally acclaimed as one of the most gifted artists of his generation, mastering a versatile electric guitar that he could play behind his back or blindfolded, and singing in a distinctive falsetto that showed no signs of fading with age.
Ever-clad in purple, Prince stood just five feet two (1.57 meters) but endured for decades as a style and sex symbol, wearing everything from frilly jackets to women’s underwear to nothing at all on the cover of his 1988 album “Lovesexy.”
Despite becoming one of the biggest stars of his generation — one of his songs was cheekily called All the Critics Love U in New York” — Prince insisted on living near his hometown of Minneapolis, where he built his complex of Paisley Park.
Prince recorded albums in a state-of-the-art studio at Paisley Park and also threw public parties, the last of which took place on Saturday. He kept his back recordings in the studio’s vaults and, as it turned out, died at the compound.
