Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958) is an American musician. He performs under the mononym of Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000. During this period, he was usually referred to as The artist formerly known as Prince.

Prince is a songwriter and musician, having released several hundred songs both under his own name and with other artists. He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004. Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2008.

Prince's musical palette covers many musical genres including R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, new wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. Some of his influences are Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament-Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. The distinctive characteristics of his early-to-mid 1980s work, such as sparse and industrial-sounding drum machine arrangements and the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role traditionally occupied by horn riffs in earlier R&B, funk and soul music, were called the "Minneapolis sound" and have proved very influential.