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Prince Rogers Nelson Biography

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Prince Rogers Nelson, the artist known as Prince who Thursday became “formerly” with a devastating finality at only 57, was so gifted it barely can be believed, let alone described. Thankfully, it hardly needs to be, because anyone who wasn’t frightened off by his flagrancies and ambiguities could tell that this was a talent of the kind that rearranges what culture can do and what a human can be—the kind possessed, for instance, by two artists who predeceased him, his contemporary Michael Jackson and his elder by a dozen years David Bowie, and a very short list of other figures in pop-music history.

He was one of the finest ever pop singers, one of the most incredible guitarists (the anecdote in which Eric Clapton once replied to the question “What’s it like to be the greatest guitarist alive?” by saying “I don’t know, ask Prince” is probably apocryphal but, on a higher plane, definitely correct), and one of the most indelible songwriters, most influential producers, best wearers (and removers) of clothing, and most electric semiotic manipulators.

He didn’t merely combine R&B, …show more content…

The background vocalists sweeten the request: “Do you wanna? Do you wanna?” Prince hesitates—“bath? Oh …”—but then yields, his voice breaking into an unusually nerve-wracked version of his signature erotic falsetto: “I said, ‘Coooool! But I’m leaving my pants on/ ’Cuz I’m kinda goin’ with someone.” (We’ve learned in the first verse that he’s just come from a lovers’ quarrel “in a violent

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