Strangely, "Prince" was not a pseudonym for this multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, and actor;- his name was actually Prince Rogers Nelson, and he was born on June the 7th, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Both his parents were musicians, his father being the pianist and song-writer John Lewis Nelson (described on this card as "Jazz Band Leader"), and his mother being Mattie Shaw, who used the alias Mattie Della on stage. in fact the name Prince came from the musical background of his parents, as one of his father`s stage names was Prince Rogers, and he had met his wife when she joined his band, the Prince Rogers Trio.
Our card tells us that Prince fronted his first band, called Champagne, at the age of twelve. In fact he formed it too, whilst at Central High School,and his second cousin. Charles `Chazz` Smith played the drums and school mates Andre Cymone, . At first they were just a band, without a name, but then they began calling themselves `Charles, Cousin, and Friends" (which seems to suggest that Charles Smith was the leader, and maybe the founder). This name did not last long, and nor did `Phoenix` or `Sex Machine`, though for a while they stuck with the fourth name of `Grand Central`, a conjoined tribute to rock band `Grand Funk Railroad` and Central High School. They seem to have concentrated on cover versions, though most of the band were song writers and they did play some original tracks too. It was not until 1976 that they changed the name again, dallying between `Champagne` and `Shampayne`.
However, about that time, Prince signed a first recording contract aged just eighteen, with Warner Brothers. This was not a total success and he took two years before he was happy enough to release his first album, "For You".
In 1984, he became the first singer to simultaneously have a film, an album, and a single at the top of the respective charts, The first two were both called "Purple Rain", but the single was "When Doves Cry". There is no doubting that many of his songs were provocative, including some on that soundtrack, which brings up a rather fascinating fact, as it appears to be one of those songs that led to the introduction of the warning label "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" that now appears on on records and tapes to denote that some of the content is unsuitable for minors - though it is definitely true that this entices them, all the more, to listen.
A turning point in his relationship with Warner Brothers came in the late 1980s, when he was asked to work on the soundtrack for the new "Batman" movie. However he was only allowed to take time off and work on the soundtrack if he agreed to give all the rights on the songs to Warner Brothers, and that really rankled. It also leads us to the reason he is here, and that is in 1993, whilst fighting with Warner Brothers over his contract, and his obligations, and the fact that they held back the release of his records, he changed his name to a symbol. It looked to some people to be a letter T with a small circle on the top , but to others it was more like the Egyptian sign Ankh, which stands for eternal life, but also wards off negative energies. And it was much needed because he took almost until 1998 to work out a new deal and sign for Arista, after which he changed his name back to Prince. However Warner Brothers still continued to release albums of the songs he had left behind him, and albums of Greatest Hits.
One of the great highlights of his career was playing at the Superbowl on February 4, 2007.
In total he released thirty-nine albums, but there was a wealth of unreleased songs, partially finished, left behind when he died, aged just fifty-seven, at his home and recording studio in Minnesota, of an accidental overdose, on April 21, 2016.
This sticker is the German version of the set we featured as our Card of the Day for the 10th of January 2025 - using the card of David Bowie. Unfortunately that sticker was also from the German version, so the reverse of this one will be altered to the English language version over the weekend. It also has a biography, which the German version does not., it simply speaks of the fact that there is an album. So watch this space!