 Paisley Park in 2015 | |
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| Established | September 11, 1987 |
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| Location | 7801 Audubon Rd Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S. 55317 |
| Website | paisleypark |
Paisley Park is a 65,000 square foot estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States, once owned by American musician Prince. It was opened to the public as a museum in October 2016.
Construction of the $10 million [1] complex began in January 1986, and officially opened on September 11, 1987. Designed by architecture firm BOTO Design Inc, of Santa Monica, California, the main designers were architect Brett Thoeny and acoustician Marshall Long. [2] [3] The complex shares its name with Prince's 1985 single, "Paisley Park". [4] [5]
The Paisley Park studio complex totalled 55,000 square feet by the early 1990s, and included four recording studios, a 12,500 square-foot sound stage, a video editing suite, rehearsal room, offices, [2] tenant space, and an underground parking garage. Other amenities include an outdoor basketball court, [6] and living quarters. [7] [5]
Paisley Park's four recording studios are designated A, B, C, and D. Studio A is a 1500 square-foot space and originally utilized a 48-channel mixing console, which was later replaced by a 64-channel SSL 6000E. Studio B is a 1000 square-foot space that was, per Prince's specifications, patterned after Sunset Sound's Studio 3, with a custom-built Automated Processes, Inc. API mixing console. [8] Studio C had a 36-input Soundcraft TS24 console, and Studio D is a small DAW-based room. [2] [8]
Initially a private studio used by Prince and Paisley Park Records artists like The Time, Carmen Electra, Jill Jones, Sheila E. and others, Paisley Park's production facilities were used by numerous artists, including Tevin Campbell, Martika, Fine Young Cannibals, Barry Manilow, Steve Miller, Bee Gees, Chris Mars, BoDeans, Madonna, Bob Mould, George Clinton, George Benson, Stone Temple Pilots, Stevie Wonder, R.E.M., and A-ha.. [9] [10]
After the Paisley Park Records label folded in 1994, Prince continued to live and record at Paisley Park Studios, and he intended to establish Paisley Park as a public venue like Graceland. [11] He was found dead in his estate's elevator on April 21, 2016. [12]
In the basement of Paisley Park there was a vault of unreleased material, hundreds of hours of live recordings, experiments and top-secret songs. [13] [14] The contents of the vault have been since removed and relocated to a studio in Los Angeles to be restored, remastered, and stored in climate-controlled storage to be used for later release.
An urn in the shape of Paisley Park which contained Prince's ashes was on display in Paisley Park's main entrance for a period of time after his death, [14] [7] but was later moved to the vault which previously held a collection of unreleased material.
After Prince's death, Paisley Park was turned into a museum open to the public, [15] [16] and tours of the Paisley Park Museum started in October 2016. Graceland Holdings, the company that has managed Elvis Presley's Graceland since 1982, organizes the tours. [17] Tours include recording studios, soundstages, and artifacts from Prince's personal archives. [18]
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter known both for his solo work and his collaboration with Art Garfunkel. He and his school friend Garfunkel, whom he met in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, including hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer", served as a soundtrack to the counterculture movement. Their final album, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), is among the bestselling of all time.
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, blues, and hip hop. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound.
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Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain. The label shares its name with Prince's recording complex Paisley Park Studios and the song "Paisley Park" on his 1985 Around the World in a Day album.
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Around the World in a Day is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the second release on which his backing band the Revolution is billed. It was released on April 22, 1985, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. Departing somewhat from the commercial sound of his previous release, the massively successful Purple Rain (1984), the album instead saw Prince experimenting with psychedelic styles and more opulent textures. In compliance with Prince's wishes, the record company released the album with minimal publicity, withholding accompanying singles until almost a month after the album's release.
"Paisley Park" is a 1985 song by Prince and The Revolution. It was the first single released in some international markets from their 1985 album, Around the World in a Day and so is also the album's last single internationally. "Paisley Park" was recorded 3 months after the Purple Rain album was released. Violin on the song was played by Novi Novog, and Wendy & Lisa provide backing vocals. The rest of the song was performed by Prince. The song reached the Top 40 in all of the countries it was released in. It peaked within the Top 20 in both Ireland and the UK.
"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" is the US follow-up single to Prince's first big hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover". It is also Prince's first rock and roll-inspired single release. It did not make the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, although it did reach #13 on the R&B Singles charts. The lyrics explore a relationship with a cruel lover. The song prominently features guitar and bass, with the keyboard featured in a less prominent role. A highlight of the song is a soaring guitar solo at the end, played by Prince himself.
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Prince was well known in the entertainment industry for having a vast body of work that remains unreleased. It has been said that his vault contains multiple unreleased albums and over 50 fully produced music videos that have never been released, along with albums and other media. The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most prominent of these unreleased works. Many were later released and circulated among collectors as bootlegs.
The Family is the sole studio album by the band of the same name, released on August 19, 1985 by Prince's Paisley Park Records.
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Susan Rogers is an American professor, sound engineer, and record producer best known for being Prince's staff engineer during his commercial peak (1983-1987), including on albums like Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, Sign o' the Times, and The Black Album. During this time, Rogers laid the foundations for Prince's now-famous vault by beginning the process of collecting and cataloguing all his studio and live recordings. She has also worked as a sound engineer and record producer for other musical artists such as Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Robben Ford, Jeff Black, Rusted Root, Tricky, Michael Penn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Tevin Campbell. Rogers is an associate professor in the Music Production and Engineering and Liberal Arts departments at Berklee College of Music.
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Paisley Park Sessions is the third EP released by alternative rock musician Beck. It was released exclusively through Amazon Music on November 11, 2019, with a short promotional video called "Behind the Paisley Park Sessions". The EP was recorded at Prince's Studio A at Paisley Park Studios and was the first thing recorded at the studio since his death in 2016. On November 18, 2019, music videos were released for all three songs.