Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is regarded as one of history's greatest musicians. 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.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Known as the "Velvet Voice", Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. In addition, NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded shortly before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Nona Bernis Hendryx is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade". In 1977, Hendryx released her self-titled debut solo album, a commercial failure that resulted in Hendryx being released from her recording contract. In the early 1980s, Hendryx sang with experimental funk group Material, achieving the hit "Busting Out".
Nicholas Christian Hopkins was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably on songs recorded by the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who, the Beatles, the Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, Rod Stewart, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Hollies, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Jerry Garcia, Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel, Badfinger, Graham Parker, Gary Moore, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Donovan. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest studio pianists in the history of popular rock music.
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is the twenty-third studio album by American recording artist Prince, who was at the time going by the unpronounceable "Love Symbol". Released on November 9, 1999, by NPG Records and Arista Records, the album was issued shortly after the release of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999). It includes several guest appearances, including by Gwen Stefani, Eve, and Sheryl Crow; Prince also completed a cover of Crow's 1996 single "Everyday Is a Winding Road". A pop and R&B album, it departs from the soul genre found on Prince's previous efforts.
The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club Volume One) is the twenty-ninth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on March 29, 2004 by NPG Records. The album was released as a download-only album through his website, NPG Music Club. All the tracks, except "The Dance", were previously available on the same website in 2001, although some may have rearrangements in music and/or lyrics. "U Make My Sun Shine", a duet with Angie Stone, was released as a single in 2001. Three more tracks had a limited release as CD singles during Prince's 2001 Hit'N'Run Tour: "Supercute", "Underneath the Cream", and "Gamillah". The album's title comes from a line in "Judas Smile". "The Dance" was later re-recorded and included on the 2006 album, 3121. All the tracks, except "Judas Smile" and "The Dance", were at one point included on the aborted album project High.
"Erotic City " is a song by the musician Prince. It was released as the B-side to the 1984 single "Let's Go Crazy" and the 12" version of the 1986 single "Girls & Boys". The dance mix of "Erotic City" was released as a 3" and 5" CD single in Germany in 1989 and on June 29, 1990, respectively. The artwork for the single features the same image of Prince that was used for the cover of "I Would Die 4 U". The extended version of the latter was included as the B-side of "Erotic City". The song was released in two versions—the extended remix was released as the B-side to "Let's Go Crazy", while the edit was included on The Hits/The B-Sides.
"The Work, pt. 1" is a song written by Prince in 2001 and the debut single for his album The Rainbow Children. The song is an homage to James Brown in both the delivery and title. The track features Prince performing in falsetto and backing vocals by Kip Blackshire and girl group Milenia.
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.
Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving member. During her time in the group, she recorded the hit singles "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again". In 1969, Staples released her self-titled debut solo album.
Michael Flowers, known professionally as Mike City, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for producing the singles "I Wish" for Carl Thomas, "Heard It All Before" for Sunshine Anderson, "Full Moon" for Brandy and "One Woman Man" for Dave Hollister. He is also known for producing "She's All I Got" performed by Jimmy Cozier.
"Angie" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup. It also served as the lead single on the album, released on 20 August 1973.
Unexpected is the fifth studio album by American singer Angie Stone. It was released by Stax Records on November 23, 2009 in the United States. Conceived following the death of her father, Stone's spiritual anchor and creative mentor, the album marked a breakaway from the neo soul elements on Stone's first four studio efforts, taking her work further into the dance pop, funk, and contemporary R&B genres. As a result, Unexpected incorporates more upbeat material, produced by Jazze Pha, among others.
American singer and songwriter Angie Stone has released ten studio albums, one compilation album, and more than two dozen singles. She has sold near five million records as a solo artist, including over 1.4 million albums in the United States. Stone's career began as a member of the hip hop trio The Sequence in the late 1970s. In 1999, she released her first solo album, Black Diamond on Arista Records. It debuted at number 46 on the US Billboard 200 and peaked at number nine on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, eventually selling more than 750,000 copies. Black Diamond was awarded gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and produced the singles "No More Rain ", "Life Story" and "Everyday", the former of which became a number-one hit on the Adult R&B Songs chart.
"Synthetic Substitution" is a 1973 song by Melvin Bliss. Originally starting life as a throwaway B-side, with "Reward" as the A-Side, the song failed to chart anywhere on its initial release because of the collapse of Opal Productions, the parent company of Sunburst Records. However, after the song was sampled by Ultramagnetic MCs, many other artists followed suit, and eventually the song became one of the most sampled songs of all time.
"Brotha" is a song by American singer Angie Stone, which appears on her second studio album, Mahogany Soul (2001). It was written by Stone along with Raphael Saadiq, Harold Lilly, Glenn Standridge and Robert C. Ozuna, while production was overseen by Saadiq and Jake and the Phatman. Along with the standard version, a remix version of the song, featuring singer Alicia Keys and rapper Eve, was released as the first single from the album.
Nona Aisha Gaye is an American singer, former fashion model, and retired actress. The daughter of singer Marvin Gaye and maternal granddaughter of jazz musician Slim Gaillard, Gaye began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s. In film, she portrayed Zee in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
"Fallinlove2nite" is a song by American musician Prince, released as a digital single on March 17, 2014, and promoted as being a stand-alone single. It was made available on iTunes and Amazon. The song peaked at No. 40 in Belgium on April 5, 2014. On April 26, it peaked in the US on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart at No. 29.
"U-Haul" is a song by American singer Angie Stone. It was written and produced by Missy Elliott, Nisan Stewart, Craig Brockman, and John "Jubu" Smith for Stone's third studio album Stone Love (2004). Apart from Elliott, singers Tweet and Betty Wright as well as Stone's daughter Diamond appear as backing vocalists on the song. Released as the album's second single, it reached number 19 on Billboard's Adult R&B Songs. "U-Haul" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 47th Grammy Awards.
