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 the world'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.
The Futureheads are an English post-punk band from Sunderland, formed in 2000. The band consists of Ross Millard, David "Jaff" Craig and brothers Barry Hyde and Dave Hyde (drums). Their name comes from the title of the Flaming Lips album Hit to Death in the Future Head. The band's influences include new wave and post-punk bands such as Gang of Four, Devo, XTC, Wire and Fugazi.
The New Power Generation, also known as the NPG, was the backing band of musician Prince from 1990 to 2013. They were replaced by 3rdeyegirl as his backing band in 2013. In 2015, the New Power Generation reunited as Prince's backing band for his final studio album before his death, Hit n Run Phase Two. They reunited once again in 2017 for a US and European tour.
N·E·W·S is the twenty-seventh studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on June 30, 2003, by NPG Records. The album is the second instrumental album released under Prince's own name, containing four tracks of 14 minutes duration each. Recorded at Prince's Paisley Park Studios over a single day, the album was initially available through Prince's NPG Music Club website on June 30, 2003, before becoming widely commercially available on July 29. The album can be seen as a modern incarnation of Madhouse, but this time as a Prince release. Original Madhouse member Eric Leeds lends his talents, as well as The New Power Generation members John Blackwell, Rhonda Smith and Renato Neto. The album was recorded improvisationally.
The Rainbow Children is the twenty-fourth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 20, 2001, by NPG Records and Redline Entertainment. It was also released through Prince's website earlier in the year. It is the first album released outside of the NPG Music Club to be released under the name of Prince again, as he had reverted to his previous stage name from his symbolic moniker a year earlier. It was released on double vinyl with a glossy color booklet, and was not available on vinyl again until the Legacy release in 2020.
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 Slaughterhouse is the thirtieth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on March 29, 2004 by NPG Records. The album was released as MP3s through his website, NPG Music Club. The album's title comes from the first line of the song "Silicon", "Welcome 2 the slaughterhouse." The tracks consist of material previously available on the same website back in 2001, although some may have rearrangements of music and/or lyrics. "2045: Radical Man" was released on the soundtrack of Spike Lee's Bamboozled in 2001. "Peace" and "The Daisy Chain" were released as limited edition CD singles during Prince's 2001 Hit n Run Tour. In 2015, the album was released on the Tidal music service. It was made available on other online music services like Spotify and the iTunes Store in 2018.
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.
Rosie Gaines is an American singer, songwriter and record producer from Pittsburg, California. Gaines is a former band member of Prince's group the New Power Generation. She duetted with singer Prince on the hit song "Diamonds and Pearls". She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close", which made the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997.
"The Truth" is a song recorded by American recording artist Prince for his twenty-first and eponymous studio album, The Truth (1998). The track was released as the record's lead single by NPG Records on February 14, 1997. Being issued as a CD single, the recording was paired with previously unreleased track "Don't Play Me". "The Truth" was solely written and produced by Prince, who also provided the track's entire instrumentation. Musically, the recording is an acoustic rock and folk song that lyrically has Prince claiming that there is "no more truth" left in the world.
"S.S.T." is a song by American musician Prince which was recorded and released directly after the impact of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. It was officially released as a digital download by the NPG Music Club on September 3, 2005, and reached number one on the iTunes R&B chart. It was later made available as a CD single through commercial outlets. All proceeds from the recording went to hurricane relief.
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.
C-Note is a live album by Prince and The New Power Generation released in 2004. Its genre is jazz, with five tracks taken from soundchecks during the One Nite Alone... Tour.
NPG Music Club was the official website for Prince from 2001 to 2006, and was named after Prince's New Power Generation band. Based on being one of the first mainstream artists to use the internet as an independent music distribution hub, Prince won a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for the site in 2006.
Crystal Ball is a box set by American recording artist Prince. It includes Crystal Ball, the artist's twentieth studio album, which is a three-disc set of "previously bootlegged" material, together with a fourth disc, The Truth, the twenty-first studio album by Prince.
The Diamonds and Pearls Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince and the New Power Generation promoting his Diamonds and Pearls album, released the previous year. The tour itinerary were scheduled dates in Asia, Europe, and for the first time, Australia. Like several of his then-recent tours, Prince chose not to tour the United States, the exception being the Lovesexy Tour in 1988. It would be 1993's Act I Tour before Prince did a full tour of the United States.
Lotusflow3r is a triple album set by American recording artist Prince and protégée Bria Valente. It contains the thirty-third and thirty-fourth studio albums by Prince, Lotusflow3r and MPLSound, as well as Elixer, the debut studio album by Bria Valente. It was released on March 24, 2009, by NPG Records. The three albums were sold exclusively in the United States at Target as a 3-disc set, and in Europe from more online music stores.
Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic is a remix album by American recording artist Prince, under the unpronounceable "Love Symbol", as shown on the album cover. It was released on April 29, 2001 by NPG Records and contains remixes of songs found on Prince's twenty-third studio album, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999). It was issued via mail exclusively through the NPG Music Club, an Internet subscription service; due to this circumstance, the album was not able to chart.
Mothership is the seventh studio album by American rock band Dance Gavin Dance, released on October 7, 2016, on Rise Records. The album serves as a follow-up the group's sixth studio album, Instant Gratification (2015), and is their second consecutive studio release with the same consistent line-up. The album was produced by Kris Crummett. Upon its release, the album sold over 19,000 copies within its first week in retail, debuting at No. 13 on the Billboard 200.
