Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Profile: Prince
By Jon Bream ~ March 18, 2004

On March 15, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its 19th class -- Jackson Browne, the Dells, George Harrison, Prince, Bob Seger, Traffic and ZZ Top. VH1 will air highlights of the ceremony in a special premiering March 21.

Perhaps because he is seen as one of the most well-rounded rock stars in history, Prince is the only first-time nominee elected to the Hall of Fame this year.

Few musicians have been as successful as Prince at singing, writing, arranging and producing, as well as playing a wide variety of instruments and dazzling live audiences. In addition, he has maintained a compelling mystique while being both musically innovative and business-savvy.

"He does everything well," says Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Jimmy Jam of Prince. The two met in junior high while performing in the school band, and Jam later played in the Prince-produced group the Time in the early 1980s.

"You have to put Prince in the top of a bunch of categories-songwriting, performing, musicianship. But besides all that, he's a visionary with the way he fuses music and film, such as in 'Purple Rain,' or the way he puts his stage shows together. I don't think anybody's done that better."

Jam adds that he and partner Terry Lewis still rely heavily on the things they've learned from Prince's live performances and recording skills.

Prince, born Prince Roger Nelson in 1958 in Minneapolis, started his chart career in the 1970s, with "Soft and Wet" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover."

In the 1980s, he had 14 top 10 singles, three of which went to No. 1: "When Doves Cry," which stayed atop the charts for five weeks, "Let's Go Crazy" and "Batdance." In 1984, the soundtrack to "Purple Rain" remained at No. 1 for 24 weeks.

During the 1990s, he had five top 10 hits, including the chart topping "Cream." He has also written and/or produced hits for the Bangles, Chaka Khan, Sheena Easton, Sinead O'Connor, Tom Jones and Stevie Nicks, among others.

With all these hits, it's obvious that Prince's music contributions were meant to last. So even though his commercial fortunes have faded over the past 10 years, he remains an unstoppably dazzling performer.

"I'm always floored when I see him live," David Bowie says. "Prince is one of the greatest artists in the world."

Prince has been well known for challenging the rules and conventions of the music industry, as well. These days, he sells his music via his own Internet subscription music-club and often promotes his own tours.

Last year, he self-released an instrumental album, "N.E.W.S.," which was nominated for a Grammy for best pop instrumental album.

Although the press-shy Prince declined to be interviewed about his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, plans have been announced that he'll contribute a track to an upcoming Jimi Hendrix tribute, "Power of Soul."

Prince will also launch a North American tour later this month and will release a new album, "Musicology," in the near future.

INDUCTEE CHART BEAT

By Fred Bronson

Most people recall Prince's first chart single as "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which peaked at No. 11 in January 1980. But the Minneapolis-born artist actually made a more inauspicious Hot 100 debut a little more than a year earlier with "Soft and Wet," which only found its way to No. 92 in November 1978.

Prince's first top 10 hit arrived four years after his chart debut. Following "1999," which originally peaked at No. 44 in 1982, "Little Red Corvette" muscled its way to No. 6. ("1999" was reissued as the follow-up to "Little Red Corvette," and that time went to No. 12. It was again reissued in 1999, of course, when it peaked at No. 40).

"Little Red Corvette" remained Prince's biggest hit until July 1984 when the first single from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack, "When Doves Cry," flew to the pole position and stayed there for five weeks. To this day, "When Doves Cry" is Prince's biggest hit on The Hot 100.

He amassed four more No. 1 singles: "Let's Go Crazy" (two weeks in 1984), "Kiss" (two weeks in 1986), "Batdance" (one week in 1989) and "Cream" (two weeks in 1991). He also wrote a No. 1 single: Sinead O'Connor covered "Nothing Compares 2 U," a song Prince originally wrote for a group called the Family.

Prince has two unusual chart achievements to his credit.

When "When Doves Cry" went to No. 1, he became the artist with the longest title for the flip side of a chart-topping song. The B-side of "Doves" was "17 Days (The Rain Will Come Down, Then U Will Have to Choose. If U Believe, Look 2 the Dawn and U Shall Never Lose)." That replaced the previous record-holder, the flip side of Nino Tempo and April Stevens' "Deep Purple," titled "I've Been Carrying a Torch for You So Long That I Burned a Great Big Hole in My Heart."

In 1993, Prince also made chart news when his single "7" peaked at No. 7.

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