The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 gives you a front-row seat to the dramatic events of iconic artist Prince Rogers Nelson's dazzling rise to fame. The book opens with the gripping tale of Prince's final months in 2016, and then transports you to the Minneapolis of his childhood to tell a story that is by turns tragic and triumphant. This book's gripping, 50-page prologue provides a nearly day-to-day account of the events that unfolded between November 2015 and April 21, 2016, when Prince tragically died at Paisley Park. The great distance traveled by Prince during his final months - tours of Australia and New Zealand, a funeral in the Bay Area for former muse and lover Denise Matthews, a tour of Canada, and a final return home - in some ways mirrored on a grand scale Prince's nomadic childhood, to which the book returns after detailing the events of 2016.Thanks to the many close friends and associates who shared their stories with the authors, The Rise of Prince will both enlighten and deeply move Prince's legions of fans. What is ultimately revealed is the very human story of how a young man from a small Midwestern city overcame adversity to achieve one of the greatest runs of creativity in pop history, along the way creating an unparalleled universe of side projects, alter egos, and a musical legacy for the ages.Alex Hahn, writing with co-author Laura Tiebert, brings his extraordinary experience to this book, which includes fully updated and expanded elements of his controversial 2003 biography Possessed, a sought-after collector's item that remains a classic of Prince literature.The book is enhanced by exclusive photos from rock photographer Paul Natkin, one of the most renowned photographers of Prince.

Prince's position in popular culture has undergone only limited academic scrutiny. This book provides an academic examination of Prince, encompassing the many layers of his cultural and creative impact. It assesses Prince's life and legacy holistically, exploring his multiple identities and the ways in which they were manifested through his recorded catalogue and audiovisual personae. In 17 essays organized thematically, the anthology includes a diverse range of contributions - taking ethnographic, musicological, sociological, gender studies and cultural studies approaches to analysing Prince's career.

"Prince: All the Songs is a major achievement...[It] may be the definitive single-volume book about Prince for both its breadth and the way it views his life through the songs that were the true essence of his being." - Psychobabble Spanning nearly 50 years of albums, EPs, B-sides, and more, read the full story behind all of the songs that Prince ever released. Moving chronologically through his epic back catalogue, expert author Benoît Clerc analyses everything there is to know about each song and session. No stone is left unturned across more than 600 pages, illustrated with incredible photography throughout. From the inspiration behind the lyrics and melody to the recording process and even the musicians and producers who worked on each track, uncover the stories behind the music in this truly definitive book - a must-have for every Prince fan.

A warm and surprisingly real-life biography, featuring never-before-seen photos, of one of rock’s greatest talents: Prince. Neal Karlen was the only journalist Prince granted in-depth press interviews to for over a dozen years, from before Purple Rain to when the artist changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph. Karlen interviewed Prince for three Rolling Stone cover stories, wrote “3 Chains o’ Gold,” Prince’s “rock video opera,” as well as the star’s last testament, which may be buried with Prince’s will underneath Prince’s vast and private compound, Paisley Park. According to Prince's former fiancée Susannah Melvoin, Karlen was “the only reporter who made Prince sound like what he really sounded like.” Karlen quit writing about Prince a quarter-century before the mega-star died, but he never quit Prince, and the two remained friends for the last thirty-one years of the superstar’s life. Well before they met as writer and subject, Prince and Karlen knew each other as two of the gang of kids who biked around Minneapolis’s mostly-segregated Northside. (They played basketball at the Dairy Queen next door to Karlen’s grandparents, two blocks from the budding musician.) He asserts that Prince can’t be understood without first understanding ‘70s Minneapolis, and that even Prince’s best friends knew only 15 percent of him: that was all he was willing and able to give, no matter how much he cared for them. Going back to Prince Rogers Nelson's roots, especially his contradictory, often tortured, and sometimes violent relationship with his father, This Thing Called Life profoundly changes what we know about Prince, and explains him as no biography has: a superstar who calls in the middle of the night to talk, who loved The Wire and could quote from every episode of The Office, who frequented libraries and jammed spontaneously for local crowds (and fed everyone pancakes afterward), who was lonely but craved being alone. Readers will drive around Minneapolis with Prince in a convertible, talk about movies and music and life, and watch as he tries not to curse, instead dishing a healthy dose of “mamma jammas.”

Here is the first comprehensive book that covers Prince’s forty-plus personal and professional years in and out of the public spotlight. Firmly grounded in a detailed chronological overview of Prince’s prodigious released and unreleased recorded musical output and epic live performances, Prince FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Purple Reign digs deep into Purple fact and legend as it explores the multiple number-one singles, the movie hits and flops, the exclusive and adventurous after shows, and the provocative TV appearances. But more than just a look at the music and moving images, this volume also highlights Prince’s relationship with those in the Purple Court—the Revolution, New Power Generation, Third Eye Girl and other band members, his musical influences (from Santana to Stevie to the Stones), the countless individual (Christopher Tracy) and group aliases (Madhouse), protégés (Carmen Electra), the cover artists (the Bangles) and recovery projects (Mavis Staples), and the wives, lovers, and multiple ingénues. And then there are the controversies—the rivalries with Rick James and Michael Jackson, the USA for Africa snub, the questions surrounding his untimely death, the fate of countless unreleased audio and video projects, and, of course, his battle against Warner Bros. and the music industry that caused him to change his name to an unpronounceable symbol. Accompanied by dozens of rare images, Prince FAQ is the go-to volume for all things Prince.

Contributions by Ignatius Calabria, H. Zahra Caldwell, Brian Jude de Lima, Sabatino DiBernardo, William Fulton, Antonio Garfias, Judson L. Jeffries, Tony Kiene, Molly Reinhoudt, Fred Shaheen, and Karen Turman With his signature blend of genres and lyrics that touch on myriad societal issues, the artist Prince (1958–2016) has challenged and captivated the minds and hearts of countless listeners. Feel My Big Guitar: Prince and the Sound He Helped Create is a wide-ranging collection that seeks to place Prince at the center of contemporary musical scholarship, putting him in proper cultural and political context. This edited volume includes a mix of essays and reflections by scholars and fans, as well as interviews with people who worked with and knew Prince personally. Employing a blend of methodologies, contributors offer a body of fresh, intriguing, thought-provoking, and mind-bending work about Prince—an artist whose music exemplified those very characteristics. The volume examines Prince's musical influences, his rivalries (both real and imagined), and instrumental eroticism. It includes enlightening interviews with early mentor Pépe Willie and Gayle Chapman, Prince’s first female bandmate. These personal reflections and interviews grant readers a unique lens through which to view Prince, enriching our overall understanding of the man. Ultimately, Feel My Big Guitar serves as a space for sharing musicological analysis and memories about an artist whose work has touched and inspired so many. Years in the making, this is the first book in an ongoing scholarly project, PrincEnlighteNmenT: A Study of Society through Music, intended to investigate and reveal the full spectrum of Prince’s life and work.

Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and using many sources unavailable to others, author Alex Hahn has created a page-turning biography on one of the most dynamic, talented, and controversial performers ever to don backless pants on national television. Possessed unveils the psychology of this tortured, messianic artist whose ceaseless reinventions have at times rendered him a profoundly original artist, while at other times threatened to become a mockery of himself and his music. Recollections from friends, employees, sound engineers, journalists, and industry insiders place readers right in the middle of some of Prince's most awe-inspiring recording and song writing sessions. They also relate, in often shocking detail, Prince's most publicized relationships with Kim Basinger, Carmen Electra, Vanity, Apollonia Kotero, and many more; reveal how Prince plagiarized band members' musical ideas; and explain why he has become such an isolated figure.

What were Prince's politics? What did he believe about God? And did he really forsake the subject-sex-that once made him the most subversive superstar of the Reagan era? In this illuminating thematic biography, Joseph Vogel explores the issues that made Prince one of the late 20th century's most unique, controversial, and fascinating artists. Since his unexpected death in 2016, Prince has been recognized by peers, critics, and music fans alike. President Barack Obama described him as �one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time.� Yet in spite of the influx of attention, much about Prince's creative life, work, and cultural impact remains thinly examined. This Thing Called Life fills this vacuum, delving deep into seven key topics-politics, sound, race, gender, sex, religion, and death-that allow us to see Prince in fresh, invigorating new ways. Accessible and timely, This Thing Called Life takes the reader on a journey through the catalog and creative revolution of one of America's most compelling and elusive icons.

As Bowlby himself points out in his introduction to this seminal childcare book, to be a successful parent means a lot of very hard work. Giving time and attention to children means sacrificing other interests and activities, but for many people today these are unwelcome truths. Bowlby’s work showed that the early interactions between infant and caregiver have a profound impact on an infant's social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Controversial yet powerfully influential to this day, this classic collection of Bowlby’s lectures offers important guidelines for child rearing based on the crucial role of early relationships.

Featuring insights on even more groundbreaking recording sessions, rehearsals, and sound checks, the expanded edition of Duane Tudahl's award-winning book pulls back the paisley curtain to reveal the untold story of Prince’s rise from cult favorite to the biggest rock star on the planet. His journey is meticulously documented through detailed accounts of his time secluded behind the doors of the recording studio as well as his days on tour. With unprecedented access to the musicians, singers, and studio engineers who knew Prince best, including members of the Revolution and the Time, Duane Tudahl weaves an intimate saga of an eccentric genius and the people and events who helped shape the groundbreaking music he created. From Sunset Sound Studios’ daily recording logs and the Warner Bros. vault of information, Tudahl uncovers hidden truths about the origins of songs such as “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry,” and “Raspberry Beret” and also reveals never-before-published details about Prince’s unreleased outtakes. This definitive chronicle of Prince’s creative brilliance during 1983 and 1984 provides a new experience of the Purple Rain album as an integral part of Prince’s life and the lives of those closest to him.