Prince Photography

The man born Prince Rogers Nelson, more commonly known simply as Prince—and occasionally an unpronounceable “Love Symbol”—first debuted in 1978 with his album For You. In addition to singing, Prince wrote all the lyrics and played nearly every instrument. This charted his course towards future superstardom and cemented his philosophy of maintaining total artistic control over all his recordings.

After steadily building his name with soulful singles “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “Uptown,” and “Controversy,” Prince finally found international success with 1983’s smash album 1999. A year later, he was tearing up the charts and MTV with the semi-autobiographical masterpiece Purple Rain, and also starred in the blockbuster movie of the same name.

The success of 1999 paved the way for Prince to experiment however he pleased, including forays into funk, jazz, R&B, and psychedelic rock. This innovative performer also remained one of the world’s highest grossing touring attractions until his sudden death in 2016. His legacy now lives on through his prolific cannon and immeasurable cross-genre influence.