Black History Heroes: Prince

10 months ago

Transcript

00:00105.1 The Bounce presents Black History Heroes, powered by Cricut Wireless. I'm Zaney Kaye.

00:08Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Maddie Shaw, a jazz singer and social worker, and John L. Nelson, a lyricist and pianist.

00:16Prince's parents separated during his youth. Prince joined a band called Grand Central.

00:20At the age of 18, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records and was the youngest producer associated with the label.

00:27Prince made his debut on the record label in 1978 with the album, For You.

00:31However, Prince didn't begin to attract mainstream notoriety until he released his single, 1999.

00:37The single and video gained traction with MTV viewers and would make him part of the mainstream music media.

00:43In 1984, Prince would release what would be seen as an admired and profound masterpiece, the feature film and soundtrack album, Purple Rain.

00:52Prince would go on to get the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.

00:56Throughout his career, Prince received more than 30 awards for his music, including seven Grammy Awards.

01:02Prince eventually changed his name from Prince to a symbol, which led people to call him the artist formerly known as Prince.

01:08After a lengthy battle with his record label, Prince would reclaim his stage name.

01:12Prince is credited with ushering in what today is known as the Minneapolis sound.

01:16He discovered and mentored Minneapolis artists like The Time, featuring Morris Day and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

01:21Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E, Andre Simone, The Family and many others.

01:26Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Prince's legacy as a songwriter, musician and genius performer lives on even after his passing.

01:35We salute Black History hero, Prince.

01:38I'm Zany Kay for 105.1 The Bounce.

01:40All February long, 105.1 The Bounce is paying tribute to African-American icons who have contributed to the advancement of our people through politics, science, sports and through the arts.