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© Getty Images
0 / 33 Fotos
His real name was actually Prince
- Prince Rogers Nelson was named after the jazz combo his father, pianist and songwriter John L. Nelson, played in. The group was called the Prince Rogers Trio.
© Getty Images
1 / 33 Fotos
He was born epileptic
- Prince was born with epilepsy and used to have seizures as a child. According to Prince, an angel told him that the seizures would stop, and they did.
© Getty Images
2 / 33 Fotos
He had a bad hip
- Prince was known for being a great dancer, and indeed for pulling off the most amazing acrobatic moves in his shows. But he suffered from his left hip. A surgery was even reported by some sources, but whether or not the music artist underwent one remains unconfirmed.
© Getty Images
3 / 33 Fotos
He struggled with censorship
- Mary "Tipper" Gore (then-senator Al Gore’s wife) was shocked to listen to the lyrics to ‘Darling Nikki,’ and added it to her Parents Music Resource Center group’s list of "Filthy Fifteen" songs. This led Prince to label his album with a Parental Advisory sticker.
© Getty Images
4 / 33 Fotos
His marriages didn’t work
- Prince was married and divorced, twice; first with dancer and backup singer Mayte Garcia, with whom he married in 1996 and divorced in 2000.
© Getty Images
5 / 33 Fotos
His marriages didn’t work
- And then in 2001 he married Manuela Testolini, who worked in Prince’s organization Love 4 One Another. The couple divorced in 2006.
© Getty Images
6 / 33 Fotos
He had contractual disputes
- Prince first got signed to Warner Music in 1977. Disputes with the label in the 1990s led him, amongst other things, to protest by writing the word “slave” on his cheek during performances, and to change his name to "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" symbol.
© Getty Images
7 / 33 Fotos
He had contractual disputes
- Later, he signed a number of record deals, including one with Columbia, with whom he also had a dispute because he wanted to give out his 2007 album ‘Planet Earth’ for free with a newspaper in the UK (without the label’s knowledge).
© Getty Images
8 / 33 Fotos
He lost his son
- Prince and Mayte Garcia’s son Amiir Nelson was born on October 16, 1996, and sadly suffered from a rare disease called Pfeiffer syndrome. Amiir passed away six days after his birth.
© Getty Images
9 / 33 Fotos
He lost his son
- “I don't think he ever got over it. I don't know how anybody can get over it. I know I haven't," wrote his then-wife in her memoir ‘The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince.’
© Getty Images
10 / 33 Fotos
His wife had a miscarriage
- And if the death of a son wasn’t traumatic enough, the couple had to deal with a miscarriage shortly after. The loss of one child and the miscarriage of another proved to be too much for the couple. “For me, it was very, very hard to move forward and for us as a couple I think it probably broke us," said Garcia.
© Getty Images
11 / 33 Fotos
He suffered from health problems and drug addiction
- The Purple One is said to have developed an opioid addiction. Various episodes gave away the condition of Prince’s frail health, including his passing out on a plane on April 14, 2016, a few days before he died.
© Getty Images
12 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- In 1987, Prince was about to drop his ‘Black Album,’ aka ‘The Funk Bible’ (the name was never officially confirmed), when he pulled the plug. At this point, 500,000 copies had already been pressed.
© Public Domain
13 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- The reason? Apparently Prince claimed that he had been possessed by a demon called Spooky Electric during the recording sessions, and then had "a spiritual epiphany" and didn’t want the album to come out.
© Getty Images
14 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- Some theories point to the use of MDMA, while others say Prince knew the album would be a flop, so he canned it.
© Getty Images
15 / 33 Fotos
He was sued by his sister
- Prince was sued by his half sister, Lorna Nelson, in 1987. The reason? She claimed that she had written the lyrics to the song ‘U Got the Look.’ Prince won the case.
© Getty Images
16 / 33 Fotos
His sleeping habits weren't great
- According to Prince’s ex-girlfriend Charlene Friend, "He would sometimes stay up for five days at a time without sleep, food or even water, going nonstop back and forth to the studio.” Prince's half brother Duane Nelson later clarified this to Friend, explaining Prince did so because he was on a “cocaine diet.”
© Getty Images
17 / 33 Fotos
He liked kinky stuff and was reportedly possessive
- Prince’s sexual behavior and reportedly abusive relationships have haunted his reputation. His ex-girlfriend Charlene Friend filed a lawsuit alleging that he had all sorts of bizarre parties in different themed rooms, featuring cages, chains, and whips. She also claimed that Prince threatened to kill her after they broke up. Prince denied all allegations.
© Getty Images
18 / 33 Fotos
He was a bit of a control freak
- Prince liked to be in control of his career and has been called by people who worked with him "relentless" and "intimidating." Prince apparently also "ran through people."
© Getty Images
19 / 33 Fotos
He was a Jehovah's Witness
- Prince was raised a Seventh Day Adventist, but in 2001 he became a Jehovah's Witness. He took his faith very seriously and even went door-to-door, evangelizing.
© Getty Images
20 / 33 Fotos
He dropped an f-bomb on 'SNL'
- Prince dropped the f-word in his very first appearance on 'Saturday Night Live,' when he sang ‘Partyup.’
© Getty Images
21 / 33 Fotos
His sister battled drug addiction
- Prince was not the only member of his family to struggle with substance abuse. His youngest sister, Tyka Nelson, also battled drug addiction. Nelson confessed in an interview that she even pawned the car that her brother had given to her to buy drugs.
© Getty Images
22 / 33 Fotos
His symbol had a name
- Prince’s symbol is often associated with the names ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’ or simply ‘The Artist,’ but it actually has a copyrighted name: Love Symbol #2.
© Getty Images
23 / 33 Fotos
He kept his political stance a secret
- Prince never directly supported a political party. Maybe Prince was never red or blue, but was simply purple!
© Getty Images
24 / 33 Fotos
He hid his philanthropic efforts
- It was not until Prince died that we learned about his many charitable donations and social work. Prince’s charity included donating money for solar panels, supporting initiatives to teach tech to urban youth, supporting BLM, and even donating money to the family of Trayvon Martin, the teen shot dead in Florida in 2012 by a neighborhood watch captain. And that's just to name a few examples.
© Getty Images
25 / 33 Fotos
He had a secret stash
- Prince had a vault in the basement of his Paisley Park studio. Following his death, numerous things were discovered there, including reel-to-reel tapes of classic albums and Batman-inspired works.
© Getty Images
26 / 33 Fotos
He had a secret stash
- The Carver County Sheriff's office also found "a costume for the Minnesota Twins' mascot,” "67 gold bars valued at $840,000 USD, and 47 pairs of high-heeled ankle boots."
© Getty Images
27 / 33 Fotos
His finances were not in great shape
- After Prince passed away in 2016, the heirs to the artist’s estate spent years without seeing a dollar. Lawyers worked and argued over it for a very long time until they settled in 2022. Prince was overly suspicious of signing documents, and he didn’t have a will.
© Getty Images
28 / 33 Fotos
He was given his own Pantone color
- You can’t think of Prince without thinking of the color purple, so after his death Pantone created a shade of purple to honor him.
© Getty Images
29 / 33 Fotos
He held the number one spots for film, single, and album in the same year
- Prince made history in the week of July 27, 1984. The movie ‘Purple Rain’ was number one at the box office, the movie soundtrack was the best-selling album of the week, and the song ‘When Doves Cry’ (from the film soundtrack) was the number one single!
© Getty Images
30 / 33 Fotos
He wrote numerous hit songs for other artists
- Prince was a prolific songwriter and not only did he write his own songs, but he also wrote many hit songs for other artists.
© Getty Images
31 / 33 Fotos
He wrote numerous hit songs for other artists
- Songs Prince wrote include ‘Manic Monday’ for The Bangles, 'How Come You Don't Call Me' for Alicia Keys, 'I Feel For You' for Chaka Khan, and 'Nothing Compares 2 U,' which was originally written for The Family and later famously covered by Sinead O'Connor. Sources: (Mental Floss) (Nicki Swift) (Grunge) (Britannica)
© Getty Images
32 / 33 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 33 Fotos
His real name was actually Prince
- Prince Rogers Nelson was named after the jazz combo his father, pianist and songwriter John L. Nelson, played in. The group was called the Prince Rogers Trio.
© Getty Images
1 / 33 Fotos
He was born epileptic
- Prince was born with epilepsy and used to have seizures as a child. According to Prince, an angel told him that the seizures would stop, and they did.
© Getty Images
2 / 33 Fotos
He had a bad hip
- Prince was known for being a great dancer, and indeed for pulling off the most amazing acrobatic moves in his shows. But he suffered from his left hip. A surgery was even reported by some sources, but whether or not the music artist underwent one remains unconfirmed.
© Getty Images
3 / 33 Fotos
He struggled with censorship
- Mary "Tipper" Gore (then-senator Al Gore’s wife) was shocked to listen to the lyrics to ‘Darling Nikki,’ and added it to her Parents Music Resource Center group’s list of "Filthy Fifteen" songs. This led Prince to label his album with a Parental Advisory sticker.
© Getty Images
4 / 33 Fotos
His marriages didn’t work
- Prince was married and divorced, twice; first with dancer and backup singer Mayte Garcia, with whom he married in 1996 and divorced in 2000.
© Getty Images
5 / 33 Fotos
His marriages didn’t work
- And then in 2001 he married Manuela Testolini, who worked in Prince’s organization Love 4 One Another. The couple divorced in 2006.
© Getty Images
6 / 33 Fotos
He had contractual disputes
- Prince first got signed to Warner Music in 1977. Disputes with the label in the 1990s led him, amongst other things, to protest by writing the word “slave” on his cheek during performances, and to change his name to "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" symbol.
© Getty Images
7 / 33 Fotos
He had contractual disputes
- Later, he signed a number of record deals, including one with Columbia, with whom he also had a dispute because he wanted to give out his 2007 album ‘Planet Earth’ for free with a newspaper in the UK (without the label’s knowledge).
© Getty Images
8 / 33 Fotos
He lost his son
- Prince and Mayte Garcia’s son Amiir Nelson was born on October 16, 1996, and sadly suffered from a rare disease called Pfeiffer syndrome. Amiir passed away six days after his birth.
© Getty Images
9 / 33 Fotos
He lost his son
- “I don't think he ever got over it. I don't know how anybody can get over it. I know I haven't," wrote his then-wife in her memoir ‘The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince.’
© Getty Images
10 / 33 Fotos
His wife had a miscarriage
- And if the death of a son wasn’t traumatic enough, the couple had to deal with a miscarriage shortly after. The loss of one child and the miscarriage of another proved to be too much for the couple. “For me, it was very, very hard to move forward and for us as a couple I think it probably broke us," said Garcia.
© Getty Images
11 / 33 Fotos
He suffered from health problems and drug addiction
- The Purple One is said to have developed an opioid addiction. Various episodes gave away the condition of Prince’s frail health, including his passing out on a plane on April 14, 2016, a few days before he died.
© Getty Images
12 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- In 1987, Prince was about to drop his ‘Black Album,’ aka ‘The Funk Bible’ (the name was never officially confirmed), when he pulled the plug. At this point, 500,000 copies had already been pressed.
© Public Domain
13 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- The reason? Apparently Prince claimed that he had been possessed by a demon called Spooky Electric during the recording sessions, and then had "a spiritual epiphany" and didn’t want the album to come out.
© Getty Images
14 / 33 Fotos
He called off an album release
- Some theories point to the use of MDMA, while others say Prince knew the album would be a flop, so he canned it.
© Getty Images
15 / 33 Fotos
He was sued by his sister
- Prince was sued by his half sister, Lorna Nelson, in 1987. The reason? She claimed that she had written the lyrics to the song ‘U Got the Look.’ Prince won the case.
© Getty Images
16 / 33 Fotos
His sleeping habits weren't great
- According to Prince’s ex-girlfriend Charlene Friend, "He would sometimes stay up for five days at a time without sleep, food or even water, going nonstop back and forth to the studio.” Prince's half brother Duane Nelson later clarified this to Friend, explaining Prince did so because he was on a “cocaine diet.”
© Getty Images
17 / 33 Fotos
He liked kinky stuff and was reportedly possessive
- Prince’s sexual behavior and reportedly abusive relationships have haunted his reputation. His ex-girlfriend Charlene Friend filed a lawsuit alleging that he had all sorts of bizarre parties in different themed rooms, featuring cages, chains, and whips. She also claimed that Prince threatened to kill her after they broke up. Prince denied all allegations.
© Getty Images
18 / 33 Fotos
He was a bit of a control freak
- Prince liked to be in control of his career and has been called by people who worked with him "relentless" and "intimidating." Prince apparently also "ran through people."
© Getty Images
19 / 33 Fotos
He was a Jehovah's Witness
- Prince was raised a Seventh Day Adventist, but in 2001 he became a Jehovah's Witness. He took his faith very seriously and even went door-to-door, evangelizing.
© Getty Images
20 / 33 Fotos
He dropped an f-bomb on 'SNL'
- Prince dropped the f-word in his very first appearance on 'Saturday Night Live,' when he sang ‘Partyup.’
© Getty Images
21 / 33 Fotos
His sister battled drug addiction
- Prince was not the only member of his family to struggle with substance abuse. His youngest sister, Tyka Nelson, also battled drug addiction. Nelson confessed in an interview that she even pawned the car that her brother had given to her to buy drugs.
© Getty Images
22 / 33 Fotos
His symbol had a name
- Prince’s symbol is often associated with the names ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’ or simply ‘The Artist,’ but it actually has a copyrighted name: Love Symbol #2.
© Getty Images
23 / 33 Fotos
He kept his political stance a secret
- Prince never directly supported a political party. Maybe Prince was never red or blue, but was simply purple!
© Getty Images
24 / 33 Fotos
He hid his philanthropic efforts
- It was not until Prince died that we learned about his many charitable donations and social work. Prince’s charity included donating money for solar panels, supporting initiatives to teach tech to urban youth, supporting BLM, and even donating money to the family of Trayvon Martin, the teen shot dead in Florida in 2012 by a neighborhood watch captain. And that's just to name a few examples.
© Getty Images
25 / 33 Fotos
He had a secret stash
- Prince had a vault in the basement of his Paisley Park studio. Following his death, numerous things were discovered there, including reel-to-reel tapes of classic albums and Batman-inspired works.
© Getty Images
26 / 33 Fotos
He had a secret stash
- The Carver County Sheriff's office also found "a costume for the Minnesota Twins' mascot,” "67 gold bars valued at $840,000 USD, and 47 pairs of high-heeled ankle boots."
© Getty Images
27 / 33 Fotos
His finances were not in great shape
- After Prince passed away in 2016, the heirs to the artist’s estate spent years without seeing a dollar. Lawyers worked and argued over it for a very long time until they settled in 2022. Prince was overly suspicious of signing documents, and he didn’t have a will.
© Getty Images
28 / 33 Fotos
He was given his own Pantone color
- You can’t think of Prince without thinking of the color purple, so after his death Pantone created a shade of purple to honor him.
© Getty Images
29 / 33 Fotos
He held the number one spots for film, single, and album in the same year
- Prince made history in the week of July 27, 1984. The movie ‘Purple Rain’ was number one at the box office, the movie soundtrack was the best-selling album of the week, and the song ‘When Doves Cry’ (from the film soundtrack) was the number one single!
© Getty Images
30 / 33 Fotos
He wrote numerous hit songs for other artists
- Prince was a prolific songwriter and not only did he write his own songs, but he also wrote many hit songs for other artists.
© Getty Images
31 / 33 Fotos
He wrote numerous hit songs for other artists
- Songs Prince wrote include ‘Manic Monday’ for The Bangles, 'How Come You Don't Call Me' for Alicia Keys, 'I Feel For You' for Chaka Khan, and 'Nothing Compares 2 U,' which was originally written for The Family and later famously covered by Sinead O'Connor. Sources: (Mental Floss) (Nicki Swift) (Grunge) (Britannica)
© Getty Images
32 / 33 Fotos
The dark side of Prince
What you might not know about the Purple One
© Getty Images
Prince's contribution to music history is indisputable. A prolific singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, actor, and fashion icon, Prince made our lives a little better throughout his 40-year career. We sadly lost Prince on April 21, 2016, but he's not forgotten. In this gallery, we reveal some of the lesser-known details about his life.
Click on and discover the dark side of Prince.
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