Prince Rogers Nelson, better known by the mononym Prince, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Between 1993 and 2000 he replaced his stage name by the symbol , which led to his being known as ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’.

Born 7^th June 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince recorded his first demo tape at the age of seventeen and was immediately singed to Warner Bros. Records. He played all 23 instruments on his debut album, 1978’s For You, but it was a critical and commercial flop and produced only one notable single – Soft and Wet – which reached 92 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fortunately, he enjoyed more success with 1979’s Prince, which produced the singles I Wanna Be Your Lover (#11 on the Hot 100), Still Waiting and Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?, and this was followed by the critically acclaimed albums Dirty Mind and Controversy, which gave Prince a devoted cult following.

The 1980s saw a string of successful albums, with four US number one hits – When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, Kiss and Batdance – and the Top 20 singles 1999, Little Red Corvette, Delirious, Purple Rain, I Would Die 4 U, Raspberry Beret, Pop Life, Sign of the Times, U Got the Look, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, Alphabet Street and Partyman.

Prince continued to produce hits throughout the 1990s – including Thieves in the Temple, Cream, Diamonds and Pearls, 7, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and I Hate U – and has scored an incredible thirty Top 40 singles to date, selling over 100 million records worldwide. He has also been credited with writing hit songs for a variety of other artists, including Chaka Khan, The Bangles and Sinéad O’Connor, making him one of the most successful artists in music history.

His latest album, 20Ten, is due for release in late 2010.