Prince was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and developed an interest in music at an early age, writing his first song at age seven. After recording songs with his cousin's band 94 East, 19-year-old Prince recorded several unsuccessful demo tapes before releasing his debut album For You in 1978, under the guidance of manager Owen Husney. His 1979 album Prince went platinum due to the success of the singles "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". His next three records—Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982)—continued his success, showcasing Prince's trademark of prominently sexual lyrics and incorporation of elements of funk, dance, and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as The Revolution and released Purple Rain, which served as the soundtrack to his film debut of the same name. A prolific songwriter, Prince in the 1980s wrote songs for and produced work by many other acts, often under pseudonyms.
“You lived that POP LIFE and I simply ADORE you. When I first heard your song KISS in my LITTLE RED CORVETTE it made me want to throw on my RASBERRY BERET. Now your gone and all your fans are DELIRIOUS and say TAKE ME WITH U or screaming LET’S GO CRAZY. Some even say no I WOULD DIE 4 U, but instead I chose to party like it is 1999 in the PURPLE RAIN. But the CONTROVERSY will die down and THE MORNING PAPERS will stop writing stories about you, I know you have moved on up those MOUNTAINS cause U GOT THE LOOK and AMERICA will GET OFF this and move onto something else. But we all know this was the day WHEN DOVES CRY!”