Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an iconic American musician. He is best known for performing under the name Prince. His music has spanned myriad styles; from his early material, rooted in R&B, funk, and soul, he has constantly expanded his musical palette throughout his career, absorbing many other genres including New Wave, pop, rock, blues, jazz, and hip hop. The distinctive characteristics of the early-to-mid 1980s work which brought him to super-stardom (including sparse and industrial-sounding drum machine arrangements, and the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role traditionally occupied by horn riffs in earlier R&B, funk and soul music) became known as the "Minneapolis sound," which proved heavily influential.
Prince has been a remarkably prolific artist, having released several hundred songs, both under his own name and through other artists. Regarded as a perfectionist, Prince is known for being highly protective of his music. He produces, composes, arranges and performs nearly all of the songs on his albums. Many critics have dubbed him a musical genius due to the quality of his compositions and proficiency at various instruments.
Prince performed at the 2007 Pepsi Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show (a short clip is available in the media player above). The setlist for Prince's performance was a short rendition of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, his signature hit "Let's Go Crazy" and "Baby I'm a Star," cover versions of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Proud Mary," the Bob Dylan composition "All Along the Watchtower," and the Foo Fighters song Best of You, and in light of the conditions, he fittingly finished the performance with another signature song, "Purple Rain" in the downpour. The 12-minute performance featured Prince accompanied by two dancers he calls “the Twins” and the Florida A&M University marching band, the Marching 100. He played before 74,512 fans at Dolphin Stadium (who had been given flashlights to point at the stage during the performance of Purple Rain). The event was carried “to the biggest audience of his life - 140 million television viewers.” Overall, the show was energetic and quite well-received by the rain-soaked audience surrounding the stage. Music critics have been extremely enthusiastic about his performance, one calling it "arguably the best halftime show in Super Bowl history," and others saying it was one of the best ever. The event marked the first time that a Microsoft Windows based keyboard workstation, the NeKo was played live at the Super Bowl. The NeKo keyboard played by Prince's keyboardist, Morris Hayes, was later auctioned by the Make-A-Wish foundation. The Halftime show has been nominated for two Emmys: Outstanding Special Class Program and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special. The Emmy's will air Sunday, September 16, 2007.
(See the Make-A-Wish feature interview from METV)
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo LX (Gen3)
Purchased MiKo LX (Gen3)
Artist Links
(*Superbowl clip courtesy NFL and FOX Broadcasting)