Prince is the stage name of Prince Rogers Nelson born on June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was born to pianist John L. Nelson and jazz singer Matti Shaw. He was named after his father, whose stage name was Prince Rogers, and who performed with a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio. On April 7, 1978 he released his debut album For You. It originally only sold 150,000 copies in the U.S. and 430,000 copies worldwide but with his latter success would eventually go on to sell almost a million copies. Between 1979 and 1981 he released three albums but his breakthrough album would come in 1982 with the studio release entitled 1999. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 charts in the United States (peaking at number nine) and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. Prince released his sixth album and his best selling through Warner Brothers in 1984. It was titled Purple Rain and it has gone platinum thirteen times over. Since the start of his career, Prince has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004.
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