Prince: "Until the end of time..." Quiz

Answer: June 7, 1958

Prince Rogers Nelson was born on June 7, 1958, in Chanhassan, Minnesota to parents John , a former jazz musician, and Mattie (Shaw).

Answer: Champagne

Formed along with junior high classmates Andre Anderson (who was known later as Andre Cymone)and Morris Day, who later became the leader of the funk-group, The Time, Grand Central was Prince's first band. He later changed the name to Champagne, which is not to be confused with the early 1980s band of the same name.

Answer: Columbia

At 19, Prince was set to receive a recording contract from Columbia Records and it was going to be produced by Verdine White, who was a member of the supergroup Earth, Wind, and Fire, as well as the brother of lead singer, the late Maurice White.

However, due to Prince wanting to have total control over his material, Columbia backed away from signing him and so he signed with Warner Brothers. He remained with the label until the contentious breakup in the early 1990s over the rights to his material. It was at that point when he stopped using his given name until the end of the decade when he was able to regain ownership of his material from the label and returned to using 'Prince' again.

Answer: False

Prince's 1978 debut album was entitled "For You" and contained the hit "Soft and Wet", which only reached as high as Number 92 on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 chart in November, 1978. It charted much higher on the U.S. Billboard R&B Top 100, however, reaching all the way into the Top 20.

Answer: Bambi

"Bambi" was the first song to appear on a Prince album which used a girl's proper name. It was about a young lady whom he wanted to date who was living an alternate lifestyle.

Answer: Winged horse

Prince is shown riding a winged horse on the back cover of his 1979 U.S.-released album, "Prince". The album gave Prince his first taste of being at the top of the charts as the song "I Wanna Be Your Lover" reached the top spot for two weeks on the U.S. R&B Billboard chart.

Answer: Head

Prince left no doubt as to what he meant when he wrote these words to the song "Head". The song appears on Prince's third U.S.-released album entitled, "Dirty Mind" which includes a few other just as risque tracks such as the title track, "Dirty Mind" and "Sister" (a song about an incestuous relationship).

The album was a huge success in dance clubs, as well as the U.S. Billboard R&B chart producing the Top 20 hit, "Uptown".

Answer: The Rolling Stones

Prince opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1980-81 American tour to promote their album, "Tattoo You". Unfortunately, he was booed heavily after 15 minutes when the tour reached the L.A. Coliseum on October 9, 1981, in part because his music was such a departure from what the Rolling Stones' fans were used to. Also on the tour were, George Thorogood and the J. Geils Band, so naturally Prince stuck out like a sore thumb amidst those traditional rockers.

Answer: False

Prince's first Number One hit on the U.S. R&B Billboard chart happened in 1979, with the song "I Wanna Be Your Lover", which stayed at that position for two weeks. "Let's Work", which appears on his fourth album, "Controversy", peaked at Number Nine on that chart, in 1982.

Answer: Controversy

Released in 1981, Prince's fourth album, "Controversy", contained the songs mentioned in the question. While the album did not place any hits in the U.S. Billboard Top 40 (the highest charted hit was the title track, "Controversy", at Number 70), the album did have two hits place in the Top Ten on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart as "Controversy" got as high as Number Three and "Let's Work" settled in at Number Nine.

Answer: Little Red Corvette

Prince placed three songs from the "1999" album on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 Pop chart, with "Little Red Corvette" charting the highest at Number Six. Next was "Delirious", which came in at Number Eight, and finally, the title track, "1999", just missed the Top Ten, coming in at Number 12.

Answer: Purple Rain

"Purple Rain". By far, Prince's most recognizable and successful album. Not only did it produce five Top 30 hits on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 Pop chart (four of which made it into the Top Ten), the Number One song, "When Doves Cry" (two weeks in the top spot), but the summer of 1984 also saw the release of the semi-autobiographical movie of the same name, which was a blockbuster in theaters, too.

The album spent an astounding 24 weeks at Number One on the U.S. Billboard Album chart.

Answer: Purple Rain

"Purple Rain", one of the biggest releases of the 1980s, along with Michael Jackson's monster hit, "Thriller", Pink Floyd's "The Wall", and The Police's "Synchronicity", each helped to define the 1980s. And, while they all enjoyed double-digit stays in the Number One position on the U.S. Billboard Album chart at some point during the decade, "Purple Rain" was the album which had the longest CONSECUTIVE stay at the top spot as it spent an amazing 24 straight weeks there.

Here are the other albums which spent significant time at Number One....

"The Wall", 15 weeks (Jan 19, 1980-Apr 30)

"Synchronicity", ten weeks (Sept 17, 1983-Nov 19); also spent seven weeks there from Jul 23-Sept 3

"Thriller", 17 weeks (twice); Feb 26, 1983-Jun 18 & Dec 24, 1983-Apr 14, 1984.

Answer: Shockadelica

"Shockadelica" is the missing word to the lyrics in question. The song can be found on Prince's 1993 three-disc greatest hits set entitled, "The Hits/ The B-Sides".

Answer: False

Guitarist Dez Dickerson was with Prince from the beginning of his career, in 1978 until 1983, when he was replaced by Wendy Melvoin in Prince's new band, The Revolution. Although Dickerson was no longer a member of His Royal Badness's group, he still made a cameo appearance in the movie, "Purple Rain", where he can be seen rehearsing the song, "The Modernaires".

Answer: Frankie A'more

At some point throughout his illustrious career, Prince either produced or wrote songs under the aliases of Jamie Starr, Joey Coco, or Alexander Nevermind; Frankie A'more was not one of the names he ever used.

Answer: Mountains

Found on Prince's 1986 album, "Under the Cherry Moon", which was also the title of the Purple One's second cinematic foray, "Mountains" contains these lyrics. The song peaked at Number 23 on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 chart in July, 1986.

Answer: I Wanna Be Your Lover

While Prince placed "Let's Go Crazy" (1984), "Kiss" (1988), and "Batdance" (1989) all at Number One on both the U.S. Billboard Top 40 R&B and Pop charts, he missed doing that with his first big hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover". Although the song did reach the Number One position on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 R&B chart for two weeks in the summer of 1979, it peaked at just outside the Top Ten on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 Pop chart, settling in at Number 11.

Answer: Prince and the New Power Generation: 3 Chains of Gold

Produced in 1994 by Pirahna Studios, "Prince and the New Power Generation: 3 Chains of Gold", featured Prince as Arabian royalty trying to rescue a princess from an evil genie by retrieving the mystical Three Chains of Gold held in a faraway land. The book's title is also the title of a song which can be found on his 1992 "Symbol" album, which was the first time he used the glyph as a substitute for his name due to his dispute with Warner Bros record label over ownership of his material.

Answer: More than 15, but less than 20

Prince placed more than 15, but less than 20 hits on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 Pop charts during his amazing career (the exact number is 18), beginning with "Little Red Corvette", which peaked at Number Six in May of 1983.

His last Top Ten hit, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", charted in April of 1994, going all the way to Number Three.

Answer: He released three albums of new music that year

Except for 1983, Prince released an album each year from 1978-1999, and in 1987 and 1998 the prolific artist actually released two albums of new music during those years. However, in 1996, His Royal Badness actually outdid himself by releasing THREE albums containing new music, albeit one of them was a soundtrack to the Spike Lee movie, "Girl 6".

While the soundtrack contained a handful of Prince's older material such as "Hot Thing" ("Sign O' the Times"; 1987) and "The Cross" ("Around the World in A Day"; 1985), as well as earlier tracks from "Vanity 6" ("Nasty Girl"; 1982) and "The Family" ("Screams of Passion"; 1985), there were several new songs on the album also, including "She Spoke to Me", "Count the Days", and the title song, "Girl 6".

Answer: 2004

Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. He was practically a first ballot inductee as one of the requirements of becoming a member of the Hall is that 25 years must have passed from the release of an artist's first album before entry can be made.

The class of 2004 was stellar as Prince was joined by such artists as Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, ZZ Top, George Harrison, and the Dells.

Answer: 17

Prince said that his lover had been gone for 17 days and nights in the song of the same name. Released as a B-side on "Let's Go Crazy", the song actually charted briefly at Number 65 on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 Pop chart, in 1985. The song can also be found on Prince's 1993, "The Hits/ The B-Sides", greatest hits compilation triple cd release.

Answer: Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys, a singer/ songwriter of some magnitude in her own right, introduced Prince at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, in 2004. Her introduction is best remembered for the statement:

"There are many kings and queens, but only one Prince"

So true!

Answer: True

The world lost musical icon, Prince Rogers Nelson, on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57. Leaving behind of an incredibly large vault of music (and even songs that had not been shared or released), Prince will be with us forever, his music just waiting to be discovered by generations yet to come.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Nelson.