I think associated artist is the umbrella term for any person who Prince chose, on a reasonably regular basis, to contribute to his own creative endeavors (recordings, live shows, and related visual stuff). Those are mostly musicians, but could also include other creatives (photographers, web designers, set designers, etc.)

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Proteges are a subset of associated artists that Prince tried to shape and launch as stand-alone performers by writing/producing at least one full album under their name and setting up other promotional events such as live performances.

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I honestly don't think he had any true male proteges post-1991 (and even prior to that, perhaps the Time? Mazerati? Male members of The Family? Even those are sort of borderline as most of those guys had their own strong ideas about the direction of their careers. Maybe Tevin Campbell came closest?). Later on there were folks he sort of mentored like MonoNeon, but I don't think he really tried to launch him as an independent artist.

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The reality is, most of his female protegees were his lovers and that dynamic just didn't really exist with the men.

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He had plenty of male associates post-1991, including all NPG members, and non-musicians like Steve Parke, Afshin Shahidi, Sam Jennings and Scott Addison Clay (web designers), and Josh Welton.

[Edited 5/22/18 17:59pm]

Lenny Kravitz would be an associate.

I always think of Josh Welton as a protege, because he was relatively unknown, and Prince was training him from the production side of music.

Protege:

Josh Welton
Harts
maybe MonoNeon but I think he was on his way with or without Prince.

Unless i've forgotten someone (quite likely) that's it, everyone else is an associate.

Fact is, Prince rarely worked with men where he told them what to do, what to wear etc. but he did this with women a fair bit. The lines are clearly blurred anyway since Prince's idea of a date sometimes seemed to involve getting someone to sing on a song with him.

I'd say pre-1991 the only real male protegé could arguably have been Paul Peterson until Paul upped ship and left. Maybe Tevin Campbel although it feels more like he just gave him a bit of exposure and then left him to his own devices, akin to writing someone a song.

[Edited 5/23/18 8:03am]

Who were some of the artists/groups Warner Bros wanted Prince to develop? Was it just part of the power play that he didn't or something else? Who were male?

I suppose the only real protege would be Josh though it seems that Prince was instructing him more on production than playing music and singing.There was Black Is The New Black with Adrian,MonoNeon and Kirk as part of the new band for the project. I guess they were the last male associates. There are too many past male associates to mention really.

Did Prince ever do any solo work for Tony M?

Engineers? Instrument techs?

If the definition is associated artists, then I wouldn't include those kinds of crew/tech people.

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But if it's just "associates," then yes -- if they worked regularly and directly with Prince

OldFriends4Sale said:

Engineers? Instrument techs?

[Edited 5/23/18 12:51pm]

disch said:

If the definition is associated artists, then I wouldn't include those kinds of crew/tech people.

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But if it's just "associates," then yes -- if they worked regularly and directly with Prince

OldFriends4Sale said:

Engineers? Instrument techs?

[Edited 5/23/18 12:51pm]

Yes as Associates, like Susan Rogers would definately be included, Peggy and Coke etc