Unlike most of you guys I have only been a Prince fan for only about five years. Im trying to learn more about the man behind the music. I was wondering beside the obvious like Jimi, Sly,Little Richard, Chaka Khan, and James Brown who else does Prince look up to and admire????

Dez Dickerson.....

Joni Mitchell
Stevie Wonder
Carlos Santana

MidnightFunk said:

[b] prince looks up 2 every 1 when he takes off his high heels. [THE FREAKS ON THIS SIDE}

VisionEnt2004 said:

Well Larry Graham's one . Apart from the people you mentioned I'd add david bowie, miles davis, stevie wonder, George Clinton and all of the P-Funk empire, though those would probably be "obvious" too I suppose. I'm sure the Beatles and the Stones qualify too since they influenced everybody in rock n roll that followed them. Prince's alluded to and been compared to Duke Ellington at times, but I don't see much of the Duke in him. I think Marvin Gaye's an influence in terms of the duality/contradiction between sexuality and spirituality, and Curtis Mayfield's streetwise political R&B and his falsetto is evident in prince's style too. Prince has a lot of influences really, as do most greats.

jacktheimprovident said:

Marvin is a HUGE, often overlooked influence. Besides the sacred/profane stuff, he was a major influence in terms of the way he would record his own vocals six ways till Sunday, then layer them as if he had a whole chorus of backup singers. Prince has used this technique to amazing effect.

Marvin was also a crazy innovator like Prince, doing things like banging on a bottle of grapefruit juice to add to the percussion track.

FunkMistress said:

Girl, u are bad... Anyway, P had many, many people he was aware of. Todd Rundgren, Shuggie Otis, David Bowie, just to name a few. P absorbed almost anything that he dug, didn't matter who or where it came from.

blackguitaristz said:

Santana was apparently a massive influence. Most people used to compare him with Jimi Hendrix (obviously - black man with an elecric guitar) but he has said he was more inspired by Carlos' playing.

But when he does those screeching guitar solos, he certainly looks like Jimi!

James Brown as well, especially obvious in the dance moves like the splits as well as the funky drum-based music.
[Edited 3/31/05 13:43pm]