Has he ever had formal lessons or is he just a prodigy who figured it all out?

Probably from his father.


He learned how to dance by ordering "Darren's Dance Moves vol1"

I was a big fan during the 1999 period,
and then when I heard the song "Purple Rain"
for the first time, I was like
I think he had some vocal training
during the making of Purple Rain, the movie.
Somehow, overnight it seemed, his voice got 10-times better.

I dont think ayone really learns how to sing, its a gift, either you can or you cant, but I guess if you find you do have some talent there are ways to improve on it, Im sure P has been improving his voice since he learned he can sing

4nowneway said:

i guess you don't sing then?
most anyone can sing
and learn to sing better
but then there are those
rare types who do have that
extra something special
that "gift" as you say
Prince, on the other hand,
we can track...
it's in the records
dating back to 1978
and even before
he has steadily gotten better
and with some albums...
notably much better!
ya gotta wonder
well i do

Though most of what he has is natural, like a lot of talented singers he HAS had lessons to enhance what he could already do.

He has had lessons from Seth Riggs, and also sent Rosie Gaines to him. Other singers helped by Seth include: Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder...

He's generally considered to be THE guy to go to in the pro singing world. There's some quotes about him here: http://www.goodrichvocal....quotes.htm

he was in the choir when he was a child...and he was in a band when he was a child

He learnt 2 sing and the shitter, as did Al Green.

4nowneway said:

if you can learn to do the splits through training
you can learn to sing through training

correct exersize is all you need
for both