My boyfriend is curious and I have told him some of the well known musical influences... what are some you know that P has divulged in past or current interviews, books etc.?

He's impressed by Solomon and his 1,000 wives!

The sun, the moon and the stars... and C-Span.

Dorthy86 said:

SLy Stone , James Brown , Joni Mitchel, Stevie Wonder , Jimi Hendrix, Santana , George Clinton and P Funk / Parmliment , Al Green , Jackson 5, Chaka Kahn. I know in the 80's he dug new wave bands like the guys who wrote the song 'Cars ' Was it Randy Newman ? He also def took a bit from Rick James.
[Edited 10/14/07 1:16am]

Dorthy86 said:

I'd say in the broadest sense, he's influenced by just about any great artist that came before him. But, the vintage Prince, the quintessential Prince will always be remembered as an amalgamation of primarily Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown. Of course there were many more in there but I think it's fair to say those are the major ones. He was also influenced by Elvis, Santana, Little Richard and many many more. At his peak we may have had one of the richest artists ever in terms of depth. He had so many things going on at so many levels that I don't think we will ever see anyone like that again.

My opinion on these topics should carry little weight because I am not a musician, However, I can't stress more, that sharing a world with people that believe that music is the healing voice of the world..that there is going to be threads that weave us together. Maybe he had picked up something from Jerry Lee Lewis, ya never know.

Tame said:

Actually, being the historian he was, he used to kick the piano stool out from under him in the purple rain period, a sort of ode to Jerry Lee's performance on the Steve Allen show. I've also read that he was quite familiar with his bio.

mozfonky said:

I agree 100%. That was P's hook and one of his gifts, was combining facets from artists that "appeared" to be different from each other. P could echo anybody if he wanted to. There is no one P wasn't hip to. He searched the earth for artists that folks weren't that hip to and apply it to his "thang". But he was influenced by the obvious artists always mentioned and also cats like Return To Forever and The New York Dolls. His knowledge of musical artists before him is vast and deep. He just wan't hip to Elvis but he was hip to cats that Elvis bit from.

i think if any prince influence is understated or underestimated it's t. rex. some t.rex songs they sound very, very prince-like. and i dont just mean like "cream"
[Edited 10/14/07 9:16am]

theghostoftonym said:

Yeah, I've mentioned this on this site for years. I've written threads regarding this. From T-Rex's album "Electric Warrior" and "The Slider" on to Zinc Alloy era, P's vocal delivery especially, is VERY Marc Bolan. Little Red Corvette, in subject matter to again P's vocal, is classic Marc. Especially on the verses. Marc used the car metaphor all the time in his lyrics. Even Marc's lead guitar work, tone wise and where it's placed in his songs, are very much like what P ended up doing. But the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Marc loved the shit out of Hendrix, tried his best to play like him. His version of that, u hear in some of P's own playing. P knew all of this.

INFLUENCES
James Brown
Jimi Hendrix
Sly Stone
Little Richard
The Beatles
Ohio Players
Carlos Santana
Joni Mitchell
George Clinton
Gary Numan
Stevie Wonder
David Bowie

NWF said:

and later on Larry Graham...

geo4you said:

Larry has definitely influenced Prince's bass playing. I'm sure he also dug Graham Central Station back in the day.

blackguitaristz said:

i'm gonna have to check some of that out.

justin timberlake, like duh

mozfonky said:

just saw some on youtube. Very good and i could see how Prince copied him.

blackguitaristz said:

WOW! Once again Black you are right on the money! Prince bit a LOT off of Marc Bolan! The cut "Hot Love" that is posted on you tube even sounds a lot like "Paisley Park" on the ATWIAD album,,,,

Dorthy86 said:

According to his 21 night in London news conference he said thet right now he is influnced by "prophets of the Bible"