thecloud said:

As far as I know, Prince doesn't let them sing his songs or give them clearance to the rights. He only did it once....for a girl from Minneapolis.

I thought someone sang a Prince song, rings a bell

A few years ago a woman sang "How Come u dont call me anymore" and she claimed it was by Alicia keys. they didnt acknowledge that Prince wrote it.

If I remember correctly, I think someone sang "Purple Rain" on the "X Factor", but I'm not sure.

Some guy in Australia sang purple rain on Australian idol

skywalker said:

As far as you know? You have the inside skinny?

If Prince doesn't own his publishing, he doesn't have a lot of say in who or how is songs are used. Ultimately if WB wanted to let them out, they could/would. I think it boils down to no one really knowing his music or who he is, other than "that guy who sang 'When Doves Cry' in the 80's".

skywalker said:

it was that girl paris bennett and she sang "kiss"

wow. i like his voice.

he has an album out... i kinda like his song black box... may be a new artist i check out...
[Edited 3/3/10 20:46pm]

KINA1 said:

i have his album. one of the most soulful 'old-soul' male voices i have ever heard.

i think he's only 19.

and yeah, Black Box rocks.

Prince doesn't want something like THIS to happen:

ernestsewell said:

Prince does own the rights to publishing and has done for some time, with them currently administered under a publishing deal with Universal Music.

http://www.umusicpub.com/...px?ID=3358

I remember seeing a show when they were having auditions in Minneapolis and the entire crowd was singing 1999.

They also did a segment where they showed a lot of really awful singers butchering Kiss.

This was about 3 or 4 years ago.

Paris9748430 said:

yeah,i remember that 2. They should have Prince week

benjaminira said:

Your right

Its been done twice infact in the past two series

I've seen Kiss done more than once in the auditions too

Every version has been terrible!

One person even did the splits while singing Kiss

Old Blighty takes hold. American Idol is no more. He's dragged the X Factor to your shores. On behalf of the British people, I apologise for inflicting Simon Cowell on you. As for Victoria Beckham? Well you guys are more than welcome to that. Drop her off mid-Atlantic if you're sending her back. Her voice can enchant Davy Jones' boys.

Personally I think impersonators should be banned from these talent shows. They are without doubt always shit. It's sad to see them too.

Quite how a karaoke competition ever got so popular is beyond me.

Someone should go on there and sing "Head". That would be awesome.

Because even Prince's worst songs aren't dull enough for that dull ass show.

Militant said:

And should also play that sick funky keyboard solo...

somone did KISS (ala Tom Jones) during a "year you were born week"

then the next year "kiss" was the judge's or Producer's choice for the Minneapolis auditions so as far as I know they ALL did KISS. (and someone said a group of 1999)

(all that sang for the judges not necessarily the earlier auditions held the days (if not months) before the Randy and Simon and Paula show up)
[Edited 3/4/10 10:26am]

Prince's music is tough to cover. It's not always vocal showcase type music. Kiss is mostly one note, so it's up to the singer to make it interesting. 1999 is sung by men & women.

Not that it couldn't be done, it would just be a challenge, where singing Whitney, Stevie, Mariah is only a challenge in that you don't want to sound worse than the original. But the melody for their songs is already laid out to be a vocal showcase.

citrus said:

A radio station over here had a poll on 'best cover that was better than the original.' And that won...

TheVoid said:

Wow...

this always gets me http://video.google.com/v...982979602#

ARock said:

" Dawg, Prince will never be on this show again man."