Does anyone know who Prince's favorite artists are? I read that he listened to Luther Vandross and someone else, but I can't remember who that other person was (but this was about 3 years ago). Can anyone remember any quotes of Prince stating who he liked and listened to then and now?

He seems to change with the wind from interview to interview. But I think there's no doubt he was heavily influenced by Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Patrice Rushen and Jimi Hendrix. Some of the current favorites I've heard him praise at one time or another is Patti Labelle, Macy Gray, D'Angelo (before their mysterious fall out), Common, Angie Stone,and Tevin Campbell (!)

But he often says he doesn't listen to any current artists, which sounds highly unlikely.

If I had to single out one artist that is Prince's fav I would have to say James Brown. Just look at the way Prince dances, the microphone tricks he uses. His stage presence, his vocal fieryness, all of these smack of James. If u don't believe me flip on Pretty Man or The Work, Pt.1. Those are James Brown tributes if I've ever heard one.

Prince has always been a HUGE Joni Mitchell fan. Besides Joni, he also likes Kate Bush a lot.
Other artists he likes a lot are, as mentioned before, James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix.

the Ohio Players and Graham Central Station of course

what about David Bowie? he does that Ray Charles cover as well.

what about David Bowie? he used to do that Ray Charles track as well.

He's been a major Chaka Khan fan for a long time.

chances are he's into the same old-skool stuff i'm into...if he gotta massive collection of stuff on vinyl...weee, lawd...don't give me the opportunity 2 chill with the brotha 4 a day, cuz i will be diggin thru the crates....





45 rpm edit.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 4 10:58:10 PST 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

In addition to all of those mentioned, I know Prince has a lot of respect and admiration for George Clinton. I'm guessing he also has an appreciation for Santana and the artists with whom he collaborated on recent albums (Gwen Stefani, Sheryl Crow, etc.)

I gotta Say a Wide Range from Jimi,Sly,James,Clinton,Little Richard,Santana,Motown,British Invasion,Elvis,pretty much the whole Pop-landscape when you get right down to it.

Two Words:

MILES DAVIS

He introduced TLC onto the stage at the MTV VMAs a few years ago and said they were his favourite group. Maybe he liked them in a bubblegum-pop sort of way...

Don't forget that he likes Kate Bush! He also bigged up Ms. Dynamite on the NPGMC site a couple of months ago.

I also remember Cat saying in an interview that she "hipped Prince to the Cocteau Twins", which I really, really can't imagine.

I remember reading somewhere that he cited Rage Against The Machine (back when they were together) as a favorite.

NWF said:

that's quite a surprise!

i heard that Prince was partial to a bit of Norwegen Black Metal.

brianr54 said:

What happened to P-FUNK???

Hayze Fantazy

brianr54 said:

By the way, what was that all about?

He is a huge Joni Mitchell fan, santana, fleetwood mac, james Brown, jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis.
As for current artists I've heard him say No Doubt, Kate Bush, Nikka Costa, Nora Jones.

Larry Graham and other repressed homosexual warped religous black men.

You know, we hear a lot about Miles Davis now from Prince, but it was only 1985 that he was introduced to him I think.

Which is of course, the time when he was introduced to jazz, and capable jazz-influenced musicians, around the time of The Family/ATWIAD/Parade.

Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, Sheila E.

MiaBocca said:

Yeah, cuz you know his parents being jazz musicians couldn't have exposed the genre to him.


Jeez. That's just silly.
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[This message was edited Fri Mar 7 15:44:44 PST 2003 by Supernova]

Just check out the WNPG playlist in the ONA Live booklet - I think that's a good guess at his favorite artists!

toejam said:

What the hell is WNPG anyway? Never figured that out...is it his own radio station or something?

Santana-Sly-Miles-JB...of course theres others...Larry G. he speaks tons about as U all know there tight. But I always felt hes been wanting & waiting 2 connect with Sly alot more. But of course Sly is in his own world and has kept 2 himself. So hey Larry was first runner up in terms of getting close 2 Sly. I know he truly admired Larry on his own greatness as a bass player etc.

I sometimes wonder had Sly been more active in terms of sticking his head out being clear of mind and hooking up with Prince way back B4 Larry did what road would Prince truly B on at this point?

Maybe different maybe not... But If Sly was working enough 2 gain some sort of product out of, who knows what them 2 would have whipped up*

I heard that Prince tried 2 get Sly 4 his Rave 2000 show...pitty, that would have been 2 much on the same place at the same time.



does anyone know about his relationship with Terence Trent D'arby AKA Sananda? they were kinda friends but had a weird thing on a concert at Glam Slam...


anyone no?

Anji said:

Whats their mysterious fell out??

If you people don't think that P has spent lots of time listening to Parliament/Funkadelic,you haven't been paying much attention!

Harlepolis said:

D spoke about Prince being better in the 80s along with Beck in a double interview. Saul Williams' "Voodoo" liner notes which talk on P also got misinterpreted as coming from D. Prince then went from namechecking D positively on "Get Yo Groove On" and "Undisputed" to dissing on Daisy Chain "How you gonna claim to have my back when your frontin" and talking about a "cane rowed junkie" while an image of "The Real Chicken Grease" showed (This being Prince's originally as an onstage command and becoming a song title for D). P seemingly got very bitter...