Hey guys. So all this time I've avoided buying any books on the story of Prince's life because I wanted to wait a bit and get one that got their stories right. Which biography is recommended? I've seen many on Ebay. Anyone own what they think is a "must have" for a die-hard? Thanks in advance...

Probably 'Slave to the rhythm by Liz Jones. It has a list of every song he ever wrote + reviews of his albums.
'Pop life' is fairly boring and it only does up to '88.
I haven't read DMSR

Probably DMSR.

IAM said:

funny you should ask this question. I just recently pulled
the best one out of my attic.
to re-read again.

Its called DANCE,music.SEX.Romance by
PER Nilsen (he of Uptown MAGazine) firefly books.
its the best one i've read. it basically covers prince's
first decade 78-88. Good stuff. juicy in some spots but
what i like is his sources seem pretty reliable.
(most of the sources are people he's played with...you
will KNow most of them when you check it out.

Should I buy it?? Why is it so good??

I quite liked the book by Dave Hill. I forgot the name.

That was 'Pop life' - It was kind of boring.

gainsbourg said:

Do not buy anything by Liz Jones (Slave or Inside the Purple Reign) as her information is very poor and she injects it with a lot of opinion and gossip!

You need to buy DMSR by Per and I would seriously consider buying the new book "The Rise and Fall..." when it comes out.

dmsr rules all.

and like lovemachine said, avoid liz jones's book by all means!!! it's nothin more than gossip drivel and it's a waste of paper & ink.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

that's all u need for the first decade at least

days of wild! it is actually the offoical continuation of DMSR, as it goes up to 2000. it is areally good book!

korovyov said:

yup! dow and turn it up 2.0 are both awesome.

I got "Inside the Purple Reign" by Liz Jones a few years ago, and was sorely disappointed. Much of her "interview" sessions with him were so blatantly taken from Prince's interview with Oprah in 1997.

Plaguerism at it's worst.

i have Slave 2 The Rhythm,it was only $3 at a record fair & sinceu see bugger all Prince stuff around,i got it.

its cool i spose,i mean its the best thing u will fine in adelaide on prince i suppose,so what the heck!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

yes days of wild & turn it up are top-notch.
basically they are companion pieces to DMSR by per N.
THUMBS down to anything by LIZ jones!!!

They're all pretty much of a muchness in terms of content bar the Uptown ones which are heavy on chronological trivia.

You're right, she acts like she did that interview with Prince - not Oprah!

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[This message was edited Tue Apr 29 21:50:47 PDT 2003 by daysofwild]

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[This message was edited Tue Apr 29 21:50:58 PDT 2003 by daysofwild]

IAM said:

if you can get it and for it's era - nothing beats Inside the Purple Reign - it was so close to the bone that Prince bought the rights to stop it being reprinted

Don't confuse Inside The Purple Reign by Jon Bream and the same title by Liz Jones (In the UK called "Slave to the Rhythm", in Italy "Schiavo del Ritmo"). The one by Jon Bream is great, although a bit dated.

daysofwild said:

Right, Purple Reign has an extra chapter n few more reviews added in the back is all.