His mother.

It's a difficult question to answer, because he's rarely commented on who his muses were for specific songs. I remember he did say on record that disc 2 of Emancipation was entirely dedicated to Mayte, so I guess we can assume she inspired most of those songs. Otherwise we're left to speculate based on who was around when he wrote a song, secondhand info from associates, who often have conflicting opinions, etc.

When it was revealed that Alan Leeds' liner notes for The Hits were largely based on Prince's own notes, it shed some light on various inspiriations of his. But that's assuming Prince was always up front and honest about such things, which he wasn't.

If we're speculating, they all had their high points. If Vanity inspired Wonderful Ass and The Beautiful Ones, well damn. If Susannah inspired Forever In My Life, and Adore, and IIWYG, well damn. If Anna Fantastic inspired Anna Stesia, Pink Cashmere, and Anna Waiting, well damn.

However, to my ears, no one inspired a song as open an honest as The Holy River, so I'll give it to Mayte.

If we're talking about other artists, I'd say Sly most consistently.

Definitely not Jill I know that much.

Didn't he mention that Vanity was his primary muse (sometime after her death)? At any rate I would rank her #1 followed by Anna, Susannah/Wendy and then Mayte.

God

His Mother

Susannah

I'm going Susannah based on "Adore" and "101" (tracking date for 101 lines up anyway),

or Mayte based on Emancipation's ballads.

Whchever girl inspired, Work That Fat.

Vanity in my opinion...it seems she never got over him and neither did he...a lot of the women he dated kinda looked like her or is it just me?

RODSERLING said:

Michael Jackson

WHAT!?

johnpiex said:

It's a difficult question to answer, because he's rarely commented on who his muses were for specific songs. I remember he did say on record that disc 2 of Emancipation was entirely dedicated to Mayte, so I guess we can assume she inspired most of those songs. Otherwise we're left to speculate based on who was around when he wrote a song, secondhand info from associates, who often have conflicting opinions, etc.

When it was revealed that Alan Leeds' liner notes for The Hits were largely based on Prince's own notes, it shed some light on various inspiriations of his. But that's assuming Prince was always up front and honest about such things, which he wasn't.

If we're speculating, they all had their high points. If Vanity inspired Wonderful Ass and The Beautiful Ones, well damn. If Susannah inspired Forever In My Life, and Adore, and IIWYG, well damn. If Anna Fantastic inspired Anna Stesia, Pink Cashmere, and Anna Waiting, well damn.

However, to my ears, no one inspired a song as open an honest as The Holy River, so I'll give it to Mayte.

If we're talking about other artists, I'd say Sly most consistently.

And then Prince did live after ther 1990s.

His 2nd wife insrpired a few albums plus a Grammy-award-winning song, Bria Valente inspired him too then some say Andy Allo inspired 5 albums and some of the last years of his mysical life plus his afro. I think Judith Hill actually inspired him too with "Black is the New Black" album and working with MonoNeon. There are more, as always, post-1999.!

I think whoever waas around him inspired him in some way. The longer around him, the more you inspired. And even afterwards in some cases.

But acutally i think people like Chaka Khan, Sly Stone, Joni Mitchell, etc were just as inspirational as those around him.

EnglishGent2 said:

Whchever girl inspired, Work That Fat.

Rosie Gaines.

Susannah a "collaborator"? Because she wrote some nursery rhymes for a two-minute track that she's still hocking merch for?

I feel like you're giving the lion's share of credit for stuff that Wendy & Lisa had already sparked. She's arguably a step above Mayte, but not by that much.

[Edited 5/29/24 19:22pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

I would say Susannah, as well, based on the songs that were inspired by the good and bad parts of their relationship. Mayte comes in a close second...

for shes always in my hair, id give jill jones a special shout out

and for strange relationship, vanity needs some kind of muse award too

sheila must have inspired some songs, but i dont know which. tempted to say love bizarre, but idk if that was about her, even if it was with her.

my baby draws pictures of sex... all over the wall in graphic detail

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

Susannah a "collaborator"? Because she wrote some nursery rhymes for a two-minute track that she's still hocking merch for?

I feel like you're giving the lion's share of credit for stuff that Wendy & Lisa had already sparked. She's arguably a step above Mayte, but not by that much.

[Edited 5/29/24 19:22pm]

Wasnt crystal ball the song inspired by a painting that susannah hipped him to (or drew? I cant remember right now).

It was a painting she did on a wall, which featured several nude figures.

Sheila E.

For Prince it would have been Vanity and Mayte.

I choose Jill Jones and Sheila E as they had the most direct impact on his music.

I should mention Wendy and Lisa, but they are not considered Muses I think.

[Edited 6/12/24 8:24am]

[Edited 6/12/24 8:25am]