Short Synopsis
A unique and kaleidoscopic look into the life, legacy, and electricity of the pop legend Prince and his wide-ranging impact on our culture.

Full Synopsis
Ben Greenman, New York Times bestselling author, contributing writer to the New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet who shattered traditional ideas of race and gender, rewrote the rules of identity, and redefined the role of sex in pop music.

A polymath in his own right who collaborated with George Clinton and Questlove on their celebrated memoirs, Greenman has been listening to and writing about Prince since the mid-eighties. Here, with the passion of an obsessive fan and the skills of a critic, journalist, and novelist, he mines his encyclopedic knowledge of Prince’s music to tell both his story and the story of the paradigm-shifting ideas that he communicated to his millions of fans around the world.

"Focused and convincing . . . succeeds on its own terms, as an overview of the talent, the excesses, the adoration." ---New York Times

“When it comes to funk and words, lyrics and language, there couldn’t be a better pairing than Ben Greenman and Prince. From my experience with both of them, this is the perfect match, like ham hocks and cornflakes.” ---George Clinton

"Absorbing and entertaining . . . Greenman’s brilliant book celebrates a musician who crammed substance into every corner of his music." ---Publishers Weekly

"Greenman’s writing is both personal and profound from the equal perspectives of fan and scholar. An excellent addition to the Prince compendium." ---Library Journal

"Skilled narrator Peter Berkrot is the perfect fit to deliver this biography of the life and legacy of the rock musician Prince." ---AudioFile

Publishers Weekly Review