Prince Archives | Breakaway Daily Magazine

An emotional interview with Kim Berry, Prince’s hair stylist of twenty-nine years

in Arts/Editorial/Exclusive Interviews/Prince by Breakaway Daily

Last month, Breakaway Daily joined people from around the world at Paisley Park in Minnesota as Celebration 2018 honored music legend Prince Rogers Nelson. The four day event marked Prince’s passing for the second year in a row, with the first being Celebration 2017. Since his untimely death on April 21, 2016, visiting Minnesota has become bittersweet. After all, Prince is what brought us here in the first place. We were fortunate enough to share Prince’s space at Paisley Park on three occasions before he left this earth, and each time was more amazing than the last. Paisley Park feels different to us now, but we’re still awestruck when we walk into that enormous white building. When we are overcome with emotion, we can’t begin to imagine how those closest to the man himself must feel. People that were in his life for nearly thirty years such as Kim Berry, Prince’s confidant and renowned hair stylist.

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Prince Celebration 2018: Exclusive coverage from Paisley Park in Minnesota

in Arts/Editorial/Prince by Breakaway Daily

Fans, friends and family marked the second anniversary of Prince’s passing with a four-day celebration at Prince’s Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Celebration 2018 honored the unique life and legacy of the prodigiously talented cultural icon Prince Rogers Nelson. In its second year, the four-day special event took place between April 19th and 22nd at Prince’s historic home and recording sanctuary outside Minneapolis at Paisley Park. Celebration 2018 has brought together fans from 30 different countries and 5 continents as well as Prince’s closest associates and musical collaborators.The event welcomed fans from around the world into an inspired environment of live music, panel discussions and special presentations highlighting Prince’s tremendous talent, influence and importance as a composer, musician, producer, live performer and filmmaker.

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A Private View: Exclusive Interview with Prince’s Personal Photographer Afshin Shahidi

in Arts/Books/Exclusive Interviews/Prince by Breakaway Daily

Prince: A Private View takes you behind the lens on an intimate trip through the extraordinary life of the legendary musician through never-before-seen photos and personal recollections. Iranian born photographer and filmmaker Afshin Shahidi first met Prince in 1993. After working as his cinematographer on numerous video projects he was invited to document his 2002 One Night Alone Tour, and would become Prince’s personal photographer for a decade. This unexpected journey led to a close friendship, sleepless nights, frantic last-minute flights, and the distinction of being the only photographer granted access to Prince’s private 3121 parties. “I want to make sure the attention is focused on celebrating Prince’s life and reflecting on the message of love that was prevalent throughout his music. The love for ones self, the love of family and friends, the love for your special someone, the love of our planet and home, and the love for those who are different than us. It’s this last love that I know Prince’s voice would have been loudest on if he was with us and witnessing the fractures that are dividing this country. It was his constant celebration of diversity that…

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The symbolism behind Prince’s Love Symbol Album

in Prince by Elle

October 13th marked the 25th anniversary of Prince’s Love Symbol album. This 14th studio release from 1992 would mark the beginning of the most rebellious era in Prince’s musical career. By 1993 Prince’s growing frustration with Warner Brothers’ attempt to stifle his musical output would cause him to change his name to the unpronounceable male/female symbol hybrid on the album’s cover. Love Symbol was originally slated to be a “fantasy rock soap opera” with numerous segues to tell the story of Prince and his love affair with an Egyptian princess, played by his future wife Mayte Garcia in her debut with Prince’s New Power Generation band. Many of the segues were cut to shorten the album’s playing time, but the missing portions surfaced on subsequent bootleg recordings in later years. Some music critics and fans were less than enthusiastic about the Love Symbol album, but it still managed to go platinum in the U.S. and the U.K. It’s often forgotten that Prince was another artist who delved into the visual album concept. In 1994 he released the direct to video film 3 Chains o’ Gold that he also produced…

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What Time Is It? celebrates 35th anniversary

in Arts/Prince by Elle

What Time Is It? was the sophomore album by one of the greatest funk bands ever, The Time. During this time, Prince was unstoppable as a producer and songwriter. In between tours in 1981, Prince not wrote, recorded and produced The Time’s sophomore album What Time Is It and Vanity 6’s album, but also created his own masterpiece 1999. His distinctive, funky and innovative Minneapolis Sound is injected into every track on the album while boasting the band’s flashy, stylish theatrics with Morris Day’s smooth vocals and comedic interludes. View this post on Instagram If "Funk" were inside a bracket my assessment is that it starts w Sly Stone's #TheresARiotGoinOn in 71….& ends w #WhatTimeIsIt? released 35 years ago today probably one of the best Prince side project releases ever. It officially served warning to what was coming down the pike (1999 would be a month away & the Purple Rain movie two years) the Funk the Wit the Humor & the Style. In 6 songs all came home here. Let the church say Ame–naw my bad, let the church say YEEEEEEEASE!!!!! A post shared by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on…

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Majestic cloud that appeared over Minnesota last week resembles The Purple One

in Prince by Breakaway Daily

The photo was captured by Tiffany Mattick who was driving down 494 towards the airport with her daughter when the clouds caught their eye. At the time, they didn’t see any specific shapes, she told The Current. Mattick didn’t look at the picture her daughter had snapped until after she was done driving. Once she saw the unique cloud formation, she posted it to Facebook, where friends’ interpretations included Sasquatch, Elvis, the Loch Ness Monster, and a surfing or snowboarding Jesus. – The Current. Her co-worker Jill Smith also shared the image on Twitter. “It wasn’t like oh, there’s Prince, let’s take a picture,” Jill Smith told The Current. “What we saw in that picture was beautiful clouds and light, just the sun coming towards the clouds,” she said. “There’s a lot of things you can see in that picture. And so there’s just different elements to it and perspectives.”

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Prince Celebration 2017: Exclusive coverage from Paisley Park in Minnesota

in Arts/Prince by Breakaway Daily

Fans, friends and family marked the first anniversary of Prince’s passing with an epic four-day celebration at Prince’s Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Two thousand Prince fans from around the world gathered April 20th to 23rd to enjoyed live performances, panel discussions, exclusive concert screenings and guided tours during Celebration 2017. The historic event held at Prince’s private estate, production compound and recording sanctuary outside Minneapolis highlighted his tremendous talent, influence, and importance as a composer, musician, producer, live performer, and filmmaker. WATCH EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FROM CELEBRATION 2017 Prince was born in Minneapolis and resided in the Minneapolis area throughout his life. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend sold over one hundred million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven GRAMMY® Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award® for the film Purple Rain, all of which are displayed at Paisley Park. Celebration 2017 was a time to gather and honor the purple one. Fans quickly snatching up tickets starting at $550 for the four-day event (double the price of what Prince charged for a seven day event back in…

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Sometimes It Snows In April: 1 year ago 2day, Prince per4ormed what would be his final 2 concerts on earth at his Piano A Microphone Tour in Atlanta

in Prince by Breakaway Daily

This stunning never b4 seen photo of Prince and his new purple Yamaha piano was photographed on April 13th, 2016 at Paisley Park by Madison Dubè, backdrop by Martin Homent. Prince would transcend exactly a week after performing two Piano And A Microphone shows at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The above photos was taken by a concert goer after Purple Rain was performed; the last song at the last show. As the one-year anniversary of music legend Prince’s death nears, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, the venue where he held his last large-scale concert, plans to honor The Purple One in a grand way. The Fox Theatre will post a rolling rotation of lyrics from Prince’s iconic song “Purple Rain” on its marquee from 9 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on April 21, said Cindy Stoltz, a spokeswoman for Fox Theatre. “The Fox Theatre will always have the bittersweet distinction of being Prince’s last stage performance,” Jamie Vosmeier, a spokesman for Fox Theatre told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The marquee tribute will give Prince fans a moment to reflect on the man, the artist and the music, which is now a part of…

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Celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of all time, the socially conscious Sign

in Arts/Prince by Breakaway Daily

Released on March 30th, 1987 in the UK and the 31st in the US, Sign ‘O’ The Times is the ninth full-length studio album produced, arranged and composed by Prince. 30 years later, Sign ‘O’ The Times impact is still intact. Containing themes that are still relevant today, the 16 track masterpiece was recorded between 1986 and 1987 during sessions for three full-lengths that never materialized. The double LP is a collection of tracks that infuses funk, soul, psych pop, electro, and rock with social commentary. When it came to the title track of Prince’s brilliant 1987 double album, Prince didn’t hold back. He delved into a number of heavy topics that were dominating the news at the time (some of which that had never appeared before in song) including gang violence, natural disasters, poverty, drug abuse, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the possibility of World War III, and the AIDS crisis. It begins as a great book would, with the setting. “In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name.” In 1987, when Prince’s double-album masterpiece Sign ‘O’ the Times was released, no one had…

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Freedom sounds: 20 years ago today Prince releases the brilliant, bittersweet and empowering Emancipation album

in Prince by Breakaway Daily

On November 19th, 1996 Prince released his 19th full-length studio album that marked his courageous movement towards artistic freedom. Emancipation was the third album Prince released using his symbol instead of his name; the first two being the albums Love Symbol and Chaos & Disorder. Prince explained that he had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to emancipate himself from his contract with Warner Bros, feeling his own name now belonged to the company. Emancipation was the first album following the end of that contract, which ended less than a week prior to the album’s release. The album title refers to Prince’s freedom from the contract that made him a “slave,” and marked the beginning of his journey of becoming an independent artist. The album teaches us all to do something that releases us from our constraints, to be free, self-sufficient, and break whatever chains are enslaving us. Keep reading

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