Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958) recorded his first demos in 1976 and signed with Warner Brothers Records. His first album, 1978's For You, was recording with Prince playing all the instruments, a task he would repeat in the future, although he sometimes employed backing bands as well. The album featured an R&B hit, "Soft And Wet". His self titled second album, this time with a band, had two successful singles, "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover." Prince's 1980 album, Dirty Mind, was a critical smash as was the follow-up, Controversy. His next album, 1999, was his first mainstream success, selling in the millions and yielding two hit singles, "Little Red Corvette" and "1999". 1984's Purple Rain was even bigger and made him a superstar. The album was the soundtrack to an autobiographical movie of the same name and had three huge hits, "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and "Purple Rain". It began a streak of successful albums always yielding a hit single or two, including ""Raspberry Beret" from Around The World In A Day, "Kiss" from Parade, and "U Got the Look" from Sign "O" The Times.

Prince was set to release The Black Album in 1987, but he recalled before it was released (it was eventually released years later). His next two albums, Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge received mixed reviews, although his soundtrack to Batman was a commercial success. Prince came back in 1991 with a new band, the New Power Generation. The album Diamonds And Pearls yielded two hit singles, "Cream" and the title track.

His next album was the Love Symbol Album, for which Prince adopted a graphic symbol as his name. Eventually he became known as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince". He also entered a battle with his record company and would appear in public with "slave" written on his face. Prince's 1995 album, The Gold Experience, was his last to have a hit single, "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World". After Chaos And Disorder, he was free from his record contract and started his own label. Prince released string of albums, some with new material, but many being collections of previously unreleased songs. 

Credit: prex.com