Some have called him eccentric, others have dubbed him a musical genius. There was a time when he answered to his given name—Prince—before changingg it to an unpronounceable glyph. But here, on the brink of a new millennium, at what might be a new phase in his professional career, there is now one term used to describe The Artist, as he is now known, on which all can agree. He is, in a nutshell, a free man.
Freedom for The Artist has manifested itself in a number of ways. Once notoriously aloof, reclusive and painfully camera-shy, The Artist now seems quite unrestricted and at ease in his own skin as well as in the public eye, where he routinely displays a playfulness and sense of humor that is both surprising and refreshing to strangers in his presence.
Additionally, The Artist is no longer stifled by the creative choke hold he felt was inflicted on him by Warner Bros., his former recording label. After severing a nearly 20-year-old,
often contentious relationship with the label in 1995, The Artist now celebrates a new deal inked with Arista Records and his own New Power Generation label. The arrangement grants him the ultimate freedom to retain ownership of his master recordings as well as giving him the option to independently sell his records via direct mail or through the Internet.
This new-found professional flexibility seems to have also inspired The Artist creatively, evidenced by the release last November of his newest album. Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, a delicious fusion of funk, rock, R&B, this. album features The Artist performing every track and, with a nod and a wink, acknowledges "Prince" as the album's producer. The collaboration between both personalities makes for a piece of work that's both fun and inspirational to groove to.
Lounging in a suite at the New York Palace Hotel in New York City, the Artist is, as always, the image of serene royalty. Dressed stylishly, yet casually in flowing black, from the neck of his mohair tunic to the tips of his Cuban-heeled boots, he exudes power and strength, despite his slight built and diminutive height. His face stands out in stark contrast to his dark outfit—light complexioned and slightly powdered, dominated by those famous doe eyes and accompanying shy smile. The symbol that now represents his name hangs from his neck as a diamond-encrusted gold penant.
One is never quite prepared for the startlingly deep bass voice that reverberates from this seemingly frail frame upon greeting,reminding you that, despite appearances, the Artist is the biggest thing in the room. Yet the expense of hid presence comes nowhere near close to matching the size of his legacy within the music industry. At 41, The Artist has spent halt his life in the limelight, starting with his breakthrough chart-topping hit in 1979, "I Wanna Be Your Lover." His astounding proficiency on vocals, keyboards, strings, percussion and lyrics demonstrated on masterpiece albums such as 1980's Dirty Mind,.1982's 1999 and 1987's Sign of the Times soon earned the young Minneapolis, MN native the same "artistic genius" accolade reserved for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.
At this juncture, The Artist still remains one of the-few recording artists to make an appearance on Billboards' pop and R&B ' singles and album charts every single year
since 1978. And he shows no signs of reining himself in.
"I really don't know what number of releases I've made," The Artist admits, when pressed to give a tally. ''I've often made records just for friends, full albums that I've given as gifts."
The Artist's generosity doesn't stop with his close friends .. A diverse array of musicians, including Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, TLC, Sinead O'Connor and Herbie Hancock have benefited from his talent by covering The Artist's songs, while other performers such as Madonna, Sheena Easton, Patti LaBelle and the Bangles have claimed him as their producer. And scores of younger artists, from Maxwell to D'Angelo to Lenny Kravitz consistently show and tell how heavily he has influenced' their music and stage performances.
These days, The Artist is a study in tranquility and contentment. No longer a frustrated artist at war with his professiona1 obligations and his personal integrity (he once
wore the word 'slave' emblazoned down his face to protest his perceived indentured servitude at the hands of his record label), he now seems centered and grounded at this point in his life's journey, having found himself as well as inner joy.in the process. His union with his wife Mayte, in 1996, might have much to do with the transformation. So might his increased immersion into spirituality and his adoption of a vegan lifestyle. 'You've gotta have belief. It's the only way to make it through the maze,' The Artist has said. "We don't eat anything with parents," he has also said. "Thou shalt not kill, means just that. We don't have to kill things to survive.
This cleansing of his mind, body, and spirit, coupled with the sobering effects of adversity, have all contributed to shaping The Artist into the socially conscious, and strongly convicted man he is today. His much publicized fight with Warner Bros. over artistic freedom and ownership.of his product left him bitter, an wary of the industry at large. "What I had with Warner Bros: was a contract. i"rn a real.stickier about words and the prefix lot contract is 'con'," he says in retrospect. And the joy he felt upon becoming a father in
1996 was short-lived after his infant son died shortly after his birth, reportedly the victim of Pfeiffer's syndrome, a rare deformity in which the skull hardens prematurely.
But The Artist appears to have risen from the ashes, bruised, but not broken, with a renewed enthusiasm surrounding his new album and the path it might take-him into the year 2000 and beyond.
"The message of this album is to be joyful for life," he says. Indeed,, the sampling of cuts-from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, including its. first single, the lushly orchestrated,
"The Greatest Romance Ever Sold," tells as only The, Artist can. of the many facets of relationships and the impact they have on our lives.
Featuring a number' of collaborations with disparate artists such as Chuck D., Ani Difranco, Gwen Stefani, Sheryl Crow, Maceo.Parker and Eve, this new album appears to have allowed' The Artist 'to do something professionally that perhaps he hadn't done in quite some time—just have fun. "I, real!y just wanted to work' with my friends," he says. "The whole idea is about ownership— claiming it and knowing that your art is.completely yours. I can't wait to step out on tour with this project!" For him, freedom, to just create and be, is the ultimate expression of joy.
But even In midst of having fun, The Artist is ever mindful of the adage that to whom much is given is much required, as well as the one that admonishes that, in order to know
where you are going, you must know from whence you came. At this point in his life, The Artist acknowledges a newfound connection with the Motherland, particularly after making a visit to Giza to visit the Egyptian pyramids. He jumps up to demonstrate-how he physically experienced seeing the pyramids for the first time, which felt like a rumbling sensation throughout his whole being. The reaction was so vivid, he recounts, that.he found himself asking his traveling companions, "Did you feel that?"
Despite making millions of dollars .from his art, The Artist is known for giving a lot of his wealth, away. He once said, "Thirty million people in the world have AIDS and 21 million of them are in Africa, You see folks with flies on 'em, then who are you? You'd better help somebody.' And help others he does. Recently, he played host to a number of high school students from around the United-States at his Paisley Park recording studios in Minneapolis. The students, who were selected to attend based on their grades and written essays, were treated to a private audience with The Artist, as well as Artist-related paraphernalia. And with Mayte, he has founded the Love 4 One Another foundation,
which was established to offer assistance to underprivileged children and adults.
Through his official websites www.love4oneanother.com and www.newfunk.com, The Artist is now positioned to his reach out to his followers in even new different ways. "My audience now has a direct line to talk to me without some writer interpreting who I am for them," he says.' His message to them is simple: "The millennium is not the end of time," he says. "Hopefully, it will be a chance for us to finally, close the divide between the sexes." From the look of things, If there is anyone up for the challenge, it would be The Artist.