Prince, one of the best-selling artists of all time, has died at the age of 57. His body was discovered at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota on Thursday morning.
Just days earlier, his private jet had been forced to make an emergency landing in Illinois as a case of flu worsened. He wasbrieflyhospitalised but appeared in concert the next day and told fans he was fine.
He was born Prince Rogers Nelson and rose to fame in the mid 1970s. In his lifetime, he sold over 100 million records, won 7 Grammys, an Oscar and a Golden Globe.
“This is very unbelievable. I could’ve never imagined this in my wildest dreams.”
He was widelyacclaimedas one of the most inventive musicians of his era with songs “Purple Rain”, “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry” among his biggest hits.
It’s another shock to the entertainment industry this year, and many other stars have taken to Twitter in shock and sadness. Samuel L. Jackson has tweeted he is shocked. Justin Timberlake said he’snumb. Duran Duran tweeted they’re devastated. And Katy Perry said, “the world’s lost some magic.”
Difficult words:briefly(for a short time),acclaim(to praise, to say something good about somebody),numb(unable to think, feel, or respond normally).
Source: www.ondemandnews.com
Prince, one of the best-selling artists of all time, died at the age of 57. People discovered his body at his home in Minnesota on Thursday morning.
It was another shock to the entertainment industry this year, and many other stars took to Twitter in shock and sadness.
He was born Prince Rogers Nelson and he rose to fame in the mid 1970s. In his lifetime, he sold over 100 million records, won 7 Grammys, won an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.
People widelyacclaimedhim as one of the mostinventivemusicians of his era with the songs “Purple Rain”, “Kiss” and “WhenDovesCry” among his biggest hits.
Difficult words:acclaim(to say something good about somebody),inventive(creative, original),dove(a bird which looks like a white, smaller pigeon).
Prince is a musician. He becomes famous in the 1970s. He sells 100 millionrecords. He wins 7 Grammys, an Oscar and a Golden Globe.
He is a creative musician. Some of his famous songs are “Purple Rain”, “Kiss” and “WhenDovesCry”.
Prince is 57. He dies. People find his body at his home. His home is in Minnesota.
Prince’s death is another shock for theentertainment industry. Famous people talk about it on Twitter.
Difficult words:record(a CD or a tape or an actual record – a large plastic circle that holds recordings),dove(a bird which looks like a white, smaller pigeon),entertainment industry(show business).
由身兼鋼琴家、作曲家的約翰‧路易士‧尼爾森（John Lewis Nelson）與爵士歌手麥蒂‧黛菈（Mattie Della）所共同孕育的這名天之驕子，以其父的舞台藝名「Prince Rogers」命名為「Prince Rogers Nelson」。多年以後，Prince Rogers Nelson以「王子（Prince）」的稱號，在樂壇留下了不可抹滅的影響力，同時也成為了一位橫跨了搖滾、靈魂樂、節奏藍調、放克、新浪潮等樂風的傳奇音樂人，更成為了「明尼阿波利斯之聲（Minneapolis Sound）」的代表人物。
受到了許多樂界傳奇前輩，諸如：Sly and the Family Stone、「靈魂樂之父」James Brown、Earth, Wind & Fire、「P-Funk先鋒」George Clinton與「吉他之神」Jimi Hendrix等人的影響，高中時期的王子偕同鄰居好友Andre Anderson（即後來樂界知名的貝斯手André Cymone），一起加入了樂團「Grand Central」，並且活耀於當地的各俱樂部和表演場地。
在1979年，脫離了樂團還有受到經紀公司邀約的王子，在首張專輯《For You》並未引起廣大迴響的情況之下，進到了專屬於自己的錄音室，以突破往常的音樂創作。王子交出了同名專輯《Prince》並震驚了樂壇，其中的開場曲〈I Wanna Be Your Lover〉不僅攻上美國告示牌第11名的佳績，更成為放克音樂歷史中的經典；而專輯封面上，王子一頭「非典型黑人」的蓬鬆中長髮與雙眼皮的汪汪大眼，成為他在樂壇中令人永誌難忘的形象之一。
1986年，王子與The Revolution拆夥，以個人身分持續活躍在音樂中，並且推出了超過20張以上的專輯，包含了《Sign o' the Times》《Diamonds and Pearls》《Emancipation》以及《Musicology》等巨作；2004年，王子被提名進入了搖滾名人堂（Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame），與所有音樂史中無數的傳奇並駕齊驅。
王子的一生不僅是個偉大的歌唱者，他在樂器演奏方面的精湛功力，更是讓許多音樂人望塵莫及。在書籍《I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon》中，作者Touré表示，在王子生涯的前五張專輯裡，他不但一手包辦所有的詞曲創作，更囊括了這五張專輯中近乎所有的歌曲樂器演奏。其中，在吉他還有鼓的彈奏與打擊技巧上，可以說是具有「大師級」的實力；除此之外，對於鍵盤、貝斯、合成器的運用也是出神入化。放眼樂壇中，另一位能具有如此多元音樂深厚實力的人，就是流行音樂之王－麥可傑克森（Michael Jackson）。
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