Back in 1984 when he was known professionally as Prince, P.R. Nelson starred and recorded the soundtrack to a forgotten movie called Purple Rain. Nothing special about that film but his first single from that album "When Doves Cry" reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
After recording a couple of forgettable albums, Nelson switched to songwriting and producing records for other artists where he found his greatest success. Just ask The Time (and its lead singer Morris Day), Sheena Easton, Mayte Garcia (happily married to Nelson and is the mother of 3 kids), and the Mary Jane Girls (Rick James was very p'd off when they defected to Nelson's record label).
And of course, there was that band Nevermind (fronted by Dez Dickerson and Apollonia Kotero) whose first three albums went to #1 and had eight #1 hit records.
It got me wondering what Nelson's career would have been like if Purple Rain was more successful than IOTL. Could he have had the same success as a singer that the other artists he worked with had?
Discuss among yourselves.
After recording a couple of forgettable albums, Nelson switched to songwriting and producing records for other artists where he found his greatest success. Just ask The Time (and its lead singer Morris Day), Sheena Easton, Mayte Garcia (happily married to Nelson and is the mother of 3 kids), and the Mary Jane Girls (Rick James was very p'd off when they defected to Nelson's record label).
And of course, there was that band Nevermind (fronted by Dez Dickerson and Apollonia Kotero) whose first three albums went to #1 and had eight #1 hit records.
It got me wondering what Nelson's career would have been like if Purple Rain was more successful than IOTL. Could he have had the same success as a singer that the other artists he worked with had?
Discuss among yourselves.