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This Prince trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the whole run of Prince Rogers Nelson, from the Minneapolis kid who wrote 'Funk Machine' at seven and played 27 instruments on his debut, to the man who turned the Super Bowl into a purple monsoon. Expect questions on the big records (1999, Purple Rain, Sign o' the Times, Diamonds and Pearls), the songs he gave away ('Manic Monday', 'Nothing Compares 2 U'), the Revolution, the Time, the New Power Generation, and the film that made him a movie star. Then the stranger corners: the missing bass line, the album Warner made him trim from three LPs to two, the Camille voice, the name change and the word on his face, the internet-only album, 21 nights at the O2, the newspaper giveaway, Paisley Park and his death in 2016. Easy questions suit anyone who knows the hits; the hard ones ask which pseudonym he used and whose car he fell asleep in. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Prince born and raised?
Minneapolis
He was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in June 1958 and pioneered what became known as the Minneapolis sound.
Q 02Prince was named after what?
His father's stage name
John Nelson performed as Prince Rogers in a jazz trio; he later said he wanted his son 'to do everything I wanted to do'.
Q 03What was the title of the first song Prince wrote, on his father's piano at age seven?
Funk Machine
He also trained in classical ballet through a Minneapolis public schools programme.
Q 04Prince signed his first major record deal at what age?
18
His debut For You followed two years later, in 1978.
Q 05According to its liner notes, how many instruments did Prince play on his 1978 debut For You?
27
He also wrote, produced and arranged everything except the co-written lyrics of 'Soft and Wet'.
Q 06Prince recorded For You at the Record Plant in which California town?
Sausalito
He and manager Owen Husney had left his home city for the sessions.
Q 07Prince wrote most of the music for which Morris Day-fronted band, sometimes credited as 'Jamie Starr'?
The Time
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis left the group in 1983 and became superstar producers.
Q 08With 'Billie Jean', which Prince video was among the first two by Black artists in heavy MTV rotation?
Little Red Corvette
CBS boss Walter Yetnikoff had threatened to pull all his label's videos over MTV's reluctance.
Q 09Prince got the idea for his 1983 car-themed hit after dozing off in whose car?
Lisa Coleman's
It was a 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder, not a Corvette at all.
Q 10What inspired the song '1999', according to Prince and drummer Bobby Z.?
A TV documentary about Nostradamus
They saw the end-of-the-world special during a hotel stop on the Dirty Mind tour.
Q 11Where was the word 'Revolution' first hidden on the 1999 album?
Printed backwards inside the letter I on the cover
The line-up was Lisa Coleman, Doctor Fink, Bobby Z., Brown Mark and Dez Dickerson.
Q 12Which single completed Prince's 1984 sweep of the US number-one film, album and single?
When Doves Cry
'Purple Rain' itself peaked at number two.
Q 13What is famously missing from the biggest hit single of the Purple Rain album?
A bass line
Prince removed it after a conversation with singer Jill Jones, deciding the song was too conventional with it.
Q 21Prince's 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon had which album as its soundtrack?
Parade
Some critics reappraised the film after his death as a cult classic.
Q 22Sign o' the Times was cut down by his label from a planned triple album called what?
Crystal Ball
Dream Factory and Camille were the two shelved projects folded into it.
Q 23Prince's shelved Camille project featured what vocal gimmick?
A sped-up, female-sounding voice
The androgynous persona survives on Sign o' the Times tracks like 'If I Was Your Girlfriend'.
Q 14How many consecutive weeks did the Purple Rain album spend at number one on the Billboard 200?
24
It sold more than 13 million copies in the US alone.
Q 15Which Academy Award did Purple Rain win?
Best Original Song Score
The film itself got mixed reviews but was added to the National Film Registry in 2019.
Q 16In the film Purple Rain, Prince's character is known only as what?
The Kid
He plays the First Avenue club and feuds with Morris Day's character.
Q 17Which Purple Rain track prompted Tipper Gore to found the Parents Music Resource Center?
Darling Nikki
She heard her 11-year-old daughter Karenna listening to it.
Q 18Which Duran Duran Bond theme kept 'Raspberry Beret' at number two on the Hot 100 in 1985?
A View to a Kill
The song came from Around the World in a Day, which spent three weeks at number one.
Q 19Prince wrote the Bangles' hit 'Manic Monday' under which pseudonym?
Christopher
It stalled at number two behind his own 'Kiss'.
Q 20'Kiss' began as a rough acoustic demo Prince handed to which funk band before taking it back?
Mazarati
They worked it up with producer David Z next door to Prince's own studio, and he reclaimed it.
Q 24Which 1988 album did Prince release as a 'spiritual opposite' to the withdrawn Black Album?
Lovesexy
The Black Album had seen him try hip-hop on 'Bob George' and 'Dead on It'.
Q 25Which director asked Prince to write songs for a 1989 film, yielding the number-one single 'Batdance'?
Tim Burton
He put Graffiti Bridge on hold to do it.
Q 26Prince's band the New Power Generation made its debut in 1991 at which festival?
Rock in Rio II
Diamonds and Pearls followed that October and gave him his fifth US number one, 'Cream'.
Q 27In 1993 Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol during a dispute with which company?
Warner Bros.
He also appeared with 'slave' written on his face; fans call the glyph the Love Symbol.
Q 28What did Prince write on his face during public appearances in the mid-1990s?
Slave
He reverted to his real name in 2000 after signing with Arista.
Q 29Prince's 1996 comeback set Emancipation was how long?
Three CDs of 60 minutes each
It ran to 36 songs and included covers of 'One of Us' and 'Betcha by Golly Wow!'.
Q 30Prince wrote 'Nothing Compares 2 U' in 1985 for which of his side projects?
The Family
Sinéad O'Connor's 1990 cover made it a worldwide hit.