27 - Prince with Matt Thorne - Part 1 (Minneapolis)

Join us as we chart Prince's formative years in Minneapolis, Minnesota with biographer Matt Thorne.It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmapsIt is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. We discuss his family background, how he came to be named Prince, his early bands & songwriting (he wrote his first song at the age of 7).Prince's early influences remained pretty consistent throughout his life & included Larry Graham, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, Sly Stone, the Jacksons, Tower of Power, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Rufus and Chaka Khan.Some of the early gigs Prince attended included James Brown, Joni Mitchell & Todd Rundgren leading to the formation of his first band Grand Central.Prince's remarkable work ethic was there from the start & this leads to his eventual signing to Warner Brothers Records in 1977, then one of the largest contracts for a new artist in history.You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17X: @simonmusicmapsFacebook: E17rockbookclubHosted by Mark Hart & Simon CardwellWritten & Produced by Simon CardwellEdited by Andy Maxwell  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.