![Prince with sunflower](https://kumkoniak.com/1.jpg)
In the words of Rolling Stone, Prince employed this symbol "largely to mess with ," it being so difficult to reproduce.
![prince with sunflower prince with sunflower](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a5/c0/e0/a5c0e07812fa3154a35bea8718232dbc.jpg)
![prince with sunflower prince with sunflower](https://swebtoon-phinf.pstatic.net/20201226_115/1608943894354dzEG2_PNG/thumbnail.jpg)
The following year, Prince doubled down by officially changing his stage name to this same symbol. The title of the first album in this new wave, released in 1992, was the infamous unpronounceable symbol. Unwilling to acquiesce to their request, Prince actually increased his pace, and it became not uncommon for him to release two albums per year - and in one case (2004), three. According to Rolling Stone, the label wanted Prince to slow his pace - he had released an album every year since his debut except for 1983 - for fear of flooding the market. With the tragic news this Thursday that Prince has died at the age of 57, you may find yourself looking back on his storied life and career and wondering what Prince's symbol meant, where it came from, and why he adopted it in the first place.įor something that became so iconic, Prince's symbol apparently had a very utilitarian beginning: as a tool for contract negotiations with his label, Warner Bros. Starting with his 1978 debut, For You, the funk singer published 13 albums under that one-word moniker, including his quintessential record Purple Rain… until 1992, when he suddenly and inexplicably changed his name from "Prince" to an unpronounceable symbol (seen above).
![prince with sunflower prince with sunflower](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/48/7d/2d/487d2d877f1b5f59674ff63a8aafdfb9.jpg)
For 14 years, The Artist Formerly Known As "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" - who was born with the name Prince Rogers Nelson - was merely known by his first name: Prince.
![Prince with sunflower](https://kumkoniak.com/1.jpg)