A release date for Prince’s unfinished memoir The Beautiful Ones, which he was writing at the time of his death in 2016, has been announced. Publisher, Random House, has confirmed that the ‘deeply personal account' of the musician's life will be released in October this year.
The memoir, titled The Beautiful Ones, will combine Prince’s unfinished manuscript with never before seen photos, scrapbooks and lyrics, including his original handwritten treatment for his 1984 hit Purple Rain. Spanning from his childhood to his final days, the 288-page book will also include an introduction by Dan Piepenbring, whom Prince had chosen as a collaborator.
‘The Beautiful Ones’ is the deeply personal account of how Prince Rogers Nelson became the Prince we know: the real-time story of a kid absorbing the world around him and creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and the fame that would come to define him,” Random House announced [via Associated Press].
“The book will span from Prince’s childhood to his early years as a musician to the cusp of international stardom, using Prince’s own writings, a scrapbook of his personal photos, and the original handwritten lyric sheets for many of his most iconic songs, which he kept at Paisley Park. The book depicts Prince’s evolution through deeply revealing, never-before-shared images and memories and culminates with his original handwritten treatment for his masterwork, ‘Purple Rain.’”
Check out this performance of Purple Rain from the 1985 American Music Awards for a timely reminder of all the mystery, mystique and musical genius of Prince:
Prince died three years ago, on April 21, at the age of 57. The work was first announced in just weeks before his passing. During a Manhattan nightclub appearance in March 2016, he told the audience that he’d begun working on the memoir with Piepenbring, saying:
“This is my first [book]. My brother Dan is helping me with it. He’s a good critic and that’s what I need. He’s not a ‘yes’ man at all … We’re starting from the beginning from my first memory and hopefully, we can go all the way up to the Super Bowl.”
According to AP, Piepenbring's introduction will touch upon Prince's final days, “a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he'd so carefully cultivated.”
Selling more than 100 million records worldwide, Prince was one of the best-selling music artists of all time and won eight Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his 1984 film, Purple Rain. Check out our I Like: Prince playlist on Spotify, featuring all the best tunes from the artist who redefined popular music with his unique fusion of R&B, pop, disco, new-wave, rock, electro and soul:
Sound out all the Prince Essentials on Apple Music:
