There are songs, and then there are moments. When the lights turn purple, the slow guitar chords ring out and that voice climbs toward the rafters, “Purple Rain” stops being a record and becomes something closer to a church service. For anyone who sat in a dark movie theater in the summer of 1984, it is hard to hear it without remembering exactly where you were.
In this Artist Spotlight, we tell the story of Prince Rogers Nelson, the shy kid from Minneapolis who became one of the greatest musicians of his generation, through the song that defined him. We cover where he came from, how “Purple Rain” was born on a club stage, the movie that made him a superstar, and where to start if you want to go deeper. The official video is waiting for you at the end of the article.
▶️ Looking for the video? Please scroll down. It’s at the end of the article.
A Minneapolis Kid With Music in His Blood
Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis on June 7, 1958, to jazz singer Mattie Della Shaw and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson. Music was everywhere in that house. As a teenager at Central High School he played football, basketball and baseball, and he also studied classical ballet at the Minnesota Dance Theatre through a public school arts program. Remember that dance company, because it comes back into this story.
After a demo recorded with local producers caught the attention of several labels, Prince signed with Warner Bros. Records at 18. His first album, For You (1978), listed him as writer, producer, arranger and performer of all 27 instruments on the recording. He was barely out of high school.
Building the Minneapolis Sound
Over the next few years, Prince mixed funk, rock, new wave and R&B into something that became known as the Minneapolis sound. Dirty Mind (1980) and Controversy (1981) won over critics, and the double album 1999 (1982) sold more than four million copies.
MTV played a big part, too. “Little Red Corvette” was one of the first two videos by Black artists to be played in heavy rotation on the network, alongside Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” a turning point we cover in our story behind “Billie Jean”. By 1983, Prince was a star. What came next made him a legend.
The Birth of “Purple Rain”
“Purple Rain” did not start life as a rock anthem. It was first written as a country song and was meant to be a collaboration with Stevie Nicks. Nicks later said Prince sent her a ten-minute instrumental and asked her to write the words, but she felt overwhelmed and told him, “I can’t do it. I wish I could. It’s too much for me.”
So Prince took it to his band, the Revolution. At a rehearsal, guitarist Wendy Melvoin began playing her own chords under the melody, and keyboardist Lisa Coleman recalled that Prince loved hearing it voiced differently. According to Coleman, the band played it for six hours straight, and by the end of the day the song was mostly written and arranged.
Recorded Live at First Avenue
The version we all know was recorded live on August 3, 1983, at First Avenue, the Minneapolis nightclub, during a benefit concert for, of all things, the Minnesota Dance Theatre. It was Wendy Melvoin’s first show with the band. The original performance ran about 11 minutes; a solo and a verse were cut to bring it down to 8 minutes and 41 seconds, and Lisa Coleman added a string arrangement later in a Los Angeles studio.
Prince was reportedly worried that the song sounded too much like Journey’s “Faithfully,” so he asked Journey’s Jonathan Cain to listen. Cain reassured him that the two songs only shared a few chords. As for the meaning, Prince explained that it was about the end of the world and being with the one you love, letting your faith guide you through the purple rain.
The Movie, the Video and the Summer of Prince
Purple Rain, the film, opened in American theaters on July 27, 1984. Directed by Albert Magnoli and made for about $7.2 million, it starred Prince as The Kid, a troubled young musician fighting for his spot at First Avenue. The club was paid $100,000 and closed for 25 days during filming. The movie grossed $70.3 million worldwide.
The official “Purple Rain” video on Prince’s YouTube channel comes straight from the film’s finale. The Kid takes the First Avenue stage and dedicates the song to his father, and the performance builds slowly, verse by verse, into that long, crying guitar solo. It is less a music video than the emotional climax of the whole movie, which is exactly why it still gives people goosebumps.
The numbers from that year are staggering. With the film, its soundtrack and “When Doves Cry,” Prince became the first singer to have a No. 1 film, album and single in the United States at the same time. The Purple Rain album spent 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, from August 4, 1984, to January 18, 1985, and has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. It won two Grammy Awards and the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
The “Purple Rain” single itself peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in November 1984, held off the top by Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” and it was certified gold. Few people remember that today. Everyone remembers the song.
After the Rain
Prince never stood still. After disbanding the Revolution, he released Sign o’ the Times (1987), widely considered his greatest album. In 1993, during a fight with Warner Bros. over control of his music, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, returning to “Prince” in 2000. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and won seven Grammy Awards over his career.
“Purple Rain” stayed at the center of his concerts. At the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007, he closed with it in a real downpour, under purple stage lights, in a performance that still tops lists of the best halftime shows ever. It was also the last song he played at his final concert, in Atlanta on April 14, 2016. One week later, on April 21, 2016, Prince died at his Paisley Park home and studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, from an accidental overdose. He was 57. “Purple Rain” returned to the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to No. 4.
The song keeps finding new listeners. In 2025 it soundtracked a climactic scene in the series finale of Netflix’s Stranger Things, and in May 2026 Rolling Stone named its solo the greatest guitar solo of all time.
Where to Start: A Prince Listening Guide
- The essential album: Purple Rain (1984). From “Let’s Go Crazy” to the title track, it plays like one long story.
- Go back: 1999 (1982), for “Little Red Corvette” and the party-ready title track.
- Go deeper: Sign o’ the Times (1987), the album many critics call his masterpiece.
- Live versions: the 1985 Syracuse concert, now on Prince’s official YouTube channel, and the rain-soaked Super Bowl XLI performance from 2007.
- More hits to play next: “When Doves Cry” (1984), “Raspberry Beret” (1985) and “Kiss” (1986).
- More from the decade: browse our 80s Hits collection.
Fun Facts About Prince and “Purple Rain”
- Prince studied ballet as a teenager with the Minnesota Dance Theatre, the same company that “Purple Rain” was recorded live to benefit.
- The song was originally imagined as a country tune and a duet with Stevie Nicks.
- In the 1985 Syracuse concert, Prince stretched “Purple Rain” into a version of about 20 minutes, including a ten-minute guitar solo.
- Prince has a star on the famous outside mural at First Avenue, right next to a star for the Revolution.
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played “Purple Rain” three times on their 2016 tour as a tribute after Prince’s death.
Prince and “Purple Rain” Quick Facts
| Born | June 7, 1958, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Died | April 21, 2016, Chanhassen, Minnesota |
| Song | “Purple Rain” by Prince and the Revolution |
| Recorded | Live, August 3, 1983, First Avenue, Minneapolis |
| Album and film | Purple Rain (1984) |
| Film director | Albert Magnoli |
| Billboard Hot 100 peak | No. 2 (1984); No. 4 (2016) |
| Album run | 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 |
| Academy Award | Best Original Song Score (1985) |
| Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | Inducted 2004 |
Sources
- “Purple Rain (song)” on Wikipedia (with its cited sources, including Rolling Stone, Billboard and interviews with Lisa Coleman and Stevie Nicks)
- Purple Rain (album) on Wikipedia
- Purple Rain (film) on Wikipedia
- Prince (musician) on Wikipedia
- RIAA Gold & Platinum database: Prince
Photo Credits
- Featured image: Prince in concert at Forest National, Brussels, 1986 by Yves Lorson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: First Avenue nightclub, Minneapolis, 2005 by sheldonschwartz / Mobile Objective, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota, 2015 by Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: Prince playing at Coachella, 2008 by penner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Prince’s Yellow Cloud guitar at the Smithsonian, 2006 by Will from New York, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Prince’s star on the First Avenue mural, Minneapolis, 2017 by Lorie Shaull, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Fans leaving flowers for Prince at First Avenue, April 21, 2016 by Fibonacci Blue, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
