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Paisley Park Records

Coordinates: 44°51′41″N 93°33′38″W / 44.8615°N 93.5606°W / 44.8615; -93.5606
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"Paisley Park" redirects here. For the song, see Paisley Park (song). For the stadium in Australia, see Paisley Park Soccer Complex.
Paisley Park Records
Founded1985
FounderPrince
Defunct1994
Distributor(s)Warner Bros. Records
Genre
Country of originUnited States
LocationChanhassen, Minnesota

Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records.[1] It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain. The label shares its name with Prince's recording complex Paisley Park Studios and the song "Paisley Park" on his 1985 Around the World in a Day album.[2][3] Paisley Park was opened to the public as a museum and memorial to Prince following his death.[4] October 28, 2016, is officially known as Paisley Park Day in the city of Chanhassen to recognize the opening of the museum.[5]

History

While Prince had great chart success in the 1980s, the success generally did not transfer to other acts. With the exception of Sheila E.'s 1985 album Romance 1600 (the label's debut non-Prince release), Tevin Campbell's single "Round and Round" and the Time's 1990 release "Pandemonium", the label had very few commercial successes by artists other than Prince.

In 1994, amid Prince's feud with Warner Bros., Warner ended its distribution deal with Paisley Park, effectively closing the label.[6] Prince fought for the rights to the master recordings of all artists recorded there.[7] Prince later started NPG Records, run by Trevor Guy.[3] The vice-president of Operations for the label until 1991 was Alan Leeds. (Leeds won a Grammy for writing the liner notes for a James Brown album, and at one point served as Prince's tour manager on several tours.) Following Leeds' departure, radio promotion executive Graham Armstrong took over the role until 1991, when Gilbert Davison and Jill Willis, co-managers of Prince and president and executive vice-president of Paisley Park Enterprises, negotiated a joint venture between PPE and Warner Bros. (with the help of Prince attorney Gary Stiffelman). With the joint venture came funding for additional staff to run the label and oversee its artists - including Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Ingrid Chavez and Carmen Electra. Staffers included John Dukakis and Kerry Gordy as co-presidents of the label.

The label's office were in a building with the address 1999 Avenue of the Stars.

Paisley Park Studios

The Paisley Park Studios complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota

The studio was designed by architecture firm BOTO Design Inc, of Santa Monica, California, and officially opened on September 11, 1987. It contains two live music venues used as rehearsal spaces.[3] After the label folded in 1994, Prince continued to live and record at Paisley Park Studios. Prince's intention before his death was to establish Paisley Park as a public venue like Graceland.[8] He was found dead in his estate's elevator on April 21, 2016.[9]

Touring Paisley Park

On August 24, 2016, the media announced that Paisley Park, a 65,000-square-foot complex, would be turned into a museum open to the public.[10][11] Tours of the Paisley Park Museum started October 2016.[12] Graceland Holdings, the company that has managed Elvis Presley's Graceland since 1982, announced it would organize the tours.[13] The plan stated that the tours would include the studios where Prince recorded, produced and mixed some of his biggest hits, and the soundstage where he rehearsed for tours and hosted exclusive private concerts. Also featured would be thousands of artifacts from his personal archives, including iconic concert wardrobe, awards, musical instruments, artwork, rare music and video recordings, concert memorabilia, automobiles and motorcycles.[14] In 2017, regular tours and punctual shows are organized in Paisley Park.[15]

Carver County officials confirmed a story that Prince's ashes are now 'on show' in the main entrance to Paisley Park in an urn in the shape of Paisley Park.[16] In the basement of Paisley Park there is a vault of unreleased material, hundreds of hours of live recordings, experiments and top-secret songs.[17] The urn has since been removed from the atrium on which it was first displayed and placed in the vault. Contents of the vault have been since removed and relocated to a studio in Los Angeles to be restored, remastered, and stored in climate controlled storage to be used for later release.

Apart from the studio residence, an article by The Guardian mentioned other frequent places visited by Prince fans around Minneapolis, including the Electric Fetus, Prince's local record store, which would get many of his releases weeks before the major chains as he liked shopping there; the Capri Theatre, where he played his first gig in 1979; and First Avenue, the venue where Purple Rain was filmed.[18]

Discography

Prince albums

Paisley Park albums

Note: All titles were distributed by Warner Bros. Records, except for those denoted with §, which were distributed by sister label Reprise Records.

See also

References

  1. ^ "A Look Back at Prince's Quirky, Idiosyncratic Paisley Park Records". Billboard. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  2. ^ "Paisley Park". Discogs.
  3. ^ a b c Petridis, Alexis (November 12, 2015). "Prince: 'Transcendence. That's what you want. When that happens – Oh, boy'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  4. ^ "Paisley Park". www.officialpaisleypark.com. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  5. ^ Laufenburger, Mayor Denny (October 28, 2016). "Paisley Park Day". Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  6. ^ "Here's Every Battle Prince Waged Against the Internet and the Music Industry | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  7. ^ Here’s Every Battle Prince Waged Against the Internet and the Music Industry
  8. ^ Lang, Brett; Van Syckle, Katie (April 23, 2016). "Inside Prince's Emotional Final Concerts Before His Death". Variety. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  9. ^ Pam Louwagie, Pam; Justin, Neal; Riemenschneider, Chris (April 21, 2016). "Music legend Prince found dead at 57 at Paisley Park". Star Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  10. ^ "Paisley Park likely to open for public tours in October". Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  11. ^ "Paisley Park tours, Minneapolis: Inside Prince's amazing home studio". Stuff. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  12. ^ "Paisley Park likely to open for public tours in October". Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  13. ^ "Paisley Park, home of Prince, will be open to public tours". Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  14. ^ "The Guardian".
  15. ^ Touring Paisley Park: A Look Inside
  16. ^ "Prince's Paisley Park Burial urn: Eden Prairie artists share details". The Current from Minnesota Radio
  17. ^ Millar, Aaron. "The Guardian".
  18. ^ "The Guardian".
  19. ^ "Kahoru Kohiruimaki - Time The Motion (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  20. ^ "T.C. Ellis - True Confessions (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.

44°51′41″N 93°33′38″W / 44.8615°N 93.5606°W / 44.8615; -93.5606

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