1996

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: January 29, 1996
Title: "Formerly Known As Single"
Summary: Just when we were getting acclimated to Michael Jackson transforming himself from acting like a lipstick-wearing counselor at a boy's day camp to a lady killing Don Juan comes word that Prince or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, is getting married.

Publication: USA Today [US]
Date: January 31, 1996
Title: "Wedding Fit For A Prince"
Summary: The artist formerly known as Prince plans to marry dancer Mayte. on Valentine's Day in Paris. The location is secret, but it will be "intimate," a press release says, and there'll be a party.

Publication: The Toronto Star [Can]
Date: February 1, 1996
Title: "The Prince's Bride"
Summary: The entertainer announced through his publicist in Minneapolis Tuesday that he will wed his backup singer, Mayte (pronounced MY-tay), Feb. 14 at an undisclosed location in Paris.

Publication: El Pais [Spa]
Date: February 2, 1996
Title: "Prince's Kamasutra"
Summary: A day after Prince's general headquarter (we mean, The artist Formerly Known As -and despite his efforts to be called like that, still known as- Prince) announced his marriage with a lady called Mayte, gossip press from USA has went immediately to their famous "near sources" without name nor title.

Publication: The Toronto Star [Can]
Date: February 5, 1996
Title: "She'll Be His Mayte"
Summary: Prince , the Artist Formerly Known As Single, is finally tying the knot. He's marrying his stage associate, Mayte, in a ceremony in Paris on Valentine's Day.

Publication: The Honolulu Advertiser [US]
Date: February 15, 1996
Title: "4ever After"
Summary: The Purple Rain man tied the knot yesterday - not in Paris, as he hinted earlier, but in his hometown of Minneapolis - and he and his wife will honeymoon in Hawaii.

Publication: Entertainment Weekly [US]
Date: February 19, 1996
Title: "Mr. and Mrs. Website"
Summary: When the beautiful ones put up this site dedicated to their Valentine's Day nuptials, you just knew it would be awash in purple and lace.

Publication: New York Post [US]
Date: February 21, 1996
Title: "Prince: He's Back"
Summary: Previously Prince will revert to his semi-original name-he was born Prince Nelson -and drop the unpronounceable symbol he's been using for three years.

Publication: Entertainment Weekly [US]
Date: February 26, 1996
Title: "Status Of Symbol"
Summary: Joel and Ethan Coen's upcoming black comedy FARGO includes a most curious end credit: Listed as "Victim in Field" (an innocent bystander shot in the back after witnessing a cop's murder) is . Could it be...?

Publication: URB [US]
Date: April 1996
Title: "Ninety-9"
Summary: "This one guy used to wake me up everyday for a whole six months! He'd be like, "Girl, get up. What'cha doin'? Just get out of the train!'" Ninety-9 is reminiscing back to her days of old.

Publication: People Magazine [US]
Date: April 2, 1996
Title: "Little Red Bassinet"
Summary: Impending fatherhood seems to have restored TAFKAP's (also known as the artist formerly known as Prince) once wicked sense of humor, if his press release-cum-birth-announcement is any indication: "glyph is about to assume another name: Dad."

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: April 19, 1996
Title: "Paisley Park Apparently Shuts Down; Most Of Staff Is Laid Off"
Summary: The front doors remain open, but Prince apparently has closed Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen as a rental facility for the time being.

Publication: Miami Herald [US]
Date: May 10, 1996
Title: Glam Slam Reopening
Summary: The biggest news of the week is that Glam Slam -- the exceedingly grand South Beach club that was closed by the state in January after a police raid - looks like it will reopen soon.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: June 11, 1996
Title: "Miss June Changes Tune"
Summary: Nice to know Playboy is looking out for their June Playmate, Karin Taylor, ...PRINCE recently approached Playboy suits about using Taylor for a music video.

Publication: Toronto Star [Can]
Date: June 17, 1996
Title: CyberPop Section
Summary: Prince can now wipe the "Slave" slogan off his cheek, now that he's finally out of his contract with Warner Bros. Records.

Publication: Toronto Star [Can]
Date: July 3, 1996
Title: "Princely Gesture"
Summary: Next Tuesday, NBC-TV's Today will play home to the artist once known as Prince.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: July 7, 1996
Title: "Purple Haze"
Summary: They're letting sulky celebs into Spy -- Soho's hippest hangout. I saw one the other night and the owners couldn't do anything about it: when the artist still known as Prince and his body guard want to come inside, you gotta let them in. What a mistake.

Publication: Addicted To Noise [Internet]
Date: July 10, 1996
Title: "News About That Guy We Used to Call Prince"
Summary: The Artist Formerly Known as An Employee of Time/Warner made a pair of intriguing TV appearances from New York during the past few days.

Publication: Addicted To Noise [Internet]
Date: July 12, 1996
Title: "More Mystery From That Guy We Once Called Prince"
Summary: While Prince has made a career of leaving people guessing, his latest album, his last offering of "original" material for Warner Brothers, ups the ante on the freak scale.

Publication: TV Guide [US]
Date: July 22-28, 1996
Title: Cheers And Jeers Section
Summary: Jeers to true royalty gone unrecognized. On a recent Today show, boxing's own sultan of swat George Foreman, currently plugging a cookbook, graciously barbecued a low-fat burger for Katie Couric, who hunkered over a grill with the champ in the plaza outside the studio.

Publication: Electronic Urban Report [US]
Date: July 24, 1996
Title: "Prince Believes In Contracts - But Not The Ones He Signs!"
Summary: Prince is off the hook...A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a copyright infringement suit against the artist formerly known as Prince.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: August 1, 1996
Title: "Purple Heart"
Summary: Sad to watch one of the all-time great lady-killers go soft on us, but it's happening right before our very eyes with Prince.

Publication: Keyboard [US]
Date: September 1996
Title: "Monte Moir And The Time"
Summary: They speak softly but lay down a mighty groove. They dress to kill. They have the power to vamp endlessly on an evolving two-bar phrase while the frontmen work the crowd into a frenzy. And it is all absolutely live. They come from Minneapolis, and they are Morris Day and the Time.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: September 15, 1996
Title: "Purple Pain Poured Money Down The Drain"
Summary: Prince has also had his share of serious financial trouble. According to published reports. His huge business empire was in chaos, when creditors claimed they were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: September 18, 1996
Title: "Mayte's Baby, Maybe"
Summary: Anonymous tipsters insist that Mayte had her baby Friday, although word from a source known to me is that it was false labor.

Publication: Addicted To Noize [Internet]
Date: September 19, 1996
Title: "That Symbol Guy is Hard At Work"
Summary: Fans of He Who Can't Be Named (the guy we used to call Prince), can expect to swing in the New Year in style. According to sources deep inside Paisley Park, the Mysterious One plans to release his 3-CD opus of all new material sometime around the dawn of 1997.

Publication: Vibe [US]
Date: October 1996
Title: "New Diaper Generation"
Summary: In honor of their little bundle of joy expected in November, newlyweds O(+> and Mayte have developed a series of multimedia children's bedtime stories.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: October 14, 1996
Title: "Spied On"
Summary: Mel Gibson, Woody Harrelson, and Courtney Love walk into the Spy Bar Thursday night without bodyguards.

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: October 16, 1996
Title: "Prince Says He's Emancipated At Last: Joyful At Being Shed Of Old Label, He Releases New CD"
Summary: A loose, friendly and welcoming Prince - with none of the old affectations or shyness - previewed a new three-disc set, "Emancipation," celebrating the liberation from his old record company, Warner Bros., and the beginning of a new deal distribution deal with EMI.

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: October 16, 1996
Title: "Prince Celebrates 'Emancipation' From Old Label"
Summary: CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) -- Prince has given a sneak preview of his new three-disc set, ''Emancipation,'' celebrating his liberation from his old record company and the start of a new distribution deal with EMI.

Publication: USA Today [US]
Date: October 17, 1996
Title: "EMI Provides Former Prince Creative, Marketing Freedoms"
Summary: He has signed an alliance with EMI-Capitol Music Group and is celebrating his creative freedom with a new three-disc set.

Publication: Reuters/Variety [US]
Date: October 18, 1996
Title: "EMI-Capitol To Distribute New 3-Disc Album From Prince"
Summary: HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - EMI-Capitol Music Group North America has teamed with Prince's New Power Generation Records to manufacture and distribute his three-disc set "Emancipation."

Publication: CyberSleaze [Internet]
Date: October 18, 1996
Title: Today's Sleaze
Summary: THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS PRINCE has announced that he will relaunch his career with a mammoth three-disc album called EMANCIPATION.

Publication: El Pais [Spa]
Date: October 19, 1996
Title: "The Chaos and the Emancipation"
Summary: Prince has stopped to pull the petals off the market: his new records, released by New Power Generation Records, will be distributed worldwide by the team EMI-Capitol.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: October 20, 1996
Title: "Into Each Life A Little Purple Rain Must Fall"
Summary: A fella can run into and run away from a lot of people in my line of work. It’s one thing coming face to face with today’s icons. But it’s quite another going head to head.

Publication: iMagazine [Internet]
Date: October 25, 1996
Title: "The Evans Report on the Emancipation of Prince (Well Sort Of)"
Summary: SO there I am at the Abbey Road Studio's and I'm telling Liam what I think of the new stuff he's working on...

Publication: Billboard [US]
Date: October 26, 1996
Title: " Binds With EMI-Capitol Music Group"
Summary: The Artist Formerly on Warner Bros.: Following a long and bitter departure from Warner Bros., has linked with EMI-Capitol Music Group North America to release his next album via his New Power Generation Records imprint.

Publication: New Music Express [UK]
Date: October 26, 1996
Title: " Finds Contract Freedom"
Summary: THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS PRINCE has left his long-term record label Warners to sign a multi-million dollar distribution deal with EMI. EMI will distribute a three-disc set, 'Emancipation', on NPG Recordswith a worldwide release date of November 19.

Publication: The Dallas Morning News [US]
Date: October 27, 1996
Title: "Parting Shots"
Summary: Mention "Mercury" to Michelle Shocked and her temperature rises. In 1987, the 34-year-old Dallas native signed to Mercury Records, the label that made stars ouut of Rod Stewart, Def Leppard and John Mellencamp.

Publication: Jam! Showbiz [Internet]
Date: October 30, 1996
Title: "Big Plans For The Former Prince"
Summary: TORONTO -- It's a measure of both the continuing allure of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and the almost frenzied determination of his new record label to score him a hit that 50 or so industry types gathered in a small studio here Wednesday and dutifully submitted to being searched by one of those hand-held metal detectors.

Publication: The Toronto Star [Can]
Date: October 31, 1996
Title: "Emancipated"
Summary: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince - TAFKAP for short - is coming out of seclusion to announce his freedom from "slavery," tour the world and to greet his first-born child.

Publication: New York Magazine [US]
Date: November 4, 1996
Title: "Name's Not Prince, But He Is Funky"
Summary: Not since Edward VIII abondoned the throne has a man thrust off a title as eagerly as Prince is now attempting to. The rocker, long with the Warner Bros. label, just signed a distribution deal with EMI-Capital records, and according to industry insiders, it was a most unorthodox document.

Publication: The Toronto Star [Can]
Date: November 4, 1996
Title: "My Computer"
Summary: Father-to-be Prince seems to be spending a lot more time at home these nights, as he awaits the arrival of a new baby with his bride, Mayte.

Publication: Advertising Age [US]
Date: November 4, 1996
Title: "Once He Was Prince, But Can He Rule Pop Again?"
Summary: The entertainment industry has come to expect the offbeat from the artist formerly know as Prince but his latest head-scratcher might be his most remarkable yet. The mercurial pop star is planning an aggressive, conventional marketing campaign to back his first album for EMI-Capital Music Group.

Publication: E! [Internet]
Date: November 9, 1996
Title: "The Artist Formerly Known as Reclusive"
Summary: It's called Emancipation and its title is apt. for the artist formerly known as Prince Rogers Nelson. The new triple-CD set mark's his release from his Warner Bros. contract--and it could also signify his departure from his trademark reclusive ways.

Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: November 12, 1996
Title: "Prince Says His Personal Life is 'Off Limits'"
Summary: CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) -- Pop star Prince is declaring his musical independence in a very public way. But he is making it clear that he will remain silent on questions about his private life. ''My personal life is off limits,'' he told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press in a copyright story Tuesday.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: November 12, 1996
Title: "Golly: It’s A Prince Of A Night On Music Channels MTV & VH1"
Summary: Plagued for the past several years by a divorce form his record company, financial woes at his recording complex and the inability of anyone to pronounce his newly chosen name, the guy most of the world still recognizes as Prince will prove tonight he hasn't lost his touch for promotional hype.

Publication: E! [Internet]
Date: November 12, 1996
Title: "Live From Paisley Park"
Summary: These days, he prefers the simplified moniker The Artist (shortened, of course, from the cumbersome The Artist Formerly Known as Prince). But whatever name he uses, for nearly 20 years the former Prince Rogers Nelson has been universally acknowledged as one of the most controversial, colorful and important figures in music.

Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: November 12, 1996
Title: "Babies, Privicy, Fame"
Summary: In a rare interview Monday, the artist formerly known as Prince talked amiably about tonight's worldwide broadcast, his struggle for privacy, and published reports of his baby being born with deformities.

Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: November 12, 1996
Title: "Tonight's Exclusive Bash Celebrates the Release of the Long-Awaited Three-Disc 'Emancipation' Set to the World, Via Satellite"
Summary: When the artist formerly known as Prince takes the stage at Paisley Park tonight at 11, it will be the mysterious Minneapolis superstar's highest-profile showcase since he threw "The Beautiful Experience" bash at Paisley in conjunction with the NBA All-Star Game in February 1994.

Publication: Minneapolis Star-Tribune [US]
Date: November 13, 1996
Title: "Prince Delivers to a Huge Audience"
Summary: For a change, there were no searchlights outside Paisley Park. But about 100 fans gathered at the gates as perhaps 1,000 celebrities and music-business invitees -- plus a worldwide MTV audience -- witnessed the comeback of Prince Tuesday night.

Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: November 13, 1996
Title: "Stars Help Former Prince Celebrate His Freedom"
Summary: Flashing his trademark lurid grin and vamping across the stage in a purple tunic, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince lit up the night at Paisley Park in a star-studded gala performance Tuesday night.

Publication: Nando News [US]
Date: November 14, 1996
Title: "Prince Meets The Press"
Summary: MINNEAPOLIS -- Meet the new Prince: open, charming, seemingly normal and courting the media in a big way.

Publication: Toronto Sun [Can]
Date: November 15, 1996
Title: "His Purple Reign"
Summary: Where did The Artist - as Prince Rogers Nelson shall now be known in the third phas of his musical career - put his former funky self? The lastest indication, that syrupy sweet new video for Symbol Man's new signle, a cover of the Stylistics 1972 hit Betcha By Golly Wow!, is that he's getting more conservative by the minute.

Publication: Dotmusic [Internet]
Date: November 18, 1996
Title: "6:00 AM Start Fails To Dampen Enthusiasm For Prince/TAFKAP/The Artist Campaign"
Summary: Around 100 fans made an early morning visit to HMV Oxford Circus in London to see a video relay from the album launch party for The Artist Formerly Known As Prince in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Publication: Chicago Tribune [US]
Date: November 19, 1996
Title: "Prince Tossing Party, And Charity To Benefit"
Summary: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince is throwing a party at 11 p.m. Wednesday at Park West, at which music and a video from his new triple CD, "Emancipation," will be played.

Publication: Q-Web [Internet]
Date: November 22, 1996
Title: "As He Was Formerly Known"
Summary: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince (or, rather, the Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince) has not completely shaken off his Warner Brothers past.

Publication: Detroit Free Press [US]
Date: November 23, 1996
Title: "Thanksgiving Day To End With Concert By Ex-Prince"
Summary: Break out the purple stuffing: The musician formerly known as Prince is planning to play Detroit on Thanksgiving night.

Publication: Detroit Free Press [US]
Date: November 26, 1996
Title: "Prince Cancels Plans For Detroit Show"
Summary: For the second time this year, Detroit has opened its arms to the artist formerly known as Prince only to embrace rejection: The purple one won't play the State Theatre this week, theater officials said Monday.

Publication: Reuters [US]
Date: November 29, 1996
Title: "Prince's 'Emancipation' Wonder-ful Echoes"
Summary: NEW YORK (Reuter) - He is a music superstar who has sold tens of millions of albums, a one-man band known no longer by his birth name, who settled protracted talks with his record label just before the release of what he has called his most important work.

Publication: The New York Law Journal [US]
Date: December 3, 1996
Title: "Artist Formerly Known as Prince Looks to Obscure Lawyer to Negotiate Record Deal"
Summary: O{+>'s APPROACH TO his contracts and choice of counsel might be thought to be as funky as his music.

Publication: Addicted To Noize [Internet]
Date: December 13, 1996
Title: Music News Of The World
Summary: THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS PRINCE proved himself to be a faint-hearted basketball fan at a New York Knicks match. The pop star attended Tuesday's game at Madison Square Garden - with new wife MAYTE in tow - but left the arena six minutes before half-time.

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: December 15, 1996
Title: "Guitarmaker Says Prince Picked, But Didn't Pay"
Summary: If Ferdinand Pickett gets his way, Symbolina's gonna be singing the blues over his guitar. Pickett, a Chicago guitarmaker, said that he designed the symbol guitar that Prince Rogers Nelson plays in concerts and has been quietly pursuing the rock star in Chicago federal court over the matter.

Publication: Los Angeles Times [US]
Date: December 15, 1996
Title: "Pop Eye; Pop Music; For The Benefit Of . . ."
Summary: The artist still generally known as Prince did not make many copies of his new "Emancipation" triple album available as promotional "freebies" for members of the press.

Publication: Music Central [Internet]
Date: December 15-21, 1996
Title: "Music Central's Critics' Poll"
Summary: The Artist Informally Known As Prince (to make life easier for the journalistic fraternity) swept the first annual Music Central Critics' Poll, covering current albums released in 1996.

Publication: San Antonio Express-News [US]
Date: December 17, 1996
Title: ?
Summary: Gloria Estefan, Donna Summer and Chaka Khan made like the Three Tenors last week in "Three Divas on Broadway," a special concert for listeners of a Manhattan radio station.

Publication: Billboard Online [US]
Date: December 19, 1996
Title: "Christmas 4 U"

Summary: On Dec. 28, the Artist Formerly Known As Prince and his Love 4 One Another charity will bring some sugarplums into the holidays of several U.S. high school students. The lucky learners, chosen on the basis of their report cards, which they sent in to radio stations in their home markets, will be the Purple One's guests at a Christmas at Paisley Park.

Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: December 19, 1996
Title: "You Might As Well Call Him McNickname"
Summary: He's doing TV commercials, one might surmise, to keep the fatuous "Emancipation" from being freed anytime soon from the musical sales charts. Having done "Oprah," Prince is now doing a Bryant Gumbel interview on "Today" today to promote his overly ambitious three-record CD set.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: December 20, 1996
Title: "Itemizing"
Summary: Prince and his wife, Mayte, stopped by the Religious Sex clothing store on St. Marks Place Monday.

Publication: Detroit Free Press [US]
Date: December 27, 1996
Title: None
Summary: The Artist formerly known as Prince is planning to play Detroit on Jan. 12 or 13, a person in a position to know tells the Free Press' Brian McCollum. Concert details--including ticket prices--won't be available until late today or Saturday, but tickets for a State Theatre show are to go on sale early next week, the source says.

Publication: The Raleigh News And Observer [US]
Date: December 31, 1996
Title: "Short Stuff"
Summary: Select high school students from around the country got to attend a paisley Christmas party over the weekend, thanks to the artist formerly known as Prince.

Publication: The Toronto Sun [Can]
Date: December 31, 1996
Title: "The Artist Draws A Princely Party"
Summary: Select U.S. high school students were invited to attend a paisley Christmas party over the weekend, thanks to The Artist.

Publication: USA Today [US]
Date: December 31, 1996
Title: "Briefly . . ."
Summary: High school students from around the USA attended a weekend Christmas party hosted by the Artist Formerly Known as Prince at his Minneapolis-area home and recording complex, Paisley Park.