Paisley Park Records

Paisley Park Records

Paisley Park Studios entrance
Founded 1985
Founder Prince
Defunct 1994
Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Records
Genre
Country of origin United States
Location Chanhassen, Minnesota

Paisley Park Records was Prince's record label, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. 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.[1][2] Paisley Park was opened to the public as a museum and memorial to Prince following his death.[3] October 28, 2016 is officially known as "Paisley Park Day" in the city of Chanhassen to recognize the opening of the museum.[4]

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 little 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. Prince fought for the rights to the master recordings of all artists recorded there.[5] Prince later started NPG Records, run by Trevor Guy.[2] The vice-president of Operations for the label until 1991 was Alan Leeds. (Alan 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 Alan's 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 was completed in 1988. It contains two live music venues used as rehearsal spaces.[2]

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 à la Graceland.[6] He was found dead in an elevator at his studio residence on April 21, 2016.[7]

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.[8] Tours of the Paisley Park Museum started October 2016.[9] Graceland Holdings, the company that has managed Elvis Presley's Graceland since 1982, is set to organize the tours of Paisley Park.[10] The plan says the tours will include studios where Prince recorded, produced and mixed most of his biggest hits, and the soundstage where he rehearsed for tours and hosted exclusive private concerts. Also featured will 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.[11] In 2017 regular tours and punctual shows are organized in Paisley Park[12]

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.[13] In the basement of Paisley Park there is a vault of unreleased material, hundreds of hours of live jams, experiments and top-secret songs.[14]

Apart from the tour of the studio residence, it is worth taking a Prince tour of Minneapolis to see the Electric Fetus, his local record store, which would get many of his releases weeks before the major chains, just because he liked shopping there, the Capri Theatre, where he played his first gig in 1979, and First Avenue, the iconic venue where Purple Rain was filmed.[15]

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; Universal Records, now part of Universal Music Group and http://www.columbiarecords.com Columbia Records.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Paisley Park". Discogs.
  2. 1 2 3 Petridis, Alexis (2015-11-12). "Prince: ‘Transcendence. That’s what you want. When that happens – Oh, boy'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  3. ↑ "Paisley Park". www.officialpaisleypark.com. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  4. ↑ Laufenburger, Mayor Denny (October 28, 2016). "Paisley Park Day". Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ Here’s Every Battle Prince Waged Against the Internet and the Music Industry
  6. ↑ Lang, Brett; Van Syckle, Katie (2016-04-23). "Inside Prince’s Emotional Final Concerts Before His Death". Variety. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ "Paisley Park likely to open for public tours in October". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  9. ↑ "Paisley Park likely to open for public tours in October". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  10. ↑ "Paisley Park, home of Prince, will be open to public tours". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  11. ↑ "The Guardian".
  12. ↑ Touring Paisley Park: A Look Inside
  13. ↑ http://blog.thecurrent.org/2016/10/princes-paisley-park-burial-urn-eden-prairie-artist-shares-details/
  14. ↑ Millar, Aaron. "The Guardian".
  15. ↑ "The Guardian".
  16. ↑ "Kahoru Kohiruimaki - Time The Motion (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
  17. ↑ "T.C. Ellis - True Confessions (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2004-12-05. Retrieved 2011-10-19.

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

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