Prince: The pop legend's life in pictures

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 7, 1958. He had a strong interest in music early on and is said to have written his first song at the age of seven. At 20, he released his debut album, "For You." His 1979 album "Prince" went platinum due to the success of the singles "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover."

His next three records, "Dirty Mind" (1980), "Controversy" (1981), and "1999" (1982), established Prince's trademark of blatantly sexual lyrics and infusion of funk, dance, and rock. In 1984, he named his backup band "The Revolution" and released "Purple Rain," which served as the soundtrack to his film debut. According to Prince, the color purple symbolized the end of the world.

Prince played a total of 15 musical instruments, among them guitar, drums, keyboard, electric bass and synthesizer. He often played all the instruments himself in studio productions. His global hits included songs like "Kiss" and "When Doves Cry," as well as "Purple Rain" from 1984.

In 1986, Prince directed and starred as a gigolo named Christopher Tracy in the musical, "Under the Cherry Moon." Despite the film's poor performance and many Golden Raspberry Awards — a parody honor highlighting the worst of cinema — the soundtrack album was critically praised as Prince's finest record yet. "Kiss" hit number one on the Billboard chart and "Mountains" reached number 23.

After releasing the albums "Around the World in a Day" (1985) and "Parade" (1986), The Revolution disbanded and Prince released several solo albums before debuting The New Power Generation band in 1991. He changed his stage name in 1993 to an unpronounceable symbol, which became known as the "Love Symbol." In 2000, he began referring to himself as "Prince" again.

Prince was romantically linked to many celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Madonna and Carmen Electra. In 1996, he married his 22-year-old backup singer Mayte Garcia (pictured). They had a son named Boy Gregory, who died shortly after birth from Pfeiffer syndrome — a genetic bone disorder. Two years after their divorce, Prince married Manuela Testolini. She filed for divorce in May 2006.

While his guitar may have gently wept, Prince did manage to sell over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In this image, Prince is attending a match at the French Open involving Rafael Nadal in 2014. That year, Prince released a new single, "The Breakdown." He also announced that he had re-signed with his former label, Warner Bros., after an 18-year split. His penultimate album "Hit n Run Phase One" was available on the music streaming service Tidal before being released as a CD in September 2015.

His final album, "HIT 'n Run Phase Two," was first released exclusively on the Tidal streaming service on December 11, 2015. Prince was in the middle of what would be his last tour — the Piano & A Microphone Tour — when he had to postpone two performances stating that he was "battling flu." Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park complex in Minnesota on the morning of April 21, 2016.