What do I do now?
Typesetters Can Relax, It's 'Prince' Again
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Chris Michaud
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prince is back.
``The artist formerly known as Prince,'' who years ago changed his name to a self-designed, unpronounceable glyph,
said on Tuesday he was reverting to the name he used when he became one of the 1980s top recording artists.
Wearing a white turtleneck sweater and sporting auburn tinted hair, Prince, who was introduced as ``The artist,'' spoke to reporters
at a news conference that covered everything from the distribution of his music via the Internet to his personal and spiritual life.
With the expiration of his publishing agreement with Warner Bros. records at the end of 1999, the pop star said, ``I will now go back
to using my name, instead of the symbol I adopted as a means to free myself from all undesirable relationships.''
The symbol, which Prince said he used during his ``warrior mode'' when he was ``really angry'' as he battled with Warner Bros. over
the rights to his music, has not exactly been retired. It appeared on a press kit handed out on Tuesday.
The eccentric singer had seemingly mellowed a bit.
``I've never thought of myself as weird,'' he said, and ''people who really know me don't think so, either.''
``I'm in a really great mood now,'' he added, saying he was hoping to launch a tour during the summer.
First, however, Prince said he wanted to take some time to study things ``of a spiritual nature, so I'm going to
go away for awhile to do that.'' He did not elaborate, except to say, ''I just want to ask God in solitude what he
wants from me now.''
Asked about his marriage to Mayte, Prince said the couple were ``still friends, but she does her thing and I do mine.'' Later he said
``sometimes we do our things together.''
He had much to say about the current state of the recording industry, focusing on the often-strained relationship between record
companies and artists. Adapting the famous quote from ''Forrest Gump,'' he wryly noted: ``A royalty check is like a box of
chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.''
``The price of CDs has skyrocketed while the quality of music has plummeted,'' he said. ``And as long as middlemen create the
means by which consumers consume, this will never change.''
As a result, Prince said he was setting up a Web site to sell his music. ``The problem is not a complex one, and the solution is
simple,'' he said. ``Let the baker make the bread.'' |
