Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single "White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early d ...

, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to 2008, and has worked with a wide range of other performers as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Career

Prince is a member of

and was a founding member of

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

along with

Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hono ...

and

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His A ...

. However, he quit Journey after a few months, before they made any recordings. He has subsequently worked with

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby D ...

(on his first four albums),

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

Paul Kantner Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He cont ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting with reverb eff ...

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don H ...

, Richard Marx,

Bill Spooner William "Sputnik" Spooner (born August 16, 1949) is a musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter, and the founder of The Tubes, a theatrical rock band. His songwriting is known for its use of humor and satire. He has released three solo albums ...

Neil Hamburger Neil Hamburger is a fictional standup comedian and singer created by Australian-American entertainer Gregg Turkington. Distinguished for his misanthropic jokes and anti-comedy style, Turkington has released a number of albums as Hamburger and ...

John Fogerty John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

Tommy Bolin Thomas Richard Bolin (August 1, 1951 – December 4, 1976) was an American guitarist and songwriter who played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), The James Gang (from 1973 to 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to maintaining ...

, Phil Lesh,

John Ferenzik John Ferenzik (born John Michael Ferencsik 13 October 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. He has performed most notably with Todd Rundgren (on keyboards, vocals and electric guitar ...

, Singer at Large Johnny J. Blair,

The Gilmore Project ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Negativland Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The co ...

, and former Tubes and

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

keyboardist

Vince Welnick Vincent Leo Welnick (February 21, 1951 – June 2, 2006) was an American keyboardist-singer-songwriter best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted into ...

. Prince collaborated with Ross Valory, bassist and founding member of Journey, on a line o
patented
eco-friendly, USA-made hoodie shirts calle
MouthMan
where graphic designs of jaws and teeth on the sleeves form a mouth when the wearer "hugs himself". In 2006, he toured with

The New Cars The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, vocalist ...

including

, bassist

Kasim Sulton Kasim Sulton (born December 8, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton ...

(Rundgren's

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

bandmate), and original

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

guitarist

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

and keyboardist

Greg Hawkes Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars. Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teeth ...

. He continues to play with The Tubes and Todd Rundgren. He was an original member of the reformed Jefferson Starship, known as "Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation" in 1992, and appears on both that band's studio albums (the 1999 release ''

Windows of Heaven ''Windows of Heaven'' is Jefferson Starship's first studio album since reforming in 1992 and ninth album overall. It was first released in Germany, but the band told fans to wait for a new American remixed version. The single "Let Me Fly" was re ...

'' and the 2008 release, ''

Jefferson's Tree of Liberty ''Jefferson's Tree of Liberty'' is the tenth album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008.[] It is the band's first studio album since 1999's ''Windows of Heaven''. The new album includes cover songs from Irish, American, English, ...

''), along with numerous live albums. Prince announced in early 2008 that he was leaving the band on amicable terms and remains available for international performances. He is a sought-after session musician and recently played drums and percussion on all tracks of

Chuck Prophet Charles William Prophet (born June 28, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and rec ...

's 2012 release ''Temple Beautiful'' and seven of 12 tracks on Prophet's 2014's ''Night Surfer''. As an artist he designed the

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

artwork for many artists including The Tubes, Todd Rundgren (1981 album ''

Healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...

''), Journey, Lyle Workman and Vince Welnick's 1998 album ''

Missing Man Formation The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flypast of aircraft at a funeral or memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot, a well-known military service member or veteran, or a well-known political figure. T ...

'', among many others. Along with his creative partner and fellow former Tube Michael Cotten, he has created numerous set designs for major artists including

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

N'Sync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to Europea ...

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

, Styx, The Tubes, and Todd Rundgren. Prince and Cotten have teamed up with choreographer

Kenny Ortega Kenneth John Ortega (born April 18, 1950) is an American filmmaker, touring manager, and choreographer. He is known for directing the films '' Newsies'', '' Hocus Pocus'', ''The Cheetah Girls 2'', ''High School Musical'', '' Michael Jackson's T ...

on several special events including the 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, the Super Bowl XXX halftime show (which featured

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

singing "Take Me Higher" as she was lifted from the field in a helicopter), Michael Jackson's "This is It" concert, and Shania Twain's residency, ''Shania: Still the One'', at

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

in Las Vegas, NV.

Personal life

Prince lived with fellow Tubes member Re Styles from 1973 until the early 1990s. In a 2006 interview with ''Modern Drummer'' magazine's Billy Amendola, he referred to singer Diana Mangano as his wife, adding they were not formally married but had been together for a decade.Billy Amendola, ‘Prairie Prince: An Interview’ https://www.moderndrummer.com/2006/05/prairie-prince/

Notes and references

External links

*
The Tubes official websitePrairie Prince audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com 2007Prairie Prince audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com 2009
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Prairie 1950 births Living people American rock drummers Musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina Journey (band) members The Tubes members Jefferson Starship members The New Cars members Album-cover and concert-poster artists Utopia (American band) members 20th-century American drummers 21st-century American drummers American male drummers

Career

Personal life

See also

Notes and references

External links