Music: Reclaiming His Crown

So I'm hanging out with [The Artist formerly known as Prince] in a suite in the New York Palace Hotel, and one of the first things he tells me is that his name isn't really his name.

Now [The Artist] is a cool guy to chat with: funny, insightful and, except for the fact that he's a musical genius, a regular guy. Truth is, he puts on his bell-bottom, glittery blue stretch pants one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. But his perspective on the world is like his music--constantly surprising. For example, a few minutes into the conversation, an insanely beautiful woman enters the suite and cuddles up in [The Artist]'s lap. It's Mayte, [The Artist]'s wife. Only she's kind of also not really his wife, because they had their marriage annulled so they could transcend the "legal bonds that people demand."

Then there's [The Artist]'s new CD, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. It's a terrific album, full of some of [The Artist]'s freshest, most focused music in years. It's being released by Arista--the first time [The Artist] has hooked up with a major label since 1996--but [The Artist] says he doesn't really have a contract with Arista, merely an "agreement." That agreement, [The Artist] says, is only two pages long. Two pages? Most pop acts need longer contracts just to cover the number of M&Ms that have to be in their dressing rooms after a gig.

And, of course, there's [The Artist]'s name. Ever since he changed it from Prince to [The Artist formerly known as Prince] in 1993, folks in the media have called him "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince." [The Artist], as it turns out, doesn't care for that title. His name, he says, is simply that unpronounceable symbol that looks like a combination of an ankh, an ampersand and a lollipop. Says [The Artist]: "I've made choices, and people can respect them or they can not respect them."

In recent years, [The Artist], 41, has been releasing records on his own label and selling them via the Internet. Some of those records have been sprawling; his 1998 album Crystal Ball was a five-CD set. Rave is smarter and trimmer, a single CD, 15 songs, with an impressive roster of guest stars that includes, among others, folk rocker Ani DiFranco, the rapper Eve and saxophonist Maceo Parker. And [The Artist]'s old pronounceable name makes a return on the new album. Rave's credits list Prince as the producer. [The Artist] adopted his old persona to recapture some of the creative spirit of his Prince-era albums. "I was curious as to how Prince used to edit himself," says [The Artist]. "I was interested in my approach to music then. I didn't care what other people were doing. I came up with my own program."