Despite having a banner year with the release of his triple album set last year, the singer possibly known as Prince has been reported as behind on a number of taxes in his home state of Minnesota. Carver County (southwest of Minneapolis) tax records show that the singer’s music company owes more than $227,000 for 2009 taxes to the state and local authorities. Several properties in the singer’s own name are also delinquent, with an estimated total of $450,000 in back taxes owed.
The 51 year old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was born Prince Rogers Nelson. He later changed his name to a symbol which was reportedly copyrighted in 1997 as “Love Symbol #2” (no word on what “Love Symbol #1” would be). Since the symbol was unpronounceable (and thus, just a little bit stupid), he was referred to as “the artist formerly known as Prince” or “The Artist.” He has also been referred to as “the Purple One.” About 10 years ago, he said he would use his old name again (yes, Prince is really his given name). I have no idea what anybody calls him anymore. The tax records simply call him delinquent.
I don’t know about his tax woes, but Prince’s name change was a deliberate and clever move (at least as I understand it). He was having a dispute with his record label and they wouldn’t let him record or perform as “Prince” as they claimed rights to the name under his contract, or they got royalties when he used the name. By changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol, people had to refer to him as “the artist formerly known as Prince.” Thus he still was referred to as “Prince” even though he wasn’t supposed to use that name under the contract dispute. When the contract dispute was over, he changed his name back to “Prince.” (Or is this just a story I heard. Anyone able to verify it?).