Prairie Prince
Encyclopedia
Prairie Prince is a rock
drummer
. He was a member of The Tubes
and a founding member of Journey
. He has also worked with Chris Isaak
(on his first four album
s), Todd Rundgren
, Brian Eno
, David Byrne
, XTC
, Tom Waits
, Paul Kantner
, George Harrison
, Dick Dale
, Glenn Frey
, Richard Marx
, Bill Spooner
, Neil Hamburger
, John Fogerty
, Nicky Hopkins
, Tommy Bolin
, Phil Lesh
, and former Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick
.
He is also a graphic artist, designing the album cover
artwork
for Rundgren's 1981 album Healing and Welnick's 1998 album Missing Man Formation, among others. Along with his creative partner Michael Cotten, he has created numerous set designs for major artists including Billy Joel
, Bette Midler
, N'Sync, The Tubes
, and Todd Rundgren
. He also collaborated with Ross Valory, bassist for and also a founding member of Journey, on a line of kids shirts called Mouth Man Animated Hoodies where graphic designs of jaws and teeth on the sleeves form a mouth that can be manipulated when the arms are crossed.
In 2006 he completed a tour with The New Cars
including Todd Rundgren
, bassist Kasim Sulton
(Rundgren's Utopia
bandmate), and original Cars guitarist
Elliot Easton
and keyboardist
Greg Hawkes
. He also continues to play with The Tubes
.
He was a founding member The Next Generation of Jefferson Starship
in 1992 and appears on both their studio albums : the 1999 release Windows of Heaven
and the 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
. Due to Prince's commitments with The Tubes and the Steve Kimock
band, he was often replaced by other drummers during the Starship's tours. Most notable replacements included Trey Sabatelli, former Jefferson Starship drummer Donny Baldwin
and Tony Morley among others. Prince and longtime companion Diana Mangano, the Starship's singer, announced in early 2008 that they were leaving the band on amicable terms and remained available for further collaborations. They were replaced by Donny Baldwin
and Cathy Richardson
respectively.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
. He was a member of The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
and a founding member of Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
. He has also worked with Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
(on his first four album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s), Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Paul Kantner
Paul Kantner
Paul Lorin Kantner is an American rock musician, known for co-founding the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane and its spin-off band Jefferson Starship.- Overview :...
, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Dick Dale
Dick Dale
Dick Dale is an American surf rock guitarist, known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.-Early life:Dale was born in South Boston, Massachusetts and lived in nearby...
, Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
, Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
, Bill Spooner
Bill Spooner
William "Sputnik" Spooner is a musician, guitarist, 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: First Chud , Mall to Mars , and Demo-licious...
, Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger is a standup comedian character played by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington.-Style:Hamburger's live act, which is quite different from his many albums, features a barrage of question/answer jokes aimed often at celebrity targets, including Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, The Red...
, John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
, Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
, Tommy Bolin
Tommy Bolin
Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin was an American-born guitarist who played with Zephyr , The James Gang , and Deep Purple , in addition to doing solo work...
, Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Phillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
, and former Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick
Vince Welnick
Vince Welnick was an American keyboardist, best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s.-Music career:...
.
He is also a graphic artist, designing the album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
artwork
Cover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
for Rundgren's 1981 album Healing and Welnick's 1998 album Missing Man Formation, among others. Along with his creative partner Michael Cotten, he has created numerous set designs for major artists including Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, N'Sync, The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
, and Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
. He also collaborated with Ross Valory, bassist for and also a founding member of Journey, on a line of kids shirts called Mouth Man Animated Hoodies where graphic designs of jaws and teeth on the sleeves form a mouth that can be manipulated when the arms are crossed.
In 2006 he completed a tour with The New Cars
The New Cars
The New Cars was a band formed in 2005 with two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band The Cars. The band was composed of Todd Rundgren, drummer Prairie Prince, Kasim Sulton, and original Cars members Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton...
including Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, bassist Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton 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...
(Rundgren's Utopia
Utopia (rock band)
Utopia was an American progressive rock band, led by Todd Rundgren that toured and recorded from 1973 to 1986.-History:The first two albums, Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Another Live featured lengthy, complex and highly arranged progressive rock pieces, performed by a six-piece multi-instrumentalist...
bandmate), and original Cars guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton plays lead guitar and sings backing vocals for The Cars. His guitar solos are integral part of the band's hit singles. He studied music at the Berklee College of Music...
and keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Greg Hawkes
Greg Hawkes
Greg Hawkes is a musician best known as the keyboardist for the Rock band The Cars.Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teeth. He then attended Berklee College of Music for two years, majoring in composition and flute...
. He also continues to play with The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
.
He was a founding member The Next Generation of Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
in 1992 and appears on both their studio albums : the 1999 release Windows of Heaven
Windows of Heaven (album)
Windows of Heaven is Jefferson Starship's first studio album since reforming in 1992. 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 released along with the American release, but did not chart on the Billboard charts...
and the 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty is a 2008 studio album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008. It is the tenth studio album recorded by the band under the Jefferson Starship name, the first studio album since 1999's Windows of Heaven and the first on a major label by the band since 1989...
. Due to Prince's commitments with The Tubes and the Steve Kimock
Steve Kimock
-External links:** at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at Internet Archive's live music archive*, San Francisco, April 3, 1999*, Unofficial Fan Forum...
band, he was often replaced by other drummers during the Starship's tours. Most notable replacements included Trey Sabatelli, former Jefferson Starship drummer Donny Baldwin
Donny Baldwin
Donny Baldwin is an American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship and its continuation Starship.Donny began his career as a drummer for Elvin Bishop during the 1970s where he worked with future Jefferson Starship bandmate Mickey Thomas...
and Tony Morley among others. Prince and longtime companion Diana Mangano, the Starship's singer, announced in early 2008 that they were leaving the band on amicable terms and remained available for further collaborations. They were replaced by Donny Baldwin
Donny Baldwin
Donny Baldwin is an American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship and its continuation Starship.Donny began his career as a drummer for Elvin Bishop during the 1970s where he worked with future Jefferson Starship bandmate Mickey Thomas...
and Cathy Richardson
Cathy Richardson
Catherine E. Richardson , who goes professionally by Cathy Richardson, is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois....
respectively.