The Beautiful Ones

the long version

"The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words--featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death." -- amazon.com An acclaimed musician, Prince Rogers Nelson was a visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds. But his most ambitious creative act was turning himself into one of the greatest pop stars of any era. Before his death Prince was writing a memoir, taking us into his childhood world. The second part of the book takes us through his early days as a musician through a scrapbook of writing and photos. We then follow Prince's evolution through candid images, before turning to his handwritten treatment for Purple Rain-- a retelling of the first three pars as a heroic journey. Piepenbring's introduction, and annotations throughout, provide context to the book's images. -- adapted from jacket