Following our recent collaborations with the great one’s Estate, and with more on the way, we’re rather more than proud to announce that our Artist of the Month for February is Prince.

There are many musical artists to whom the term ‘genius’ is applied, yet so few actually merit the sobriquet. Indeed, this is a group so rarefied that its members could probably be counted just on the fingers of both hands.

And yet even within this exclusive group, it’s no overstatement to say that Prince is the only figure out of all of them who truly is Number 1 in a field of one.

Consider the evidence. While there are many fine singers, songwriters, producers, performers, instrumentalists and visionaries who have made the kind of staggering musical contributions that not only alter the cultural fabric, but also the course the history, none have harnessed and mastered each and every one of these areas in the way Prince did.

Indeed, such was his colossal talent and creative restlessness that it seemed there was no aspect of creative musical endeavour that Prince could turn his hand to and not master.

So prolific were his creative outpourings, Prince was in a position to mastermind the careers of others artists just as much as his own. And while we’re all familiar with the likes of The Bangles, among others, rocketing to the top of the charts thanks to his guiding hand and songwriting Midas touch, it’s worth bearing in mind that artists as diverse as Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys and Patti Smith have also performed his music.

Which shouldn’t come as a surprise if you stop to think about it, for here was an artist who could turn his hand to any genre music and make it convincingly his own. Be it funk, rock, psychedelia. Electro, R’n’B, jazz-funk, pop and so much more besides, Prince’s innate talent, deep understanding and love of popular contemporary music in all its shades of purple ensured that this was art infused with quality and distinction.

What’s all the more remarkable is the visual flair with which he presented his work in a live setting. Indeed, such was his joy at performing that he’d often perform after-hours club gigs not long after he’d wrapped up one of his epic headlining main event shows.

Little wonder, then, that Prince was honoured time and again. During his all-too-brief lifetime, Prince won seven Grammy Awards, seven Brit Awards, six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe. That is, by any objective measure, an incredible achievement, not least when the sheer volume of nominations are also taken into account.

Crucially, Prince never let up. As evidenced by the material released by Sony Legacy Recordings with the Prince Estate – ‘Musicology’, ‘3121’, ‘Planet Earth’, ‘Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic’, ‘Ultimate Rave’, ‘Emancipation’, ‘Chaos and Disorder’ and ‘The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold)’ – Prince’s quest to write, record, produce and perform music of the highest order was insatiable.

EXPLORE THE THREE WAVES OF LEGACY’S PRINCE RE-RELEASES HERE, HERE and HERE

And even after his untimely passing 2016, Prince continues to defy easy categorization. A pop polymath who brought the genders together under a multi-coloured artistic umbrella, his legacy will endure as long as the earth spins on it axis. And these releases are the artifacts to prove it.