The Beautiful Ones

By: Prince

Narrated by: Esperanza Spalding, Adepero Oduye, Dan Piepenbring

The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death

Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. He was a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of “Uptown” to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of “Paisley Park.” But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, one of the greatest pop stars of any era.

The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince—a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The audiobook is told in four parts. The first is the memoir Prince was writing before his tragic death, pages that bring us into his childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us through Prince’s early years as a musician, before his first album was released, via an evocative scrapbook of writing. The third section shows us Prince’s evolution, going up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the audiobook’s fourth section: his original treatment for Purple Rain—the final stage in Prince’s self-creation, where he retells the autobiography of the first three parts as a heroic journey.

The audiobook is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated.

This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image—his undying gift to the world.

Includes a bonus PDF featuring never-before-seen photos and original scrapbooks & lyric sheets

Prince fans will like. Others probably not.

It’s hard to evaluate a book that really was in its nascent stages. I’m glad the material was released, but it’s a long way from a completed work. I love Prince, so it was cool to hear his words and thoughts. Just so sad he passed. I still tear up whenever I hear Purple Rain.

Brilliantly Beautiful

I wish this story was complete. Prince died before he was able to finish his story.

Good but too short

May be better to get the hard copy. Nice to hear his voice though.

Too short

But so was his life. What he was able to write before he died was absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend if you're a prince fan. If you aren't a fan, you'll probably be disappointed.
OMG get the physical book instead or in addition.... Worth it!!

In His Own Words

I finally had a chance to listen to the Beautiful Ones. Listening to Dan made me happy and sad. Happy because it gave a glimpse of Prince's thought process for this book and in the days before his death. Sad because it also demonstrates how much he wanted to live and felt renewed by this project. The production related to his own words was a little disjointed but I was fascinated to hear is evolution. I like and recommend this book.