Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis,, Minnesota, to Mattie Shaw, a jazz singer and social worker,. and John L. Nelson,. a lyricist and pianist. His father's stage name was ""Prince Rogers"". His parents were both from African-American families from Louisiana.. They separated during his youth, which lead him to move back and forth. Prince had a troubled relationship with his step-father which lead him to run away from home. Prince was adopted by a family called the Andersons. .Prince soon after became friends with the Anderson's son, Andre Anderson (Cymone) together along with Charles Smith they joined a band called Grand Central. .The band later renamed themselves Champagne and were a fairly successful live band, however soon diminished.. Prince at the age of eighteen started working on high-quality demo tracks with Chris Moon.. With these demo tracks Prince eventually ended up signing a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records and was the...