The Beautiful Ones

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER
A Times, Sunday Times and Telegraph Book of the Year
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A triumph ... a masterclass in the bottling of its subjects seductive essence.His presence in this book is so strong thatits hard to believe he has really left the building
MOJO

Handsomely presented, visually sumptuous
THE TIMES
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From Prince himself comes the brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time-featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death.

Prince was a musical genius, one of the most talented, beloved, accomplished, popular, and acclaimed musicians in pop history. But he wasnt only a musician-he was also a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of his early records to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of Paisley Park. But his greatest creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, the greatest pop star of his era.

The BeautifulOnes 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 book is told in four parts. The first is composed of the memoir he was writing before his tragic death, pages that brings us into Princes childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us into Princes early years as a musician, before his first album released, through a scrapbook of Princes writing and photos. The third section shows us Princes evolution through candid images that take us up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the books fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain-the final stage in Princes self-creation, as he retells the autobiography weve seen in the first three parts as a heroic journey.

The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbrings riveting and moving introduction about his short but profound collaboration with Prince in his final days-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 hed so carefully cultivated-and annotations that provide context to each of the books images.

This work is not just a tribute to Prince, but an original and energizing literary work, full of Princes ideas and vision, his voice and image, his undying gift to the world.
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Princes voice comes through loud and clear; his personality, joie de vivre and single-mindedness jumping off the page throughout.
CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE

The Beautiful Ones is for everyone. Its not a read, but an experience, an immersion inside the mind of a musical genius. You are steeped in Princes images, his words, his essence... The book can be a starting point for a Prince fascination, or a continuation of long-standing admiration. Either wa...