John L. Nelson

As Prince Rogers, John L. Nelson carved out a career as a jazz musician in the Minneapolis area in the 1950s but he will forever be known as the father of Prince, the genre-bending superstar of the 1980s. Prince credited John L. Nelson with several collaborations during his peak in the 1980s -- "Computer Blue," "Around the World in a Day," "Christopher Tracy's Parade," "Under the Cherry Moon," and "Scandalous!" all bore his name, usually because they carried a chord sequence Prince had heard on music by his father -- but during his period as an active musician, the pianist di...