My Life in the Purple Kingdom

BrownMark, a bassist for Princes, was a teenager working at a 7-11 when he was invited to perform with Prince at the Los Angeles Coliseum. His memoir, My Life in the Purple Kingdom, details his journey from Minneapolis to the international stage, including his time with Prince and The Revolution and his contract with Motown.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 14 June 2022
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

In the summer of 1981, Mark Brown, a teenager working at a 7-11 store, was not rehearsing with his high school band, Phantasy. Come fall, Brown, now known as BrownMark, was on stage with Prince at the Los Angeles Coliseum, opening for the Rolling Stones in front of 90,000 people.

My Life in the Purple Kingdom is BrownMark's memoir of growing up in the musical orbit of one of the most visionary artists of his generation. Raw, wry, real, this book takes us from his musical awakening as a boy in Minneapolis to the cold call from Prince at nineteen, from touring the world with The Revolution and performing in Purple Rain to inking his own contract with Motown.

BrownMark's story is that of a hometown kid, living for sunny days when his transistor would pick up KUXL, a solar-powered, shut-down-at-sundown station that was the only one that played R&B music in Minneapolis in 1968. But once he took up the bass guitar and never looked back, he entered a whole new realm, and, literally at the right hand of Twin Cities musical royalty, he joined the funk revolution that integrated the Minneapolis music scene and catapulted him onto the international stage.

BrownMark describes how his funky stylings earned him a reputation (leading to Prince's call) and how he and Prince first played together at that night's sudden audition and never really stopped. He takes us behind the scenes as few can, into the confusing emotional and professional life among the denizens of Paisley Park, and offers a rare, intimate look into music at the height of its power.

Dimension: 210 x 137 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517913755