NEW YORK (AP) — The memoir Prince was working on at the time of his death is coming out Oct. 29.
Random House confirmed Monday to The Associated Press that "The Beautiful Ones" will combine a
Prince unfinished manuscript with rare photos, scrapbooks and lyrics. First announced just weeks before
his 2016 death, the 288-page book will include an introduction by Dan Piepenbring, whom Prince had
chosen as a collaborator. The memoir is an exclusive partnership with the Prince Estate.
"’The Beautiful Ones’ is the deeply personal account of how Prince Rogers Nelson became the Prince
we know: the real-time story of a kid absorbing the world around him and creating a persona, an artistic
vision, and a life, before the hits and the fame that would come to define him," Random House
announced.
"The book will span from Prince’s childhood to his early years as a musician to the cusp of
international stardom, using Prince’s own writings, a scrapbook of his personal photos, and the original
handwritten lyric sheets for many of his most iconic songs, which he kept at Paisley Park. The book
depicts Prince’s evolution through deeply revealing, never-before-shared images and memories and
culminates with his original handwritten treatment for his masterwork, ‘Purple Rain.’"
Piepenbring’s introduction will touch upon Prince’s 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 he’d so carefully cultivated." Piepenbring, whom Prince had called "my brother
Dan" and "not a yes man at all," is a Paris Review advisory editor who also contributes
to The New Yorker.
Prince died three years ago, on April 21, from an accidental overdose of fentanyl at the age of 57.
During a Manhattan nightclub appearance in March 2016, he told the audience that "The good people
of Random House have made me an offer that I can’t refuse." He promised the book would start with
his "first memory" and "hopefully" continue to his rain-drenched Super Bowl halftime
performance in 2007.
In 2018, literary agent Esther Newberg told Variety that Prince had completed more than 50 handwritten
pages.
The book’s editor, Chris Jackson, said in a statement that "The Beautiful Ones" was "a
beautiful tribute to his life."
"It’s also much more than that: it’s a genuinely moving and energizing literary work, full of
Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image," said Jackson, whose other authors have included
comedian Trevor Noah and Ta-Nehisi Coates. "It’s a treasure not just for Prince fans but for anyone
who wants to see one of our greatest creative artists and original minds at work on his greatest
creation: himself."
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This story has been corrected to show the New Yorker writer’s last name is Piepenbring, not Piepenberg.