Producing A Pop Legend:
Moon Sound Studios was founded in the early 1970's in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Christopher Moon and went on to become the birthplace for legendary pop superstar "Prince". Moon a marketer, producer, engineer and songwriter is credited with the discovery of the young artist who was just 16 when he walked into Moon Sound as part of a band that was recording a demo tape.
After only a week of knowing him, Moon handed over the keys to his recording studio and instructed the young artist to let himself in after school and when Moon returned from work they would work on music together. The deal Moon struck with Prince was simple - he'd write the words, Prince would write the music and sing it, Moon would package the artist up and try to get him a record deal.
Each day Moon wrote the lyrics to two songs and left them on the piano for Prince to choose between when he arrived after school. Moon also taught the young artist how to record and produce in the studio and the two spend almost a year developing the demo tape that ultimately led the Prince being signed with Warner Brothers records. View the TV news story.
In the studio, the artist development process was not all smooth. At one point there was an extended argument that lasted 3 months between Moon and Prince revolving around the name of the artist. Moon, who was working at an Ad Agency at the time, quickly saw the value of Prince's real first name (his real full name was Prince Rogers Nelson) however Prince had a completely different idea about what his name should be for the stage.
Prince was against using his real first name. He argued that he wanted to be known under a different name - he wanted his name to be "MISTER NELSON". The two never agreed and ultimately Moon said: "either we do it my way and you go by Prince or there is no sense in continuing with this project together". Prince finally accepted and the rest is history.
Ultimately, Moon wrote 3 of the 4 songs on Prince's demo tape as well as his first hit song (Soft & Wet on Warner Brother Records). Even in 2017 - now almost 60 years later, royalties from all over the world still continue to come in from that first hit song.
