Prince 1958 - 2016

Prince died today.

Born Prince Roger Admiral Lord Nelson, he was a singer, a songwriter, guitarist and famously big a big fan of The Color Purple starring Whoopie Goldberg, and the reverend Ian Paisley.

Prince was born in Minneapolis to John and Mattie Nelson, the former being the leader of a jazz trio using the stage name Prince Rogers. As a child, Prince was nicknamed Skipper, due to his resemblance to a bush kangaroo, largely because it was so confusing having two people known as Prince in the house, although that never stopped the Windsors.

Musical from an early age, Prince released his first album in 1978, on which he wrote all the songs, sang the songs and played all the the instruments. The eventual release was entitled For You, a clever ploy to keep all his many girlfriends happy.

Prince had a minor success from the album, a tribute to Mr Whippy entitled Soft and Wet, which reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His breakthrough, though, came in 1979 with an album named after his father, Prince, from which he had a hit with I Wanna Be Your Lover, reaching the #11 spot. Prince followed this up with Dirty Mind, which featured songs such as Head, Uptown and Do It All Night, a trilogy telling of Prince's years in central Minneapolis working the nightshift. After this came 1999, released in 1982 due to a mix up in at Warner Brothers, which sold over 3 million copies.

Next came Controversy, followed by Purple Rain, a combination album and movie about pollution from the garment industry, winning Prince an Oscar for best original song score. This album scored Prince his first number one hit.

After this, Prince was a veritable fountain of hits, releasing memorable albums Around the World in Eighty Days, Parade, Razzle and Sign O' The Times. 

Around this time, Prince became interested in conservation and green energy production, supporting new power generation methods and cleaning spraypaint from public structures.

In 1992 as part of a spat with his label, Prince changed his name to...

... which was pronounced 'Prince', 'The Love Symbol' or 'Twat' depending on context. It was also at this time that he took to writing the word SLAVE on his face, presumably to remind himself to work really, really hard.

Prince was married twice, once to Mayte Garcia, a relationship that lasted four years, and again for five years after he married Mario Testino in 2001.

Through it all, Prince released album after album and, over the course of his career releasing thirty nine studio albums.

Sadly, there will be no more. Sometimes it Snows in April.

Victoria Wood 1953 - 2016

Victoria Wood comedienne and antique dealer died today.

Daughter of Ronnie and Birnham, Victoria Wood was born in Prestwich, Lancashire but soon moved to Bury which back then was still in Lancashire, although the town has sinced moved into Manchester for the better schools.

Wood was sent to Bury School, where she was attended such courses as Digging 101, Filling In and Treasure, Bones, Acorns and More.

Wood was unhappy at school, developing eating disorders, but in 1968, her father gave her a piano for her 15th birthday. Finding herself unable to eat it all, let alone throw it up again, Wood decided to investigate her musical side.

This led Wood to go on to travel to Alabama to study drama at the University of Birmingham.

In 1974, whilst still an undergraduate, Wood appeared on New Faces, an early example of the makeover show, after which she joined  fellow New Faces alumni Lenny Henry and Marti 'Michael' Caine in The Summer Show, which could have had a much longer run had they thought about the title before they started.

Her big break came in 1976 with an appearance on That's Life! a show which attempted to encapsulate the entirety of human existence through the medium of amusingly-shaped vegetables.  It was here that Wood met her long-time collaborator, Julie 'Muddy' Walters.

In fact, when Wood was finally offered a sketch show of her own, she refused unless Walters agreed to equal billing - resulting in the pair splitting the cost of lighting, sound and catering 50/50. The resulting show was named Wood and Walters. At this time Wood also found herself appearing in numerous other television productions include presenting Insight, a show for hearing-impaired children, and appearing on the popular  Radio 4 show set in a steak restaurant with a very limited menu, Just A Minute.

Wood's success continued through the eighties, when she also famously opened Acorn Antiques, although her decision to staff it with actors instead of experts led to commercial disaster.

Undeterred, Wood continued the comedy, becoming one of the best-loved entertainers in Britain. Speaking of her craft, Wood said, “Stand-up comedy is the ideal place for a shy person because you’re completely in control,” leaving the intriguing prospect of, if the comedy hadn't worked out, a possible second career as a dominatrix.

In the nineties and after,  Wood's output included the sitcom Dinnerladies about the hi-jinks in a cannibal village, and Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, leading to the Queen acknowledging her contribution to the arts by appointing her a CBeebie.

In her personal life, Wood was married to Geoffrey Durham aka The Great Soprendo with whom she would attend Quaker meetings, mostly for the porridge. The couple had two children but, unfortunately, in October 2002, Durham made himself disappear.

In a career spanning decades, Victoria Wood blazed a trail for women in comedy, as well as making millions laugh. Over her career she was nominated for 14 BAFTAs along the way and winning four of them.

And now she's gone.

Let's hope they have a subscription to Woman's Weekly in heaven eh?

Goodbye Victoria, and thank you.