This Thing Called Life

A journalist “draws from his recollections, notes and tapes, to paint an illuminating and intimate portrait of a supremely talented and complex artist” ( Newsweek ). Neal Karlen was the only journalist Prince granted in-depth press interviews to for over a dozen years, from before Purple Rain to when he became the artist formerly known as Prince. Karlen interviewed Prince for three Rolling Stone cover stories, wrote “3 Chains o’ Gold,” Prince’s “rock video opera,” as well as the star’s last test