As part of the “A.V. Undercover” series, Har Mar Superstar stopped by the A.V. Club’s Chicago offices to perform his take on the Built to Spill song “Big Dipper.” While he was there, the A.V. Club asked him to also perform his cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine.” Watch the video at the A.V. Club. Mercury…

Before the 1984 blockbuster Purple Rain catapulted Prince on to the national stage, there was an Aug. 3, 1983 benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the recently re-branded First Avenue. It was there that the budding pop star debuted much of the Purple Rain album tracks, and recorded the versions of “Purple Rain,” “I Would…

According to the Associated Press, members of Prince’s family are planning an authorized tribute concert for Thursday, Oct. 13 at U.S. Bank Stadium — the Minnesota Vikings’ brand-new home in Minneapolis. Performers will be announced gradually, the family told the AP, and tickets will go on sale some time next month. “We are excited for…

Three members of the Rolling Stones were fined after being caught short; Elvis Costello released his debut album; Johnny Cash hit No. 1 in the album charts posthumously; Rufus Wainwright was born; and Prince had a hit album based on a superhero, Today in Music History.

NYC-based Emily King has been wowing fans with her smooth pop-soul blend for over a decade, opening for the likes of John Legend, Nas, Chaka Khan, and Alicia Keys. Now, she’s come into her own with the polished and powerful sophomore album The Switch, a long-awaited follow-up to her Grammy-nominated J Records release East Side Story (2007). King will…

Last summer, the Minneapolis house that appeared in Purple Rain as the home where Prince’s character “the Kid” lived went up for sale. Who bought it? Prince himself, it turns out. To celebrate Prince’s legacy, we’re going all-Prince on our Local Current stream of Minnesota music every day through Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, from 11 a.m. to noon.…

John Lennon suffered a tragic loss; Elton John got his first No. 1 album in the U.S.; Ray Davies temporarily resigned from the Kinks; Ian Curtis of Joy Division was born in Greater Manchester; and Prince gave free albums to U.K. tabloid subscribers, Today in Music History.

I grew up in Chanhassen, Minn., a small, ordinary suburb of the Twin Cities that also happened to be the part-time home of Prince Rogers Nelson. Prince, in all his expressive, eccentric, flamboyant glory, was everything that Chanhassen was not. His presence and everything he stood for was starkly juxtaposed against this white backdrop. As…

Chaka Khan says that Prince’s death has caused her to start “rethinking and reevaluating” her “life and priorities.” Both Khan and her sister Yvonne Stevens (Taka Boom) have both entered rehab for addiction to prescription medication — fentanyl, in Khan’s case, the same drug that took Prince’s life. “My sister and I would like to thank everyone…

“With profound loss and apocalyptic grief, we, along with the world, mourned Prince upon the news of his passing. After seeing the response outside of First Avenue and around the rest of the world’s monuments, we, as The Revolution — Wendy, Lisa, Brownmark, Dr. Fink, and Bobby Z — have decided to pay tribute to…