Monday, May 7, 2012

"What's Your Family Name?" - Exploring the Nelson Family

Last week wasn't terribly eventful. In a recent post, I mentioned that I was researching Prince's earliest religious experiences, particularly those at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. Well, I've started the process of requesting church records to confirm his involvement in the church.

Working on this project has brought up another area of interest--Prince's family members. I'd already researched (and written a little about) some of them, but I'm now learning just how many "Nelsons" there are. He has at least six siblings (mostly half-brothers and half-sisters). Sadly, a couple of them have passed in recent years. Also, his parents are no longer living.

I don't have high expectations for speaking with many of Prince's family members, and I've noticed that not many of his other biographers haven't been able to talk to them, either. Given that many of Prince's current and former music associates have signed non-disclosure agreements, I'll bet that his family won't be very forthcoming. Some have been (and may still be) estranged from the artist. However, that is not going to stop me from trying. I'll probably begin contacting them in the next couple of weeks.

Aside from that, I'm going to spend this week re-reading what I've already written for the book (approximately 100 pages). I want to get a sense of what additional questions that I still need to get answered. After that, I'd say my next two priorities are writing to Tavis Smiley, as I talked about in a previous post, and redesigning this blog website.

Thanks again for your time and support! You are an integral part of this process!


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