Singer Prince passed away at the age of 57

American singer Prince died in a recording studio at his home at the age of 57. The cause of death is unclear, but a few days before he was hospitalized with the flu.

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis and first became famous in the late 1970s, but he became really famous thanks to such hits as 1999 and Purple Rain. He was not only a performer, but also a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist. His work left a significant mark in the history of pop music of the 1980s and 1990s. Prince's life was spent under the lens of lenses, however, there are several little-known facts in his biography.

(10 photos in total)

Prince at the American Music Awards on November 22, 2015. Photo: rexfeatures

Prince wrote his first song at the age of 7. It was called Funk Machine.

Prince at the Brit Awards in London on February 15, 2006. Photo: rexfeatures

The first musical group in which he sang as a teenager was called Grand Central.

Hom Farm Festival in Kent, UK, 2011. Photo: rexfeatures

At one point, he was so poor that he sniffed food instead of eating. "I didn't have any money at all, and I just stood outside McDonald's and sniffed," he said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1985.

Prince in the 1990 film musical Graffiti Bridge. Photo: rexfeatures

Prince is the only one, besides The Beatles, who has a film, album and single that took first place in the United States.

Prince performs at Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom on August 26, 1990. Photo: rexfeatures

Director Tim Burton originally planned that Prince would write half of the Batman soundtrack, and Michael Jackson would write the other half: the first would write funky stuff, and the second would sing ballads.

Prince's concert at Wembley Stadium. Photo: rexfeatures

In the end, Prince wrote the material for "Batman" for an entire album, having met Kim Basinger and fallen in love with her. He even canceled a tour to Japan in order to work more on the material and impress the actress.

Prince and his band The New Power Generation, 1991. Photo: rexfeatures

Sinead O'Connor's song Nothing Compares 2 U was written by Prince for the band The Family, but the singer made it an international hit in 1990.

Prince performs the hit Purple Rain in 1984. Photo: rexfeatures

In Madonna's song Like a Prayer, it is Prince who plays the guitar, although this is not indicated anywhere.

Prince in 1984. Photo: rexfeatures

Michael Jackson wrote the song Bad to sing it as a duet with Prince, but he did not like the words, and he was against the first line of "Your butt is mine" (literally — "Your ass is in my hands").

Brit Awards, O2 Arena in London, February 19, 2014. Photo: rexfeatures

Prince became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect in 1997 and has since excluded sexually oriented material from his performances and has not written overly explicit songs for many years.

The singer left a huge archive of unreleased and unused songs, albums and abandoned video projects in his home studio.