PRINCE RETURNS TO THE NAME MOST PEOPLE WERE USING ANYWAY

Forget the symbol; erase the acronym—the artist formerly known as Prince said Tuesday (5/16) that he will be, now and forever, known again as Prince.

"On Dec. 31, 1999, my publishing contract with Warner/Chappell expired, thus emancipating the name I was given before birth—Prince—from all long-term restrictive documents," Prince said at a news conference in New York. "I will now go back to using my name instead of the symbol I adopted to free myself from all undesirable relationships."

The Artist Currently Known As Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson.

Prince's re-renaming kicked off an hour-long news conference where the Minneapolis rocker made an assortment of announcements, including the fact that his deal with Arista Records ends July 1; the day after clive davis',390,400);">clive davis',390,400);">Clive Davis' contract expires at the label. Prince's current relationship with Arista is through what he calls a two-page "agreement" with Davis that is "null and void" and "impossible to honor."

"I didn't have a contract with Arista. I had an agreement with Clive," Prince said.

In fact, he reiterated his long-standing mistrust of the music industry's label system and left open the question of whether he will ever again do a substantial deal with a major label.

In addition, the diminutive rocker announced a weeklong party in his hometown of Minneapolis, dubbed "Prince: A Celebration."

As part of the event, his Paisley Park recording studio will be opened for tours June 7-13, with a special Prince concert set for June 13 at Northrup Auditorium. A new Prince song, "Cybersingle," will also be available on his Web site, as will be a modified version of his last album, "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic."

The return to the Prince name ends a seven-year battle between the performer and Warner Bros. Records, which had Prince under contract through the end of last year.

Prince, charging that Warner Bros. exercised too much control over his music, switched his name to a symbol in 1993 to try to get out of a long-term multimillion multi-album deal he signed with the label.