The memoir that Prince was working on at the time of his death will be published Oct. 29.
“The Beautiful Ones” will combine an unfinished manuscript by the musician with rare photos, scrapbooks and lyrics, according to Random House, the publisher.
First announced weeks before his 2016 death, the 288-page book will include an introduction by Dan Piepenbring, a contributor to The New Yorker whom Prince had chosen as a collaborator.
“ ‘The Beautiful Ones’ is the deeply personal account of how Prince Rogers Nelson became the Prince we know: the real-time story of a kid absorbing the world around him and creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and the fame that would come to define him,” an announcement from Random House said.
It said the book will range “from Prince’s childhood to his early years as a musician to the cusp of international stardom, using Prince’s own writings, a scrapbook of his personal photos and the original, handwritten lyric sheets for many of his most iconic songs, which he kept at Paisley Park.”
It also will included “his original, handwritten treatment for his masterwork ‘Purple Rain,’ ” according to the publisher.
Prince, who was 57, died April 21, 2016, from an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
A month earlier, he’d told his audience at a Manhattan nightclub appearance, “The good people of Random House have made me an offer that I can’t refuse.” He said the book would start with his “first memory” and “hopefully” continue to his rain-drenched Super Bowl halftime performance in 2007.
In 2018, literary agent Esther Newberg told Variety magazine Prince had completed more than 50 handwritten pages.
