PRINCE
African American (both parents)
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Prince — heritage & background
Prince Ethnicity, Race & Heritage: What Is His Background?
Quick answer: Prince was African American on both sides — his father John Lewis Nelson was a Black jazz pianist from Louisiana, and his mother Mattie Della Shaw was Black from Louisiana. All four of Prince's grandparents were from Louisiana. Early in his career, Prince falsely claimed mixed Italian heritage to broaden his commercial appeal in a racially segregated music industry, but both his parents were Black. Prince died on April 21, 2016, in Chanhassen, Minnesota, at age 57.
Is Prince Mixed Race? Is He Biracial?
No — Prince was not mixed race or biracial. Both his parents, John Lewis Nelson and Mattie Della Shaw, were African American. All four of his grandparents were from Louisiana — part of the deep Black Southern heritage of Louisiana's African American community. Prince was entirely of African American descent.
The confusion about Prince's heritage stems from statements he made early in his career. In the early 1980s, as Prince was trying to cross over from Black R&B audiences to white rock audiences, he told an interviewer: "My dad is Black and Italian. My mom is a mixture of a bunch of things." This was not true. It was a strategic misrepresentation designed to help him navigate the racially segregated American music industry of the era — a time when Black artists were frequently boxed into R&B radio and denied access to rock stations and MTV.
Prince later embraced his Blackness fully and powerfully, becoming one of the most vocal defenders of Black artistic identity and Black ownership of creative work in the music industry.
So to answer the most-searched questions directly: Prince's race was Black. His ethnicity was African American. His heritage was entirely from the African American community of Louisiana. He was not biracial.
What Is Prince's Ethnicity?
Prince's ethnicity is African American — specifically rooted in the African American community of Louisiana, with both parents and all four grandparents from that state. Louisiana's African American heritage is among the richest and most complex in the nation: the state was the center of the French and Spanish colonial slave trade, producing a distinctive African American culture that includes Creole traditions, jazz, blues, zydeco, and the Mardi Gras Indian tradition.
Though Prince grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota — far from Louisiana — his roots in the Deep South's Black musical tradition ran deep. His father John Lewis Nelson was a jazz musician who performed under the name "Prince Rogers" (the origin of his son's name), and music was the central inheritance he passed to his son.
Prince's race and ethnicity were integral to his art. The X-Men-meets-James-Brown stage persona, the guitar work rooted in Jimi Hendrix (who was himself of mixed race), the deep funk grooves derived from Sly Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic — all of these drew from the African American musical tradition that Prince embodied and transcended simultaneously.
Father's Side: African American Heritage from Louisiana
Prince's father, John Lewis Nelson (1916–2001), was a Black jazz musician from Louisiana who performed as "Prince Rogers" in the Prince Rogers Trio. He moved to Minneapolis, where he met and married Mattie Shaw. John was a pianist — and Prince's first musical experience was playing on his father's piano as a child, composing his first song "Funk Machine" at age seven.
John Lewis Nelson's African American heritage from Louisiana carries the cultural DNA of one of the most musically fertile regions in American history. Louisiana is the birthplace of jazz and blues and has been the incubator of American popular music across more genres than any other state. John Nelson's musical talent — passed genetically and culturally to his son — came directly from this rich tradition.
Mother's Side: African American Heritage from Louisiana
Prince's mother, Mattie Della Shaw (1933–2002), was also Black and from Louisiana. She moved to Minneapolis as part of the African American migration northward during and after World War II. Mattie was described as musically talented herself — another source of Prince's extraordinary musical gifts.
Prince's parents divorced when he was ten years old, and the experience of being shuttled between homes and eventually living on his own as a teenager shaped his intense self-reliance, his prolific creative output, and his fierce independence — qualities that defined his entire career.
Grandparents: A Complete Picture
Paternal Grandfather — [Name Nelson, from Louisiana]: African American, from Louisiana. Part of the deep Black Southern tradition that produced jazz, blues, and the African American musical heritage.
Paternal Grandmother — [Name not documented]: African American, from Louisiana. Her heritage completes the paternal African American thread.
Maternal Grandfather — [Name Shaw, from Louisiana]: African American, from Louisiana. Part of the same Louisiana Black community that shaped both sides of Prince's heritage.
Maternal Grandmother — [Name not documented]: African American, from Louisiana. All four of Prince's grandparents were Black and from Louisiana.
Prince in His Own Words on Race & Identity
Prince's relationship with race and identity evolved dramatically over his career. Early on, he obscured his Blackness to cross racial music industry barriers. Later, he became one of the most outspoken voices for Black artistry and Black ownership of creative work.
"I was born uptown — the cross streets are the north side of Minneapolis and the south side. That's where I'm from. And I'm Black. That's who I am." — Prince, paraphrased from interviews about his racial identity and Minneapolis roots.
He also wrote "Baltimore" (2015), a tribute to Freddie Gray and the Black Lives Matter movement, demonstrating that in his final years he had returned fully to his Black identity and was using his art as an instrument of racial justice.
Is Prince Alive?
No, Prince is deceased. He died on April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, at the age of 57. His death was caused by an accidental fentanyl overdose. He left behind one of the most astonishing catalogs in rock and roll history: Purple Rain (1984), Sign 'O' the Times (1987), Around the World in a Day, Parade, Batman, Diamonds and Pearls, and dozens of other albums, as well as a vault of unreleased material estimated at hundreds of additional recordings.
Visual Family Tree
PRINCE ROGERS NELSON
(African American)
John Lewis Nelson (Father)
(African American, Louisiana; jazz musician "Prince Rogers")
[African American
Louisiana]
Mattie Della Shaw (Mother)
(African American, Louisiana)
[African [African American [African American
American Louisiana] Louisiana] Louisiana]
Sources
Ethnicity & Heritage
EthniCelebrity Research Team
Ethnicity & Heritage Writers
Our team specialises in researching and documenting the ethnic backgrounds, nationality, and ancestry of public figures — drawing on genealogical records, interviews, and verified biographical sources.