✦ Nothing Compares 2 U - Single: 2018

Prince’s original 1984 recording finally emerges — a haunting, intimate performance revealing the song’s true origins

✦ SUMMARY

The Prince Estate, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Records, released the original 1984 version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” on May 25, 2018. Although the song became world‑famous through Sinéad O’Connor’s 1990 interpretation, Prince had composed, arranged, and performed the track entirely himself years earlier. Recorded at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Eden Prairie, the session was engineered by Susan Rogers and featured backing vocals by Susannah Melvoin and Paul “St. Paul” Peterson, with saxophone by Eric Leeds. This version remained completely unreleased for decades. The song’s first official appearance had been on the debut album by The Family in 1985, one of Prince’s many side projects. The 2018 release offered fans the first opportunity to hear Prince’s own studio performance — raw, emotional, and unmistakably his — restoring the song to its original artistic context.

✦ HIGHLIGHTS

• Released May 25, 2018

• Original 1984 studio recording by Prince

• Recorded at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse, Eden Prairie

• Engineered by Susan Rogers

• Backing vocals: Susannah Melvoin, Paul “St. Paul” Peterson

• Saxophone: Eric Leeds

• First official release of Prince’s own version

• Issued by The Prince Estate and Warner Bros. Records

✦ TRACK DETAILS

Digital Single (2018)

A. Nothing Compares 2 U — 4:39

Produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince.

✦ CHART PERFORMANCE

United States

• Digital release generated significant media attention; no major chart entry reported

United Kingdom

• Widely covered in press; limited chart activity

No additional chart data supplied.

✦ SOURCES

The Prince Estate announcements

Warner Bros. Records release notes

Press coverage and archival references

Studio engineer interviews

✦ DISCOGRAPHY

Nothing Compares 2 U — Single: 2018

Moonbeam Levels — Single: 2016

Deliverance — EP: 2017 (unreleased/withdrawn)

Originals — Album: 2019

Piano & A Microphone 1983 — Album: 2018

✦ PRINCE ERA MINI‑TIMELINE

1984 — Prince records the original version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse

1985 — The Family releases the first official version of the song

1990 — Sinéad O’Connor’s cover becomes a global hit

2018 — The Prince Estate releases Prince’s original recording

✦ GLAM FLASHBACK

Hearing Prince’s 1984 version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” reframes the song entirely. Where Sinéad O’Connor’s rendition became a global emotional touchstone, Prince’s original reveals the blueprint — sparse, aching, and deeply personal. The Warehouse recording captures the intimacy of his mid‑’80s creative process, the same period that produced Around the World in a Day, Parade, and countless Vault classics. The 2018 release restored the song to its source, offering a rare glimpse into the emotional core of Prince’s songwriting.

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The Prince Estate, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Records, released the original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" as recorded by Prince in 1984, on May 25, 2018.

The track was, of course, best known via Sinéad O’Connor‘s superb 1990 cover, but back in 1984, it was originally composed, arranged, and performed in its entirety by Prince and was recorded at the Flying Cloud Drive ‘Warehouse’ in Eden Prairie by his long-time engineer Susan Rogers. This original version also featured backing vocals by Susannah Melvoin and Paul “St. Paul” Peterson and saxophone work by Eric Leeds. It was, of course, completely unreleased – the song’s first official appearance

was on the eponymous debut album of The Family – one of Prince’s side projects.

The record label made a digital version of this original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" available immediately (stream or download), but they also issued a physical version as a seven-inch single, with picture disc and black vinyl variants.

Michael Howe was the Prince Estate’s official Vault Archivist and had the following to say: “I spotted the two-inch multitrack reel in the Vault some weeks back while doing a 1984-era inventory. After retrieving my jaw from the floor, we took the reel upstairs, analyzed it, put it up on the Studer 24 track machine, and digitized it to 24/192. Even our ‘faders up’ rough mix was compelling enough to indicate that this was something very special indeed.”

The song was put to a video (see above) featuring never-before-seen rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution practicing their choreography in that same Eden Prairie warehouse during the same summer of 1984.

The bad news was that the vinyl picture disc was only available via a relaunched Prince HitNRun website, and you couldn’t buy it on its own, only with a T-shirt. Also, everything in the official store shipped from the USA, so for fans in the UK and Europe (and further afield), this seven-inch / T-shirt bundle worked out to be around £36 ($50), and then the cheapest shipping to the UK (which arrived 8-24 business days after the official release date) was £12 ($17.39). That was £48 in total. If you ended up paying import VAT and associated charges, that could add another £20. So in the worst-case scenario – with the very cheapest/slowest shipping – acquiring the seven-inch picture disc single could have cost UK buyers close to £70! By the way, if you went for the fastest shipping option (which still took 4-5 business days after release), that cost £43 or $61, taking your picture disc/T-shirt bundle price to £79 without possible import VAT or associated charges!

Some of the merchandise was quite cool looking, but you couldn’t help but feel that the Estate cranked up the commercial side of things to ’11’. And for an artist with such global appeal, it was all very US-centric right now.

Thankfully, if you could forego the picture disc and were happy with the humble black vinyl seven-inch, then this was available for pre-order from the usual channels and was released on May 25, 2018.

By Paul Sinclair

SDE

Track Listing

NOTHING COMPARES 2 U (EDIT VERSION) [4:12]

NOTHING COMPARES 2 U (FULL LENGTH VERSION) [4:40]

Recorded in July 1984 at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse, Eden Prairie, MN

Mixed by Tony Maserati at Mirrorball Studios, North Hollywood, CA

Assistant mix Engineer: Tyler Scott

Written, Arranged, Performed and Produced by Prince

Saxophone by Eric Leeds

Backing Vocals by Susannah Melvoin and Paul Peterson

Engineered by Susan Rogers