Genius, king of pop, Minneapolis imp, multifaceted provocateur. No one will ever know which definition best captures singer-songwriter Prince, stage name of Prince Rogers Nelson, found dead on 21 April at his home-studio in Minneapolis. But one thing is certain, perhaps more than any other: Prince was a great animal lover and a committed animal rights advocate.

Vegan since 1990, in 1998 he wrote the song Animal Kingdom – included in the collection Crystal Ball: essentially his ethical manifesto, in which his choice to embrace a diet free of animal protein is clearly declared and explained.

And so I don't eat red meat or white fish (…) We are all members of the animal kingdom Leave your brothers and sisters in the sea Who told us we should eat pig?

From the lyrics of Animal Kingdom, 1998

In 2000 Prince also signed over the rights to this same song to Peta, the non-profit organisation supporting animal rights: the track was used as the soundtrack to the video produced for the organisation's twentieth anniversary, of which Prince was a staunch supporter.

Even before writing Animal Kingdom, interviewed by Vegetarian Times magazine in 1997, Prince made some very clear statements, and one in particular became very well known:

Compassion is a word that becomes action without boundaries (…) It will be necessary to establish a national animal rights day and we will do so when all slaughterhouses are closed.

On page 83 below.

In 2006 Peta named him the world's sexiest vegan and Prince, explaining his choice not to eat meat and to let animals live, said:

Don't eat anything that has parents (…) Don't kill means exactly that!

In 1999 Prince was also accused of having worn a fur coat on one of the versions of the cover of the album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. That jacket was of course fake, and to those who had accused him he replied: "If it had been real it would have taken 7 lambs to make it… does that seem like a worthy thing?", including in the disc's booklet notes a lengthy explanation of the consequences that arise from wearing garments derived from animals.

Prince: genius, king of pop, Minneapolis imp, multifaceted provocateur and committed defender of animal rights.