My Life in the Purple Kingdom – Memoir of Prince’s Bassist, BrownMark

My Life in the Purple Kingdom…

University of Minnesota Press to publish My Life in the Purple Kingdom, a memoir of Prince’s bassist BrownMark on growing up in Minneapolis, joining Prince and The Revolution, and his life in the purple kingdom…

The University of Minnesota Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of My Life in the Purple Kingdom, the memoir of BrownMark, one-time bassist with Prince’s band The Revolution, and with a foreword by Questlove, in September 2020.

In the summer of 1981, Mark Brown was a teenager at a 7-11 store when he wasn’t rehearsing with his high school band, Phantasy. Come fall, Brown, now called BrownMark, was onstage with Prince at the Los Angeles Coliseum, opening for the Rolling Stones in front of 90,000 people. My Life in the Purple Kingdom is BrownMark’s memoir of coming of age in the musical orbit of one of the most visionary artists of his generation. Raw, wry, real, this book takes us from his musical awakening as a boy in Minneapolis to the cold call from Prince at nineteen, from touring the world with The Revolution and performing in Purple Rain to inking his own contract with Motown.

In My Life in the Purple Kingdom, BrownMark describes how his funky stylings earned him a reputation (leading to Prince’s call) and how he and Prince first played together—and never really stopped.

An inspiring memoir of making it against stacked odds, experiencing extreme highs and lows of success and pain, and breaking racial barriers, My Life in the Purple Kingdom is also the story of a young man learning his craft and honing his skills like any musician, but in a world like no other and in a way that only Brown Mark could tell.

BrownMark (Mark Brown) is an American musician, bassist, and record producer born in Minneapolis. His early fame came in 1981 when he joined The Revolution, Prince’s original touring (and later, recording) band.

Cynthia M. Uhrich is an award-winning filmmaker and the founder of In the Moment Films. Her writing has been published by Smith & Krauss and Freshwater Press, and she facilitates a twice-yearly writing retreat for women in Minnesota, where she resides.

Questlove is a musician and music journalist. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the band The Roots, the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014.

For more information on My Life in the Purple Kingdom, visit: z.umn.edu/brownmark