LORIDA RESIDENT LEADS THE WAY IN PRINCE ROGERS NELSON FAN MOVEMENT

(Tampa FL – February 21, 2019) Leading the way in the YouTube world of fan-based content about the legendary Prince Rogers Nelson, is longtime Florida and Hillsborough County resident Eloy Lasanta. More widely known as “Prince’s Friend”, Lasanta has carved out a niche for himself as a Prince historian with a global following. His channel is organically growing at the rate of over 300% annually and currently has approximately 400 originally-produced videos so far (UPDATED: currently over 500 videos). In 2018 alone, the Prince’s Friend channel had more than one million views (UPDATED: currently the channel has almost 3 million views). 

In 2007, Florida proudly hosted the 41st Superbowl at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens with arguably one of the best halftime performances in history by Prince. Dressed to the nines in the Dolphin colors of nautical aqua and orange, Prince gave a performance in pouring rain that rocked 74,512 fans in the stadium and 140 million television viewers for twelve incredible minutes.  Eight short years later, the world mourned the loss of this brilliant man when he passed in 2016. Prince was a musical genius, a gifted performer, a trend setter, a boundary breaker, and an industry game changer. 

To many in his fandom, Prince was also a life transformer. Since 2016 to honor his life, there have been an extraordinary number of efforts to keep his legacy alive. There have been tribute performances, song dedications, numerous new books released, reissued albums, new albums of unreleased material, continued charity work from the alumni camp, documentaries made, movies in the works, art created, photographs published, symphonies that have performed his music, museum tours of his Minneapolis compound, Paisley Park, and so much more. With hundreds of unreleased songs tucked away in his vault, the world could potentially hear new music from the icon for many years to come.

Complementing these more commercial efforts, is a massive movement of purple fans who are extremely dedicated to keeping his legacy alive and helping more people learn about Prince beyond his 80’s and 90’s hits. Strong within the fandom, this crusade attracts many viewers and listeners with impressive efforts via vlogs, blogs, podcasts, and social media.

YouTube vlogger Prince’s Friend works independently of the Prince estate but remains aligned with the overall mission of keeping Prince’s legacy alive through explorations of his songs, albums, movies, messaging, estate news, as well as his posthumous celebration events and music releases. Taking some deep dives into Prince’s career which spanned over five decades, the channel host looks closely at all directions of the artist’s journey. Lasanta keeps his YouTube productions fresh to keep viewers engaged. In addition to examining the artist’s extensive catalog of albums song by song, Prince’s Friend also shares music news, hosts trivia games, has live Q&A sessions, conducts interviews with alumni who have worked with Prince, and looks at other artists created or inspired by Prince to share. Prince’s Friend even highlights other artists from various genres and eras.

While sharing his personal thoughts, opinions, and ideas based on his perspective and research, Prince’s Friend also encourages viewers to connect after watching his videos by posting video comments. “I want my channel to be a community and to have conversations,” he explains. “This is how we learn and grow. I am sharing information about the Prince that I have come to know, but we each have our own unique perspective. I love this discussion and it’s why I created this channel after Prince’s passing as a form of grieving and healing. We have to do that together.”

Eloy Lasanta considers himself a student of Prince and has been inspired by his persona and work since the early 90’s. He has modeled his work ethic after Prince in his businesses. This principle is what ties Lasanta’s projects together and keeps him motivated to keep up the volume of his creative output not only in producing YouTube videos, but also in his other endeavors publishing gaming books. Lasanta lives in Florida with his wife and children, but considers Minneapolis, Minnesota his second home staying connected to the Minneapolis Sound music mecca and hometown of Prince.

Most recently, Lasanta visited Minneapolis to attend a launch of photographer Allen Beaulieu and the Minneapolis Historical Society Press’ book Prince: Before the Rain. This 2018 photographic literary release puts into focus the hallmark imagery—including behind-the-scenes, candid, and casual shots—with recollections from photographer Allen Beaulieu on his personal and professional relationship with Prince in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Lasanta was a contributing writer of the book providing the accompanying copy that takes readers deeper into the context of these crucial early years. He joined other contributors including music artist Dez Dickerson who wrote the forward and writer and musician Jim Walsh who shared reminiscences from former bandmates, including Bobby Z., Dez Dickerson, André Cymone, and more.

For additional information about Prince’s Friend and his YouTube channel, visit www.PrincesFriend.com.

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For additional information about Prince’s Friend and his YouTube channel, contact Kari Campano at (203) 223-0756 or CLICK HERE to email.