Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958), is a popular and influential American musician. His music has spanned myriad styles; though his early material was firmly rooted in R&B, funk and soul, he has constantly expanded his musical palette throughout his career, absorbing many other genres including new wave, pop, rock, blues, jazz and hip hop. The distinctive characteristics of the early-to-mid 1980s work which brought him to superstardom (including sparse and industrial-sounding drum machine arrangements, and the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role traditionally occupied by horn riffs in earlier R&B, funk and soul music) .