Sunday, April 21 marks the third anniversary of Prince's passing, and Purple Current will honor the memory of the Minneapolis sound legend with a series of programs: "Prince Year by Year."

Created by the staff at Purple Current and The Current, these hourlong programs will each look at a year of Prince's life, with a focus on the music he wrote, performed, and released — as well as work he did for other artists — in that year. The programs cover Prince's hits, rarities and stories from noted collaborators like Dez Dickerson, Bobby Z, Doctor Fink, Sheila E., and Morris Hayes.

"Prince might be the most fascinating musician to emerge not only from Minnesota, but in the last 50 years anywhere on earth," said Jim McGuinn, The Current's program director. "The Current is honored to have access to many of his collaborators, who shared insight into his music, and we're excited to share this year-by-year look at Prince on The Current and Purple Current."

The entire program aired on Purple Current from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., April 26-29, coinciding with Celebration Weekend, the weekend event dedicated to Prince and hosted by Paisley Park.

Use the audio player above to listen to each hour.

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Hosted by Andrea Swensson

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Hosted by Jim McGuinn

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The best place to start is on May 16, 1984 with the release of what would become his first US #1 hit, the top selling single of the year, a worldwide smash with an iconic video and unique sound, for that was the day Prince released "When Doves Cry."

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Prince was also working on a project called Camille, an eponymous album from his gender-bending alias. That album also never came to fruition, but included the songs "Housequake," "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "Strange Relationship."

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Prince decided to combine those two projects to create a triple album called Crystal Ball... but his record label was not on board with releasing a triple album. So Prince removed 7 tracks from the original project, recorded one more song to be included on this new project and voila you have Sign O' The Times!

The album reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on Billboard's R&B chart. He followed the release with a European Tour and released a concert film too.

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While the album received mixed reviews from critics and listeners — it was Prince's least successful album in the U.S since 1981... perhaps due to some retailers relutance to display the cover, which featured Prince, naked on a bed of flowers — it was his first # 1 album in the UK and Alphabet Street, the first single, was a worldwide hit.

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Prince continued to plant seeds closer to home by opening the first Glam Slam nightclub, producing music with Mavis Staples and Patti LaBelle and the continuing development of Paisley Park as a music production facility and record label.

In 1989, Prince seemed to be everywhere at once.

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Hosted by Andrea Swensson

Hosted by Sean McPherson

Hosted by Andrea Swensson

Hosted by Derrick Stevens

Hosted by Sean McPherson

Hosted by Andrea Swensson

Hosted by Sean McPherson

Hosted by Derrick Stevens

Hosted by Andrea Swensson