Prince to Get Funky at Super Bowl

[Caliente]

by Josh Grossberg Mon Dec 11, 8:15 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Are you ready to go crazy?

Following in the footsteps of such mega-acts as the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, Prince is set to be the star performer for the Pepsi Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show, airing live on CBS Feb. 4 from Miami's Dolphin Stadium.
The big news was unveiled Sunday, during the Eye network's NFL Today and comes three days after His Purpleness grabbed five Grammy nominations for his new release, 3121, including Best R&B Album, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.
The invitation affords Prince, 48, the honor of playing in front of his largest audience ever at the highest-rated sporting event of the year.
An estimated 141 million U.S. viewers and nearly one billion people from over 230 countries worldwide tuned in for last year's Super Bowl, which saw the Stones serving as the main halftime attraction.
In 2005, McCartney headlined the show in a staid performance designed to counter the furor caused by Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 pigskin classic—a nipple slip that resulted in legislation increasing indecency fines for broadcasters.
Prince has an extensive back catalog of hits to keep the festive crowd grooving when he takes center stage at the halftime extravaganza, including "Little Red Corvette," "1999," "Kiss," "Cream," "Let's Go Crazy," "U Got the Look" and "Raspberry Beret."
Super Bowl XLI's Halftime Show will be directed once again by veteran producer Don Mischer, whose Don Mischer Productions will executive produce with White Cherry Entertainment.
In addition to getting ready for some football, the artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince has been experiencing a musical renaissance of sorts over the last couple of years.
After his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Prince released Musicology, his biggest-selling CD since Diamonds and Pearls. The disc was followed by the same year's successful Musicology tour, which thrust him back in the limelight after years of toiling in obscurity—much of that due to his disdain for his former recording contract with Warner Bros., which led him to appear in public with the word "Slave" scrawled across his cheek and adopt a symbol for his name in protest in 1994.
Prince went on to win the NAACP Vanguard Award in 2005, and in April he scored his first number one debut ever on the Billboard album charts. The funkster also contributed a new tune, "Song of the Heart," to the Happy Feet soundtrack and opened up his first-ever club on the Las Vegas strip.