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Andrea Swensson was music editor at the Twin Cities' premier alt-weekly City Pages from 2008 to 2012. In January 2012, she moved to Minnesota Public Radio, where she created the Local Current Blog and was named host and producer of The Local Show, exploring Minnesota's local music scene. Her first book, Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound, chronicling the Twin Cities funk and soul scene from the 1950s to the 1970s was released in October 2017 and was honored with a Minnesota Book Award. Andrea has contributed freelance writing to Paisley Park, NPR, Mpls/St. Paul Magazine, Minnesota Monthly, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She is currently the host and co-producer of Prince Official Podcast, produced in collaboration with the Prince Estate, The Current, Warner Records, and Sony Legacy.
"""Poring over all the details in this book, from the ticket stubs to the film stills and all those impeccable Purple Rain tour outfits in the concert photography, it all brings me right back to that summer in 1984 when I first purified myself in those Lake Minnetonka waters. Just when I think I know everything about him I realize that there’s still so much to learn, and reading Andrea’s interviews with The Revolution and with Prince himself provides all these little puzzle pieces. The story keeps unfolding, and that brings me so much comfort."" * Maya Rudolph, from her foreword * ""The book goes beyond Purple Rain providing a fast-moving biography of Prince’s entire life leading up to Purple Rain. It provides concise but thorough overviews of each of the five previous albums with a wealth of quotes from a cross-section of credible sources, in addition to Swensson’s own interviews, plus a forward written by Maya Rudolph."" * Spin.com * ""...faithfully recaptures his heyday and the time when Purple Rain was released. Because a film was so integral to the Purple Rain phenomenon, the visual aspect of the project is important and this book, in all its paisley and lingerie glory, is a feast for the eyes. There are few books that so evocatively capture the creative human chimera that was Prince."" * The Vinyl District * ""...calling this handsome tome a coffee table book is a bit of a disservice, as it goes into far more depth than most such books, which tend to favor flash over substance...covers Prince’s early days, his career leading up to “Purple Rain” and its cultural impact through a series of candid interviews, sharp insights and endless photos. It’s the perfect memento for anyone who lived through 1984 as well as anyone interested in learning what they missed."" * St. Paul Pioneer Press *"
