Blackstar Rising and the Purple Reign is the first critical anthology dedicated to exploring the legacies of two pop music icons who died within months of one another in 2016: David Bowie and Prince. Daphne A. Brooks brings together an extraordinary array of writers, artists and scholars including Greg Tate, Jack Halberstam, Kara Keeling, Eric Lott, and Ann Powers to offer fresh insight into how Bowie and Prince each fundamentally changed pop culture as two musicians who emerged at the intersections of modern movements surrounding race, gender, sexuality, and art. Featured alongside these pieces are interviews with trusted collaborators of Bowie and Prince such as D.A. Pennebaker, Sheila E., and Marie France, giving vital insider context to the impact both artists had on pop culture and the complexities of their repertoires, politics, and private lives. This work is essential reading for any fan of two of the most formidable and eminent figures in pop culture history.

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Black Studies, American Studies, Women’, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Music at Yale University. She is the author of Liner Notes for the Revolution and Jeff Buckley’s Grace, as well as Bodies in Dissent, published by Duke University Press.