New York - "The artist formerly known as Prince", who years ago changed his name to a self-designed, unpronounceable glyph, said he was reverting to the name he used when he became one of the 1980s' top recording artists.
Wearing a white turtleneck sweater and sporting auburn tinted hair, Prince, who was introduced as "The artist", spoke to reporters at a news conference that covered everything from the distribution of his music via the Internet to his personal and spiritual life.
With the expiration of his publishing agreement with Warner Bros records at the end of 1999, the pop star said, "I will now go back to using my name, instead of the symbol I adopted as a means to free myself from all undesirable relationships."