Prince wanted to pen a book about the "hardships" faced by music artists.

Speaking in 1997 in a previously unreleased interview with Top of the Pops magazine as published in The Observer newspaper, he said: "One day I might write the book about the hardships artists face. It's incredible that you write songs but don't own the rights to them and someone else can do whatever they like with them.

"Still my soul is cast iron and not to be dented. I've been on the mountain top and seen what there is to see. I've been Number 1 and sold huge amounts of records. My main concern is that I can now enjoy being a musician again."

Meanwhile, before his untimely death, Prince had revealed he was penning an autobiography titled 'The Beautiful Ones'.

He said: "The good people of Random House have made me an offer I can't refuse! It's going to be called 'The Beautiful Ones'. I literally just got off the plane. I'm going to go home and change and put some dancing clothes on. Props to my brother Harry Belafonte.

"You all still read books, right? My brother Dan - Dan Piepenbring of the Paris Review - is helping with it. He's a good critic. That's what I need. Not a yes man."