Iconic Prince Guitar, "Blue Angel", Sells For $563K At Auction

An iconic Prince guitar, Blue Angel Cloud 2, has recently sold at auction for a whopping $563,500. The guitar saw frequent use by His Royal Badness from 1984 to 1993.

Cloud 2 is the follow-up to the original—which Prince featured in the 1984 film Purple Rain—and received the “Blue Angel” nickname due to its status as the only Cloud guitar to receive a light blue finish. While picking a favorite guitar is an impossible task for many musicians, Cloud 2’s resume is impressive. The Purple One used Blue Angel as his primary guitar throughout many tours, including the Purple Rain Tour in 1984 and ’85; the Parade Tour in 1986; the Sign o’ The Times Tour in 1987; the Lovesexy Tour in 1988-1989; and the Diamonds and Pearls Tour in 1992.

Furthermore, Cloud 2 also appeared in the 1987 music documentary Sign o’ The Times and is featured on the poster for the film. Prince used Blue Angel during his performance on Saturday Night Live on September 24th, 1989, and even appeared on the September 1991 cover of Spin magazine. Additionally, Prince put the Cloud 2 to work during the filming of several music videos, including “Gett Off” and “Cream”.

According to the auction description, Cloud 2 saw several incarnations. Though it originally arrived white in 1984, Prince had the guitar refinished in peach (1987), light blue (1988), yellow (1991), and finally electric blue/purple (1994), which was the same color at auction. Click here to visit the auction listing and to read more about the classic guitar, and watch The Prince of Funk put Blue Angel to work at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 5th, 1991 below.

Prince – “Gett Off” – 9/5/91

[Video: Jack Maldeir]