Prairie Prince (born Charles L'Empereur Prince, May 7 1950, Charlotte, North Carolina) is a rock drummer. He is a member of the The Tubes and was a founding member of the group Journey, and has also worked with Chris Isaak (on his first four albums), Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, David Byrne, XTC, Tom Waits, Paul Kantner, George Harrison, Dick Dale, Glenn Frey, Richard Marx, Bill Spooner, Neil Hamburger, John Fogerty, and Tommy Bolin. When Fogerty was asked to put together his dream band for a one-time live show to celebrate the release of "Centerfield," he chose several members of Booker T and the MGs, but since drummer Al Jackson Jr. had died several years earlier, Fogerty chose Prince as his drummer for the show.

He is also a graphic artist, designing the album cover artwork for Rundgren's 1981 album Healing, amongst others. Along with his creative partner Michael Cotten, he has created numerous set designs for major artists including Billy Joel, Bette Midler, N'Sync, The Tubes, and Todd Rundgren.

He recently completed a tour with The New Cars including Todd Rundgren, bassist Kasim Sulton (Rundgren's Utopia bandmate), and original Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes.

He appears on the 2008 Jefferson Starship release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty, although Donny Baldwin has taken over drum duties for the 2008 tour.

He continues to play with The Tubes.

External links

• Prairie Prince Online
• The Tubes Documentary
• thetubes.com
• The Tubes on Myspace
• thenewcars.com
• Prairie Prince radio interview on Rundgren Radio