Prince Wants to Study Bible

|PIC1|Legendary US rock star Prince plans to take time off music to study the Bible, after completing a spate of 21 concerts in London later this year, he announced on Tuesday.

Prince made a brief appearance in the city yesterday afternoon to announce the line-up, which kicks off 1 August.

Outside Organisation, a PR company helping to publicise the tour, said in a statement that Prince would be performing his greatest hits "for the very last time", but the artist did not confirm the claim.

Prince explained: "I love London. I've had some of my favourite shows here."

He said he would be looking for a place to live for the duration of his stay.

He will charge £31.21 pounds per ticket ($62), after his recent record "3121", with which he scored his first US No 1 album in almost 17 years in 2006.

"Last time I was here, a lot of people didn't get to see me, so we're trying to make it affordable for everybody," he said.

Prince said he planned to change his show every night, meaning fans who came to several shows would get a broader cross section of his music.

"We play so many different styles of music, it's really hard to get a full dose of what we do unless you come to several shows. I also have a wide fan base that comes to multiple shows all the time."

He said he had learned about 150 songs from which to choose, and hinted that he may perform up-and-coming British singer Amy Winehouse's "Love is a Losing Game". Asked if he would ask her on stage to perform with him, he replied: "Absolutely."

The 48-year-old, who said he was getting his inspiration these days from "prophets from the Bible", added that he did not expect to be back in London performing for some time after the 2007 visit.

"That's another reason why we're trying to stay so long. I just need to take some time off for study and travel." When asked what he was studying, he replied: "The Bible."

The innovative funk artist created such groundbreaking works as 1984's "Purple Rain" and 1987's "Sign O' The Times", and sold an estimated 80 million albums.