"Love Sign" is a song by Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

, from the 1-800-NEW-FUNK

1-800-NEW-FUNK

1-800-NEW-FUNK is a compilation album by Prince's NPG Records meant to showcase artists signed to the label. It was released on July 20, 1994...

compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 released by his independent record label NPG Records

NPG Records

NPG Records is the current active record label owned by Prince, founded in 1993 to release his music after Paisley Park Records. Paisley Park was shut down by Warner Bros. Records in 1993. Warner Bros. distributed one NPG release in 1995, The Gold Experience. "NPG" is short for "New Power...

 in 1994.

"Love Sign" was the most successful song released from the album, and it is a duet with Nona Gaye

Nona Gaye

Nona Marvisa Gaye is an American singer, former fashion model, and screen actress. The daughter of soul music legend Marvin Gaye and granddaughter of jazz great Slim Gaillard, she began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s...

, although Prince (known as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" at the time because of his name change to an unpronounceable symbol) is uncredited as a singer due to his contractual dispute with Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. A promotional single was sent out to radio stations independently through Prince's record label NPG Records, and was not commercially released. The song has an anti-violence message.

Music video

The music video was shot by rapper Ice Cube

Ice Cube

O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...

 in 1994 on a Monday. Gaye and Prince are both featured prominently in the video. It received major airplay on BET

Black Entertainment Television

Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...

 and was very successful on its Top 20 countdown. The video shows Gaye at an anti-violence convention and Prince as a secret love tryst. At the end of the video Gaye is lying in Prince's bed and Prince walks away shaking his head jokingly. Most of the video was shot at Paisley Park

Paisley Park Records

Paisley Park Records was Prince's record label, associated with and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain...

.

Chart performance

The song was released as a promotional single and therefore was not allowed to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 or any other main U.S. charts (promotional singles were not allowed to chart until late 1998, when Billboard changed its chart rules to include promotional/radio-only singles).
It was a moderate success in the Urban/Rhythmic market, making the top 40 of the R&B Airplay and Rhythmic Top 40 charts. It was a minor success on the main U.S. airplay chart, debuting and peaking at number 72 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart for one week.

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	72
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart is the airplay component chart of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It is not the R&B subset of The Hot 100 Airplay, but rather a separate panel of R&B stations in urban markets used for the R&B/Hip-Hop chart...	32
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	30

Track listing

U.S. promo CD single

1. "Lovesign" by Nona Gaye and Prince — 4:34
2. "2gether" by the New Power Generation — 5:06

German promo CD single and UK 12" promo pingle

1. "Lovesign" (radio edit) — 3:24
2. "Lovesign" (1-800-NEW-FUNK version) — 4:33
3. "Lovesign" (Storyboard Video Mix) — 5:36