Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar).

The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

"1999" is one of Prince's most well-known songs and a defining point in his rise to superstar status. The monumentally apocalyptic, yet upbeat party anthem moved many people and saw great chart success in 1983, peaking at #12 in the US and #25 in the UK (reaching #2 in the UK when re-released in 1985). The album version of the song starts with a slowed-down voice representing God, reassuring the listener "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I only want you to have some fun." Prince shares lead vocals on the track with members of his band The Revolution, namely Dez Dickerson, Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones. Originally conceived to be a three-part harmony, it was later decided to separate out the voices that started each verse. The verse melody was reused by Prince (writing under the name "Christopher") in the song "Manic Monday", written for The Bangles. The synth chords inspired Phil Collins' song "Sussudio" as well as Marillion's "Incommunicado."

The B-side, the piano ballad "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?", became a fan favorite. It was covered by Alicia Keys and performed by Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila.

"1999" was released as a 12" single in the US with "Little Red Corvette" as the B-side, and "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?"/"D.M.S.R." in the UK.

The song was re-recorded at the end of 1998 with the New Power Generation, reusing portions of the original recording, and was released the following year as "1999: The New Master". This new version was generally panned by critics.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Prince (his stage name at that time still being an unpronounceable symbol) held a concert entitled Rave Un2 the Year 2000 at his Paisley Park Studios Soundstage. He played the song at midnight and vowed never to play it again. Although in august 2007 as part of his Earth Tour, he reintroduced the song to his set after an absence of 8 years.

Rolling Stone ranked the song #212 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" is a song by Prince, and was a B-side on his 1982 single "1999". The piano ballad became a Prince fan favorite, and it is still enthusiastically greeted by fans when he performs it live.

Alicia Keys recorded a cover of the song — retitled "How Come You Don't Call Me" — for her first album, Songs in A Minor (2001). It was released as the third and final U.S. single from the album, however, worldwide "Girlfriend" was released following "How Come You Don't Call Me". On a mix tape, Alicia Keys made a part 2 entitled : "I Don't Care (Juiciest)". It was never officially released. Alicia Keys' part 2 samples "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume.

Although the song has been recorded by many artist since the early eighties, other than Keys the song has been performed by only Prince Australian Idol runner up Emily Williams who performed the song on two occasions and Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila who performed "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" on the top two and top six nights of the competition. Judge Farley Flex named her top two night performance of the song his favorite performance on Idol.