Music legend Prince found dead at 57 at Paisley Park
http://www.startribune.com/authorities-investigating-death-at-prince-s-paisley-park/376578441/Legendary Minnesota pop musician Prince was found dead Thursday morning at his Paisley Park recording studio complex in Chanhassen, the Associated Press has confirmed from his publicist. He was 57.
Immediately upon hearing the news, mourners began lining up with flowers and stuffed animals outside the studio on Audubon Road. Condolences flooded social media. Fans touched a star bearing his name painted on the First Avenue music club in downtown Minneapolis, the “Purple Rain” site where he played often early in his career. Lawmakers paused for a moment of silence at a state legislative hearing.
Former KMSP anchor Robyne Robinson, who interviewed Prince several times and maintained a personal relationship, said she was working with University of Minnesota to give Prince an honorary music degree in June and Prince had tentatively agreed.
“He was a genius,” she said, tearfully. “He was an amazingly generous man to this community and to his people. There’s no one that will match his brilliance. His genorisity was really endless … I’ll be a fan until the day I die.”
Prince’s childhood friend and early bandmate André Cymone said he traded messages with him from Los Angeles last weekend after the reports of his illness on a plane flight.
“He said he was doing OK and we’d try to hook up next time he was in LA,” said Cymone, whose mother took Prince into her home in his midteens when his relationship with his parents got too strained. “I’m just devastated now. I’m in utter disbelief. It’s such a tragedy.”
Prince in concert on May 21, 1986.
Carver County authorities said Thursday morning that they were investigating a death at the studio but would not give details, saying they were waiting to notify next of kin. County dispatch broadcast the call as “a medical, Paisley Park … for a male down not breathing.” A few seconds later, an emergency responder replied “CPR started.”
The news of his death came less than a week after Prince’s private plane made an emergency landing early Friday morning in Illinois as he was returning to the Twin Cities from two shows in Atlanta on Thursday.
Afterward, a source close to Prince told the Star Tribune that the singer was dehydrated on the flight home. Prince himself wanted to clarify the situation on Saturday, saying, “Wait a few days before you waste any prayers.”
Prince was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll of Fame in 2004. Standing just 5 feet, 2 inches tall, he seemed to summon the most original and compelling sounds at will, whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style that openly drew upon Jimi Hendrix, switching his vocals from a nasally scream to an erotic falsetto or turning out album after album of stunningly original material. Among his other notable releases: “Sign O’ the Times,” “Graffiti Bridge” and “The Black Album.”
He was also fiercely protective of his independence, battling his record company over control of his material and even his name. Prince once wrote “slave” on his face in protest of not owning his work and famously battled and then departed his label, Warner Bros., before returning a few years ago.
