It's been one week since one of music's finest mystics and champions of intimacy passed away Thursday, April 21st. He was 57 years old.
While there is no official cause of death released at this time, the news came on the heels of concerts postponed, TMZ's report of a Percocet overdose, and a bout of the flu.
"It is with profound sadness that I am confirming that the legendary, iconic performer, Prince Rogers Nelson, has died at his Paisley Park residence this morning at the age of 57," Prince's publicist Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement early Thursday.
The star's body was cremated after a Minnesota medical examiner performed an autopsy on Friday. It's expected that results may take weeks or months to become public, leaving fans on pins and needles.
While details are scarce, it is reported that Prince underwent hip surgery a number of years ago and has been treating chronic pain with Percocet. While he had overdosed on this medication just days before passing, it is as yet unclear if his death is related to opioid medication.
Speaking about his remains, Noel-Schure later said that "their final storage will remain private."
As for the estate, it all gets a little tricky. Prince left no will, and per Minnesota law, his half-siblings are full siblings, so it all gets divvied up among 6 different siblings. Of course, then there's the IRS. It's estimate that upwards of 40% of his estate will go to estate taxes. Thanks, America.
As for the vault of unreleased tracks? It's a veritable doomsday locker of untold treasure. If we're any one of those siblings we'd just call dibs on that and be done with it. Who knows what's in there? Prince biographer, Matt Thorne, gave some insight to NewsWeek.
“I think what fans would want is that it’s handled properly and it’s not like like [other deceased artists] where unfinished albums came out and were given to other people to finish. That shouldn’t be the case with Prince. I’m sure he wouldn’t want people to finish [uncompleted songs] or change it, and there’s stuff he wouldn’t want to come out."
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Not many artists are known by just one name, like Cher or Madonna. Prince blew that away and exists as both a symbol and the color purple, somehow.
He's a seven time Grammy-winner and he's racked up 30 nominations. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for his first film, Purple Rain in 1985. He's written tons of hits for other performers as well.
Some of his best compositions for other artists that landed on Billboard's Top 100 chart include "Jungle Love" by Morris Day and the Time, "How Come You Don't Call Me," by Alicia Keys, "I Feel for You," By Chaka Khan, and TLC's "Get It Up."
There's also possibly an entire vault of unpublished music, enough for 100 new albums.
Prince's own catalogue owns plenty of real estate in the Top 100 chart history. He's unique in that he has five jams that hit #1 on the Top 100 and stayed there for a number of months.
While he may be best known for "Purple Rain," the song hit #2 on Billboard's Top 100 November 17, 1984 and remained there for 16 weeks.
Here are 5 of Prince's greatest songs ever recorded, though that's hard to say if how accurate the designation is given that he has maybe a 1,000 more we've never heard before.
1. "Cream" - Prince and the N.P.G.
"Cream" is a prototypical sex jam by Prince. It's probably the prototypical sex jam by Prince.
He was notorious for filthy lyrics and themes since the 80s, and you know "Cream" in '92 is no different.
2. "Batdance" - From Tim Burton's Batman
"Batdance" is a little weird, even for the Purple One. It's kind of industrial, but still funky. And who can forget Prince's two-faced Batman/Joker costume for the video?
3. "Kiss" - Prince and the Revolution
When it comes to singing falsetto for damn near the entire song, look no farther than "Kiss." Part of Prince's genius was achieving majesty, and not necessarily with an absurd amount of complexity. "Kiss" is exactly that.
4. "Let's Go Crazy" - Prince and the Revolution
Prince played the best Super Bowl Halftime Show ever in history in 2007.
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In the pouring rain he played a bunch of covers and some of his own, including Purple Rain of course.
5. "When Doves Cry" - Prince and the Revolution
Prince was tragically under-appreciated for his guitar talent. He was definitely one of the best of his generation, and many people took notice for the first time on "When Doves Cry."
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[Feature Image Courtesy Instagram]