Pop Legend Prince Dead at 57, Publicist Confirms

Pop legend Prince, known for his hits including “Little Red Corvette,” ”Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry,” was found dead at 57 in his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis.

“It is with profound sadness that I am confirming that Prince has died at his home this morning at Paisley Park,” Yvette Noel-Schure, his publicist confirmed. “There are no further details.”

The singer had postponed a concert in Atlanta, Georgia on April 7, after allegedly coming down with the flu. After his plane made an emergency landing and he later apologized to fans for the cancellation during a makeup concert last week.

The singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist took the music scene by storm in the late 1970s with the hits “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” His fame and notoriety continued to soar the following decade with albums including “1999” and “Purple Rain.”

The title song from “1999” has become one of the most widely quoted musical refrains in American popular culture: “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.”

The Minneapolis native, born Prince Rogers Nelson, stood just 5 feet, 2 inches tall, but could switch his vocals from a nasal-sounding scream to an sexual falsetto. He could also crank out one album after another, which contained original, talented blockbuster material. Among his other notable releases: “Sign O’ the Times,” ”Graffiti Bridge” and “The Black Album.”

Others tapped his talent, which seemed endless. Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Cyndi Lauper’s “When You Were Mine” and “Manic Monday” by the Bangles were all written by Prince. He also wrote the title soundtrack song for one of the Batman versions. The pop legend was also known for his hit “Kiss,” which was actually a James Brown guitar riff molded into classic Prince.

In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which hailed him as a musical and social trailblazer.

“He rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge music in the Eighties,” reads the Hall’s dedication. “Prince made dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative.”

Though he was married twice Prince had no children. His first wife had a miscarriage and his second gave birth to a baby boy. However, he died from a rare genetic disorder called Pfeiffer Disorder after a few weeks.

Nevertheless, a group of fans quickly gathered in the rain outside his music studio in Paisley Park Thursday following the news. Inside, Prince’s gold records are on the walls and on display is the purple motorcycle he rode in his 1984 breakout movie “Purple Rain.”