Prince Rogers Nelson
June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016
Prince Rogers Nelson, best known as just Prince, passed away Thursday morning at his home in Minnesota. Prince was 57 years old.
“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,” said his publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure.
The terms genius and pioneer get tossed around rather loosely when making reference to musicians after they’ve passed but Prince truly embodied both of these. A genre, gender and mind bending artist, Prince mixed the duality of the spiritual and the sexual pushing our personal boundaries farther than what most were comfortable with in the 1980s and beyond.
Prince won seven Grammy Awards and earned 30 nominations. Five of his singles topped the charts and 14 other songs hit the Top 10. He won an Oscar for best original song score for “Purple Rain.”
Prince had been suffering from pneumonia in recent weeks. He cancelled a concert date at the Fox Theater in the Georgia city this month. Some days later, he performed, in Atlanta, an 80-minute set solo on piano. After the performance, the Prince’s plane made an emergency landing but was reported that the singer was home and doing fine.
Cause of death has yet to be determined.
Prince touched the lives of so many and his presence will be missed in the musical world.
“Life is just a party and parties weren’t meant to last.” -Prince, 1999
