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Employees at Electric Fetus record shop in Minneapolis said the musician did not look "in the best shape" when he visited the store five days before he was found at his Paisley Park estate. Prince's brother-in-law Maurice Phillips reportedly claimed the singer had worked for six days without sleep when friends and family held a private service at the compound on Saturday. Mr Phillips, who is married to Prince's sister Tyka Nelson, is said to have told fans outside Paisley Park: "He worked 154 hours straight. I was with him just last weekend. He was a good brother-in-law."
Prince is said to have worked for 154 hours without sleep before his death
Max Timander, who works at Electric Fetus, said Prince visited a day after the Purple Rain star was rushed to hospital when his plane made an emergency landing in Atlanta, Georgia. Celebrity news website TMZ reported that he had overdosed on a painkiller called Percocet at the time. Mr Timander told the Press Association: "Everyone I've talked to on that Saturday said he looked kind of pale and he was not totally looking in the best shape as he normally is. "It sounded like he was looking kind of weak. I know he had just got over the flu supposedly."
The mayor of Chanhassen, the city which is home to Paisley Park, said discussions were taking place to stage a public service in honour of Prince in the Minneapolis area. "It's clear his friends and family would support the idea," Denny Laufenburger said. A private funeral service at a local church is expected to take place in early May, he added.
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The musician holds every spot in the top five in the midweek chart update, with 16 albums set to enter the top 100 the Official Chart Company says. His 2001 retrospective The Very Best Of is at number one, followed by the 2006 collection Ultimate. Purple Rain is at three, followed by The Hits / The B-Sides and 1987's double album Sign O' The Times. Six of Prince's hits are also due to re-enter the singles chart, led by Purple Rain which is currently at number two. The song reached Number eight upon its original release in 1984, meaning the song could hit a new peak on Friday's Official Chart. The rock legend died suddenly last Thursday at the age of 57.
Even though last week's chart was compiled mere hours after the news was announced, the Ultimate compilation rocketed to tenth place in the countdown, with 5,389 sales. In the US, The Very Best of Prince and Purple Rain took the number one and two spot respectively in the Billboard chart, outselling the rest of the market in less than 24 hours. Such sales were undoubtedly spurred by Prince's absence from streaming services. The star's catalogue is only available to stream on Tidal, while he relentlessly pursued people who illegally uploaded his material to sites like SoundCloud, Daily Motion and YouTube. "I have a team of female black lawyers who keep an eye on such transgressions," Prince once said. "And you know they're sharp."
Prince performs at Coachella in 2008
Prince died at his Paisley Park home near Minneapolis last week, after reports he was suffering with flu. He was found in an unresponsive state in a lift on the first floor of his home. Emergency service personnel performed CPR, but were unable to revive him. The star was pronounced dead at the scene. Details of the post-mortem examination have yet to be released, but his body was released to his family on Friday afternoon and he was cremated on Saturday. Thousands of fans have flocked to Paisley Park, the First Avenue nightclub, and other sites made famous by Prince since his death, while tributes have come from Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and President Obama, amongst others.
Eric Clapton said Prince had helped him battle depression and drug addiction in the 1980s, calling him "a light in the darkness". "I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs," he wrote on Facebook. "I saw Purple Rain in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning! In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope." Justin Timberlake added: "He's somewhere within every song I've ever written." Meanwhile, US comedy show Saturday Night Live dedicated this weekend's edition to the star, broadcasting archive performances and footage of an invitation-only concert he gave for the programme's 40th Anniversary. The NFL also uploaded the star's memorable, rain-drenched SuperBowl concert to YouTube for the first time since it aired in 2004.
Memorial and museum
The papers, filed in state court in Minnesota, show Tyka Nelson has petitioned for a special administrator to oversee the star's estate. The rock legend was found dead in an elevator at his Paisley Park Studios compound in a suburb of the American city last Thursday at the age of 57. The size of Prince's fortune is unclear but includes $27m (£18m) in property.
What ya mean who do I want to leave my raspberry beret to?
Nelson is Prince's only surviving full sibling and stated in the papers that immediate action was necessary to manage her brother's business interests. Prince is on course to dominate the UK charts this week, as mourning fans rush to buy his music, while the Hollywood Reporter claimed over three million of his songs and albums had been bought in the US since his death. A private memorial service was held for the rock star on Saturday, attended by about 20 of his closest friends and family.
Following the service, drummer and frequent Prince collaborator Sheila E confirmed there were plans to turn Paisley Park into a museum, akin to Elvis's Graceland. Thousands of fans have flocked to Paisley Park, the First Avenue nightclub, and other sites made famous by Prince since his death, while tributes have come from Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and President Obama, amongst others.
Prince 'did not leave will', sister Tyka Nelson tells court - BBC News
Several sources familiar with the probe have told the Star Tribune that painkillers may have taken a toll on the musician during his final weeks. Five days before he was found dead at his Chanhassen home and studio, Prince's plane -- en route to Minneapolis from Atlanta, where he had played two concerts in one night -- made an emergency landing in Moline because he was overdosing from an opioid, the sources said. Once the plane landed, Prince was given a shot of the opioid antidote Narcan by emergency personnel; he was taken to a hospital, but left within a few hours.
Meanwhile, a longtime attorney for two of Prince's siblings has told the Star Tribune -- and local authorities -- that his clients informed him more than a decade ago Prince had "substantial" drug problems with the opioid painkiller Percocet and cocaine. The attorney, Michael Padden, said that Lorna Nelson and Duane Nelson often discussed with him Prince's drug problems, adding that "both were really concerned it would end his life prematurely." Padden said Duane Nelson told him that he paid straw buyers to obtain prescriptions that he then gave to Prince.
Lorna Nelson died in 2006, and Duane Nelson five years later. "Lorna told me that her brother would die young ... before his time and of a heart attack," Padden said in a videotaped interview with the Star Tribune. While Prince may have been in pain related to years of physically demanding live concerts, former band member and close friend Sheila E. said Sunday that she has "never seen him take anything, not even aspirin, in the 38 years I've known him."
Twin Cities limo driver Robbie Paster, Prince's valet and personal assistant from 1984 to 1992, said Monday, "I never knew of any opiate or cocaine problem. There's no way you can do both of those and be as driven as he was. I never saw it." Prince's longtime lawyer, L. Londell McMillan, told the Associated Press Monday night that he spoke to Prince the Sunday before he died. "He said he was doing perfect," McMillan said.
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Both the federal government and Minnesota’s state government will assess so-called “death taxes” or estate taxes on Prince’s assets, taking away more than half his estate. Between his physical assets— cash, investments, home, etc.—and his future royalties, Prince’s estate has been estimated to be between $300 and $500 million. If Prince were married, he could have passed on the entirety of his estate to his spouse tax free. However, without a spouse, only $1.6 million of Prince’s estate will be free from Minnesota’s death tax and only $5.45 million will escape the federal death tax.
The combination of Minnesota’s top death tax rate of 16 percent, plus the federal government’s 40 percent rate, means that over 50 percent of Prince’s estate will go to the government. Had Prince known ahead of time that he would die at such a young age, he may have been able to reduce the government’s reach into his estate through tax planning, but with a fortune as large as his, the government’s claim to his estate was inevitable.
While Prince was probably not all that concerned with the death tax—particularly since his early death was unexpected—he probably didn’t change his behavior all that much in response to the death tax. But most people who pay the death tax are not like Prince—they don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars, and some don’t even have a hundred thousand dollars in cash if their assets are all tied up in the value of their family business.
When the owner of a family business dies without leaving behind a large pile of cash or other liquid assets, the family often has to sell the business to pay the death tax. That can have devastating employment consequences. A 2014 analysis of the death tax by the Heritage Foundation found that its harmful effects on savings, investment and capital reduces employment by 18,000 jobs each year. While it’s tempting to think that the government’s reach into Prince’s massive estate isn’t all that harmful to the pop star or his heirs, the death tax has been devastating to many small businesses and the communities in which they operate.
Why More Than Half of Prince’s Millions Will Go to the Government
Prince also had a dangerously low red blood cell count, indicating he had been ill, Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP-TV said, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials. A spokeswoman for the local medical examiner's office that conducted a post-mortem examination of Prince declined to confirm the reports. The cause of Prince's death remained undetermined. The medical examiner's office said in late April the autopsy and toxicology results could take weeks. The news reports came after federal authorities said on Wednesday they were joining the investigation into Prince's death.
Prince performs during the halftime show of the NFL's Super Bowl XLI football game between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts in Miami, Florida, U.S. February 4, 2007.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota will bring federal resources to the local investigation and expertise on the illegal use and trafficking of prescription drugs, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Also on Wednesday, a lawyer for a California addiction doctor said Prince's representatives had contacted the doctor the evening before his death, adding that the doctor had planned to visit Prince for a "life-saving mission." The 57-year-old Prince was found dead on April 21 at his Paisley Park home-studio complex in a Minneapolis suburb. Prescription opioid medication was found at the scene, a law enforcement source told Reuters.
U.S. musician Prince performs at the Hop Farm Festival near Paddock Wood, southern England July 3, 2011.
Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who runs Recovery Without Walls, a clinic in Mill Valley, California, planned to fly to Minnesota on April 22, his lawyer William Mauzy said. In the meantime, his son, Andrew Kornfeld, a clinic staff member, traveled to Minnesota on April 21 for an initial discussion. When Andrew Kornfeld arrived at Paisley Park, Prince was not available, Mauzy said. A staff member found the artist unconscious in an elevator, and Kornfeld called 911.
Prince had painkiller Percocet in his system: reports
The official told The Associated Press investigators also want to know if Dr. Howard Kornfeld and son Andrew Kornfeld had a longer-term medical relationship with Prince. Neither is accused of wrongdoing.
The law enforcement official had been briefed on the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
The Kornfelds' attorney, William Mauzy, said Prince's staff called Howard Kornfeld on April 20. He sent his son on an overnight flight with the drug buprenorphine. Andrew Kornfeld found Prince unresponsive and did not administer the drug.
Investigators want to interview doctor about Prince case
The day Prince died, he was scheduled to meet with the son of Dr. Howard Kornfeld, the California specialist in addiction treatment and pain management. But in the weeks before Prince's April 21 death, he met twice with Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, who worked at a Minnetonka clinic a few miles from Prince's Paisley Park studio and home, according to search warrant documents released Tuesday. Prince's cause of death is still unknown, as the autopsy results haven't been released. But a law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that investigators are looking into whether he died from an overdose and whether a doctor was prescribing him drugs in the weeks before his death. The official has been briefed on the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
Investigators interviewed Schulenberg the day Prince died and searched a suburban Minneapolis hospital that employed him. The warrant documents didn't specify what medications were prescribed or whether Prince took them. The warrant details came out the same day investigators returned to Prince's estate and stayed for several hours without saying why. The official who spoke to AP said investigators are seeking to identify every doctor and pharmacy that may have supplied the singer prescription drugs, including online sources, and that the search involves examining computer drives from Prince's home.
It remains unclear why Prince, a world-famous musician worth millions, would seek the help of an experienced but seemingly ordinary local physician instead of first turning to world-class health care. The Star Tribune, citing a source with knowledge of the investigation, previously reported that Prince had been receiving treatment for withdrawal symptoms from a doctor who previously worked with Prince's longtime friend Kirk Johnson. Johnson's attorney, F. Clayton Tyler, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking to confirm that Johnson and Prince shared Schulenberg as a doctor.
Schulenberg, 46, worked for North Memorial Medical Center until at least the day of Prince's death, but he has since left the job. Lesa Bader, a spokeswoman for the health care system, said North Memorial's personnel records were private and she couldn't comment on why Schulenberg no longer works there. According to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice website, Schulenberg has not been subjected to any disciplinary or corrective action in Minnesota or other states. He's a 1995 graduate of the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine. His license status is listed as active. It expires Oct. 31 of this year.
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