The artist known as Prince has died at the age of 57, various news outlets are reporting.
“Prince’s body was discovered at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota early Thursday morning,” TMZ reports. “Multiple sources connected to the singer confirmed he had passed. We’ve obtained the 911 call deputies received for a ‘male down, not breathing.'”
“The singer — full name Prince Rogers Nelson — had a medical emergency on April 15th that forced his private jet to make an emergency landing in Illinois. But he appeared at a concert the next day to assure his fans he was okay,” TMZ reports. “His people told TMZ he was battling the flu.”
Several fan websites dedicated to Prince are currently unresponsive, likely due to heavy traffic.
Currently, there is nothing on iTunes Store’s or Apple Music’s home pages to indicate Price’s passing, but we expect Apple will do so shortly, as they did for Michael Jackson and other major artists upon their deaths.
TMZ’s full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: R.I.P., Prince.
Purple tears
I’m actually as devastated as much as when Steve died.
He was literally a musical genius. Singing, dancing, writing songs, playing 27-30 instruments. There was none like him. Even today. Another genius, inspirational spirit has left us.
Like Steve Jobs.
I’ll miss him and miss his presence in the world even more.
Same here. Unique visionaries who bent for no one. Very sad.
Omigod I had just seen this on my Apple news reader and am still in shock. Sadly, Prince’s wonderful unsung ideas will remain sealed in the sphere of imagination along with those of Michael Jackson and others who died too, too young.
‘Doves cry’ & me too. RIP.
“Party over. Oops, out of time.”
Too soon?
(Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.)
I often think that when a great artist dies a new one emerges. Someone born today will be listening to Prince. He’s got that timeless quality.
It’s scary to think of who would be the incarnation on Vanila Ice.
Errol Brown from Hot Chocolate comes to mind but you’d have to look at the concept of one soul occupying more than one body simultaneously and most people aren’t ready to deal with that concept…yet.
Four months into the year and already we have seen a large number of very talented people pass beyond the veil. Only today, the death of great British film director Guy Hamilton was announced, and now another of the great musical talents of our age has passed.
Sad beyond measure…
=:~(
Click and enjoy — what a master:
Back in the early 90s, before the popularity of Netscape and the World Wide Web, there was this idea that DVD’s and DVD-ROM were the future of content distribution. At UCLA Extension I took a class in which we toured “Interactive Multimedia” content companies. One of these companies was a company called “Graphix Zone” In Irvine, CA which made a product called “Prince Interactive.” When our class visited this company, everyone asked the computer guys, “So, what was it like to work with Prince?” I don’t know if they had signed an NDA, because they were reluctant to talk, but we got the basic “He’s a nice guy” . . . I share this story for 2 reasons, 1) People have forgotten about “Interactive Multimedia” (like the Encarta CD), and 2) If you are a musician or actor, you are kind of caught up in the winds of whatever era that you are in. For example, if Youtube had existed in the 90s, Prince likely would have used that medium in a creative way — instead of making a now forgotten CD-ROM . . . Here is a link to an LA Times article on this topic . . . http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-08/entertainment/ca-55066_1_cd-rom-drive
How many other persons perished without comment or notice? It seems that the only people worthy of attention are the famous and infamous, yet thousands who struggle and strive to care for their families and be good citizens and friends are ignored.
I never enjoyed his music and I know of no other reason for his notoriety.
Well, personal tastes are very different and not everyone likes everything (obviously).
I’m surprised, though, that you are (presumably, rhetorically) asking your question, as if the answer isn’t really obvious.
For those who are genuinely asking themselves the same one, the reason is fairly simple: people who are famous (or infamous) are that for a reason (and most often, a valid one). I was never a fan of his music (nor of that genre), but as a professionally trained classical musician, I have the knowledge and expertise to identify musical talent, regardless of genre, and Prince was one. In his case, the combination of various personal qualities, talents, and abilities has produced an artist who had millions of fans around the globe. When such a person passes, their death affects very many people. I am sorry, but I don’t know you or your family, and if any one of your family members were to pass away, it would really be of very little meaning for me, beyond one’s average, rather abstract empathy. You see, some 6,300 people will die in the next one hour (in the whole world). About 100 by the time you finish reading my post. And many of those 100 are probably worthy of attention, have strove to care for their families and be good citizens and friends.
May I ask, what is your suggestion? Should we completely ignore when someone who was very worthy, or important, or well known, passes away, in order to not offend those who were only known in their circle of friends or family?
Clearly you understand empathy and also its limits. What you failed to identify in your honest attempt to understand was its opposite, envy.
I was trying to be diplomatic…
I have two interchangeable musical faves that shaped who i am. David Bowie and Prince. I’m a total wreck
Never really cared for him, and always thought he was totally overrated. But I’m sure Obama will have the nations flags lowered to half-staff and then put him on one of the other bills that don’t have Harriet Tubman on them.
As a conservative, I would kindly ask you to go f_ck yourself.
For being a conservative, you’re a friggin’ liberal.
You’re a friggin’ moron.
I’m not into Prince’s music, but I recognize that many are, and that he has had a huge influence. You, on the other hand, Black are having no inflence here, or probably anywhere else. You’re just a small-minded, shrivel hearted troll with nothing to say.
He’s only had a huge influence on dimwitted little turds like you Sean.
I have had a life long experience listening to Prince. To me though, I put him on the same shelf as Elvis and the Beetles. I like some of his songs but the wholistic ethos of the performer, doesn’t sit well with me.
I will never forget he recoded the sound track for the first modern age Batman movie, which for me, is the gold standard for Batman, a little edgy but not dark.
There was a time in my life, that I felt many in the music world caried something sinister. Yet as I got older, I discovered their true talents. Prince is the gold standard for talent, but not my fisrt choice.
Sorry to see you go. You will be missed. Hopefully you went in peace, as anyone deserves. 57 is just the beginning of life for many. Way to short for most, especially you.
Well said.
Too many musicians have left Earth in 2016 and it’s only April.
FYI – It’s Beatles not Beetles. They wanted “Beat” in the name.
John said it was a nod to Buddy Holly and The Crickets.
Yes I read that too. A clever twist, as it always was with them.
Beetles as in been-dip. Got it. 🙂 Beatles bean-dip.
And most of his music is not available to stream on Apple Music. Only on Tidal.