Rock star Prince was found dead Thursday at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota. Prince’s publicist put out a brief statement to reporters which confirmed the story:
Here's the statement from Prince's publicist announcing his death. pic.twitter.com/QDSc2JmofZ
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) April 21, 2016
TMZ reported last week that Prince had been rushed to a hospital after an emergency landing. A later update indicated he was ill:
A rep for Prince tells TMZ, the singer has been fighting the flu for several weeks. He canceled 2 shows on April 7th but wanted to make Thursday night’s performance in Atlanta, even though he was still not feeling well.
After the show, he got on a plane and felt considerably worse, so his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where he was taken to the hospital and treated. He was released 3 hours later, got back on the plane and is now back home.
The Washington Post has a round up of some early reactions to his death:
Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman — former members of Prince’s band, the Revolution — said in a statement that they were “completely shocked and devestated [sic] by the sudden loss of our brother, artist and friend, Prince. … We offer our love, support, and condolences to our extended family, friends and all fans of our sweet Prince.”
[…]
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow referred to Prince — a seven-time Grammy winner — as “one of the most uniquely gifted artists of all time.”
As of the time this is being written there are already 3.2 million tweets about Prince’s death.
