It was seven years ago today (April 21st, 2016) that Prince — born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7th, 1958 — died at age 57 of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. In April 2018, Minnesota’s Carver County Attorney Mark Metz announced he was closing the investigation into the musician’s death without filing any criminal charges. During a press conference, Metz explained, “For the past two years, law enforcement has conducted an extensive, painstaking and thorough investigation into Prince’s death. That investigation determined that Prince died from taking a counterfeit Vicodin pill that contained Fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid. . . we simply do not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime related to Prince’s death.”

Last June saw the official audio release of Prince & The Revolution: Live. The legendary concert, filmed at the height of Prince’s mid-’80s fame during his Purple Rain tour, was captured on March 30th, 1985 at Syracuse, New York’s Carrier Dome. The concert was a major video hit when issued on VHS back in 1986.

July 2021 saw the latest archival Prince released plucked from the seemingly endless vaults at Paisley Park, titled Welcome 2 America. The album was recorded back in 2010 and left unreleased.

In September 2020, the Prince estate released the “Super Deluxe Edition” of his groundbreaking 1987 double album set, Sign o’ The Times. The collection, which has been expanded to an eight CD/DVD and/or 13 LP and DVD set, includes the original album remastered for the very first time, 63 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unissued two-plus hour video concert performance from Prince’s legendary vault. The set is also available in triple and double set editions.

Paisley Park — Prince’s legendary estate and production complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota is now open to visitors. Throughout the experience, guests can see one-of-a kind artifacts from Prince’s personal archives — “including iconic concert wardrobe, awards, musical instruments, artwork, motorcycles, rare music and video recordings. All tours include full access to special exhibitions, when available. The Beautiful Collection, a limited-time exhibition of over 300 pairs of Prince’s custom shoes.”

Back in 2020, CBS aired the primetime special, Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute To Prince. The two-hour event featured performances by Shelia E., the Time, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Foo Fighters, Common, Beck, H.E.R. and Gary Clark, Jr., John Legend, St. Vincent, and Mavis Staples & The Revolution, among others.

Released in 2019 was the posthumous release, The Originals. The set features tracks recorded between 1981 through 1991 that Prince wrote for others, including such instant classics as Sheila E.’s “The Glamorous Life,” the Time’s “Jungle Love,” and the Bangles’ ‘Manic Monday.'” The Originals also features Prince’s versions of Vanity 6′s “Make-Up,” Kenny Rogers’ “You’re My Love,” and Prince’s original version of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which Prince’s estate first released in April 2018.

2018 saw the release of the first posthumous Prince album, Piano & A Microphone 1983. The set, which was mastered from a cassette tape, has been released as a nine-track, 35-minute album featuring the contents of a previously unreleased 1983 home studio cassette recording of Prince at his piano captured at his Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota by engineer Don Batts.

According to the press release, “The private rehearsal provides a rare, intimate glimpse into Prince’s creative process as he worked through songs which include ’17 Days’ and “Purple Rain’ (neither of which would be released until 1984), a cover of Joni Mitchell‘s ‘A Case Of You,’ ‘Strange Relationship’ (not released until 1987 on his critically acclaimed Sign O’ The Times album), and ‘International Lover.’ The album also includes a rare recording of the 19th Century spiritual ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which was featured during the end credits of Spike Lee‘s recent film, BlacKkKlansman. For fans of Prince’s spontaneous live medleys, tracks one to seven of the album are presented in that same format as they were originally recorded.”

In the year following his death, the “Purple One’s” catalogue sold a combined 7.7 million copies in the U.S. alone, according to Nielsen. Of that 7.7 million, 2.3 million came in the form of traditional album sales, while the remaining 5.4 million were from digital downloads — with Prince, by far, selling more albums than any other artist during the same time period. The closest competition was Adele, who sold an impressive 2.23 million units. Billboard reported the 5.4 million digital song downloads comprise one-third of the 18.64 million downloads of his songs since Nielsen began tracking that info in 2003.

Since his passing, fans have found a number of other ways to celebrate Prince’s life as well. His Paisley Park home/studio complex in suburban Minneapolis has been turned into a museum, with his ashes on display in a glass and ceramic Paisley Park-shaped urn.

Filed under: prince