Prince’s sister reveals final conversations with late star
The late Prince was one of the most boundary-pushing artists in history, but in his final days, his sister Tyka recalls a different character from the storied innovator cherished by so many.
On April 21st, 2016, a year remembered for a wave of crushing musical deaths, such as David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and George Michael, Prince died after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl at Paisley Park, the sprawling 65,000 square-foot estate he owned in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
In a new interview with the Star Tribune, Tyka Nelson, Prince’s only full sibling, with whom he shared five half brothers and sisters, has revealed their final interactions, which occurred during his last few days of life as he struggled with the illness that had already seen him hospitalised.
In February 2016, Prince embarked upon the stripped-back Piano & A Microphone Tour, but it was abruptly cut short due to illness in early April. On the 7th of that month, he postponed two performances at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, with the venue’s statement asserting he had influenza. Despite still not feeling well, on the 14th, he performed what was to be his last show.
However, when flying back to the Twin Cities early the following morning, Prince became unresponsive, and his private jet made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where he was hospitalised and received naloxone, which is used to thwart the effect of opioids following an overdose. Then, when he became conscious, he left against medical advice, with his representatives later claiming he was dehydrated and had been suffering from influenza for weeks.
Tyka says her last interaction with her brother was days after the emergency landing when he was back home at Paisley Park.
“A couple of times I said, ‘How are you really?’” she recalled, maintaining she wasn’t aware of any problems at the time, although she had noticed that he had lost weight when hugging him. “He didn’t go into anything with me. That was bothering me, and he knew it was… but that was all he wanted to tell me.”
Preferring to discuss lighter topics, the pair chatted about their parents. Tyka stated that her brother played the piano like their father, walked like him, and shared the same sense of humour. She added that he was “built like” their mother.
Later, Tyka’s final interaction with Prince occurred four days before his death in a phone call. “He kept avoiding questions,” she continued. “I kept getting mad. I felt like, ‘Talk to me for two seconds.’ He’d change the subject, make a joke and then we’d both laugh.”
She remembered: “He asked me [to] find more information about our family. Prince wanted me to find [half-sister] Sharon’s number … It was like, ‘Send this picture to that person.’ ‘OK. What for?’”
Best known for her minor 1988 hit, ‘Marc Anthony’s Tune’, Tyka is set to retire from performing on June 8th after one last show in her native Minneapolis. She is also currently writing a memoir.
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