Musical genius Prince Rogers Nelson is dead but not gone.
As large crowds gathered outside his Minnesota home, the world continued to pay homage to the music icon by painting landmarks purple in honor of his Purple Reign on earth.
While not as earth-shattering as Michael Jackson‘s death on June 25, 2009, Prince fans took the news of his untimely death hard.
Tributes continue to pour into social media from grieving fans and friends. NBC’s Today Show remembered Prince by replaying a surprise phone call to anchor Tamron Hall on the set in September.
Prince was the #1 artist on iTunes yesterday. His songs occupied every spot on the iTunes chart as sales of his music surged after news of his death.
Meanwhile, the world waits patiently for the 57-year-old artist’s official cause of death. Speculation ran rampantly when news broke early Thursday that Prince’s lifeless body was found in an elevator inside his sprawling Paisley Park compound in Minneapolis.
Gossip tabloid TMZ speculated that he died of a drug overdose. Photos surfaced of Prince visiting a Walgreens drug store near his home to pick up pain medicine.
What happened next is a mystery. A transcript of the 911 call from Prince’s compound only added to the mystery.
An unidentified male called 911 from a cell phone early Thursday morning and stated in a matter of fact tone: “Hi there, um, we have someone who is unconscious. Um, we’re at Prince’s house… so, yea, um, the person is dead here.”
After repeated requests from the dispatcher the caller said he did not know the address to the complex.
“OK, get me the address please,” said the dispatcher for the 3rd time.
“OK, OK, I’m working on it,” said the caller.
“Concentrate on that,” said the exasperated dispatcher.
“And the people are just distraught,” said the caller.
“I understand they are distraught, but –“
“I’m working on it, I’m working on it.”
Several precious minutes ticked by before the address was given to the dispatcher.
“You can cancel anybody going to Aubudon, confirmed DOA,” said the dispatcher to an emergency services employee.
Conspiracy theories surround Prince’s death, from rumors that Prince died of AIDs to suggestions that someone placed his body inside the elevator after he died as a macabre reference to his “Let’s Go Crazy” lyrics.
“Dearly beloved/ We are gathered here today to get through this thing/ Tell me, are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?”
“He was dead at least 30 minutes before they called 911,” whispered a well-connected insider in a phone call to Sandrarose.com late Thursday. “What were they looking for all that time?” she wondered aloud.
One thing they might have been doing was searching for the code to unlock a massive vault hidden under Prince’s compound. The vault is said to contain a treasure trove of unreleased music by the singer and composer.
Prince’s former sound engineer Susan Rogers said Prince had an “actual vault, with a thick door” installed under the residential/recording complex. The vault is said to contain over 2,000 unreleased tracks.
“Ownership of his catalogue will follow his estate,” entertainment lawyer Jay Cooper said. “Ownership of the masters will go to whoever inherits it from his estate.”
It isn’t clear if Prince left a Will. He is twice divorced with no living children.
The insider told me Prince had a complex security system installed at Paisley Park that included video surveillance in every nook and cranny. “I hope they didn’t disable that surveillance system,” said the distraught insider. “We’ll never know what happened to him.”
"Ladies & gentlemen, Prince!" Watch his surprise call to @tamronhall, @williegeist, @nmoralesnbc & @alroker in Sept:https://t.co/HEO8SOhybS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 22, 2016
One of the greatest Super Bowl Halftime performances of all-time. #RIPPrince https://t.co/B6aHzYUCoG
— NFL (@NFL) April 21, 2016
Prince kicks Kim Kardashian off the stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP-Wlh9bhM0
Watch Purple Rain in HD below, courtesy of DDotomen.com!
