Update as of Friday, April 22: TMZ is reporting that the reason Prince had to make an emergency landing in Illinois days before his death had to do with a Percocet overdose. Sources tell TMZ that Prince was taking the commonly abused painkiller medication for hip problems following a concert in Atlanta, Georgia.
Former MTV anchor Kurt Loder described Prince's hip problems as "well-known" in a Tweet.
A different source tells People that Prince had been struggling with an undiagnosed illness for years, and lived a completely drug-free lifestyle.
An autopsy has been scheduled for today at the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Ramsey, Minnesota, though the results will take several weeks to come in.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Update: The Carver County Sheriff's Office has released a transcript of the 911 call received before Prince was declared dead at his studio.
"The person is dead here," the caller said. "And the people are just distraught."
The call details a struggle to find the correct address before paramedics are eventually dispatched. By the time they got there and performed CPR, Prince had expired. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
This story was originally published on April 21, 2016 at 1:30 p.m.
Music legend Prince passed away today at his home in suburban Minneapolis, the Associated Press has confirmed.
The singer was hospitalized last week after his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, IL; he had been fighting the flu for several weeks, as TMZ reported on April 15. The Carver County Sheriff's department of Chanhassen, MN, arrived at at the singer's Paisley Park studio at 9:43 a.m this morning, TMZ reports. AP confirmed that Prince had passed away at 12 p.m. EST.
Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958. He bagan making music in the mid-'70s, and went on to top the charts with tracks like "Little Red Corvette," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "Purple Rain," "Kiss," and countless others.
In 1993, Prince changed his stage name to a combination of the symbols for male and female, which would come to be known as "The Love Symbol." Following that shift, he came to be known as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince." Later, he would change it back again and become "The Artist Formerly Known as 'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.'"
Throughout his career, Prince toured extensively and to great acclaim. His performance at the 2007 Super Bowl has been deemed the greatest halftime show ever by Billboard. His prowess as a live performer was matched only by his instrumental abilities: He has been called one of the most preternaturally gifted artists of all time by Rolling Stone.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT