It was five 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.”
Coming on July 30th is 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.
Back in September, 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.