Paisley Park to open to Prince’s fans

PAISLEY Park, Prince’s state-of-the-art studio complex that held a mythic status for fans who entered it during the pop legend’s life, will open to the public as a museum.

The PurpleRain star’s estate said it was teaming up for the project with the company behind Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home-turned-museum in Memphis that draws more than 600,000 visitors a year.

The 5,000-square-metre complex will open for tours on October 6, a week before fans descend on Prince’s Minnesota hometown of Minneapolis for a memorial tribute concert at the new US Bank Arena.

Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson said the pop star had long hoped to allow the public into Paisley Park, which he opened in 1987 in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen.

“Opening Paisley Park is something that Prince always wanted to do and was actively working on,” Nelson said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Only a few hundred people have had the rare opportunity to tour the estate during his lifetime. Now, fans from around the world will be able to experience Prince’s world for the first time as we open the doors to this incredible place,” she said.