Heirs angry as Prince recordings are moved

Two sisters and heirs of the late rock superstar Prince said this week they’re angered that the contents of his vault, including master tapes of unreleased music, have been removed from his Paisley Park studio complex and shipped to California.

Sharon and Norrine Nelson, Prince’s half-sisters, told The Associated Press they are prepared to take legal action to bring the music back to Minnesota. The company running the estate, Comerica Bank & Trust, said the recordings are safe at a reputable storage company in Los Angeles.

“We want the music back home in Paisley Park where it belongs,” Sharon Nelson said.

The recordings are regarded as among the most valuable pieces of an estate that court papers have suggested is worth about $200 million.

Sharon Nelson said she was told Sept. 29 by a “Paisley Park representative,” whom she wouldn’t identify, that trucks pulled up to the studio-turned-museum in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen in early September and removed the contents of the vault.

“It’s just as though Prince passed away again,” she said. “I was really devastated by that.”

The sisters said Comerica, which is serving as executor of Prince’s estate hasn’t told them exactly where the music was taken or why.

Comerica defended its decision: “On four separate occasions, Comerica discussed the process with the heirs and any suggestion otherwise is not accurate.”

Prince left no will when he died in April 2016 of an accidental overdose of painkillers. A judge this May declared Prince’s six surviving siblings his heirs, but they’ve split into two camps.