POP IDOL PRINCE DIES AT 57

BODY FOUND IN MINNESOTA ESTATE, PROBE ON

CHANHASSEN: Pop superstar Prince, widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive musicians of his era with hits including “Little Red Corvette”, ‘’Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry”, was found dead at his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis, according to his publicist. He was 57.

His publicist, Yvette NoelSchure, said that the music icon died at his home in Chanhassen.

The Minneapolis native broke through in the late 1970s with the hits “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” and soared over the following decade with such albums as “1999” and “Purple Rain”.

The title song from “1999” includes one of the most widely quoted refrains of popular culture: “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999”.

The man born Prince Rogers Nelson seemed to summon the most original and compelling sounds at will, whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style that openly drew upon Jimi Hendrix, switching his vocals from a nasally scream to an erotic falsetto or turning out album after album of stunningly original material. Among his other notable releases: “Sign O’ the Times”, ‘’Graffiti Bridge” and “The Black Album”. He was also fiercely protective of his independence, battling his record company over control of his material and even his name. Prince once wrote “slave” on his face in protest of not owning his work and famously battled and then departed his label, Warner Bros., before returning a few years ago. “What’s happening now is the position that I’ve always wanted to be in,” Prince told The Associated Press in 2014. “I was just trying to get here.” In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame, which hailed him as a musical and social trailblazer.