Judge blocks release of Prince music as fans gather to mark sad anniversary
MINNEAPOLIS A United States federal judge has blocked a sound engineer from releasing a fivesong EP of unpublished music by Prince, after the late superstar’s estate objected – but one of the songs is still available online.
George Ian Boxill worked with Prince on five tracks in 2006, and made at least one recording – called Deliverance – available on Thursday for online sales. Prince’s estate and Paisley Park Enterprises sued to block it.
US District Judge Wilhelmina Wright granted a temporary restraining order to stop the music’s release. But independent music label RMA says the song Deliverance was released before the judge’s ruling, so it doesn’t apply.
The estate’s lawsuit says Boxill signed a confidentiality agreement that the recordings would remain Prince’s property. Prince sings and plays guitar and keyboard on the tracks.
Meanwhile, for Prince fans, the first anniversary of his shocking death from an accidental drug overdose is a time for sadness and celebration.
It was a year ago yesterday that the music superstar was found dead at Paisley Park, the suburban Minneapolis recording complex where he lived.
Fans from around the globe have flocked to Paisley Park, now a museum, for a four-day celebration that includes performances by Prince’s former bandmates and panel discussions.
Fans who didn’t want to splash out for a US$549 ticket to get into Paisley Park are heading to a street party outside First Avenue, the club he made famous in the film Purple Rain. The Minnesota History Centre is staging a special exhibit of Prince memorabilia, including his costume from Purple Rain.
Mary Adams and her 10-yearold daughter, Rachel, visited First Avenue yesterday to pose for a photo in front of Prince’s star outside the club, which was repainted from silver to gold soon after his death.
The pair drove six hours from Kansas City, Missouri, listening to Prince the whole way.
‘‘I needed to come here,’’ said Adams, 50. ‘‘This is where it began.’’
Adams said she grew up listening to Prince. After he died, she got her first tattoo – Prince’s glyph adorned with open lilies – on her arm. ‘‘He’ll always be with me now.’’
Adams, an actor, said Prince’s tenacity and drive to do things his own way had helped her realise that it was OK to be herself.
‘‘He inspired me to be me, and I love him for it – and I always will,’’ she said, choking up.
She was planning pilgrimages to the Minneapolis house made famous in Purple Rain, and to Prince’s old neighbourhood.
Adams and her daughter went REUTERS to Paisley Park but weren’t allowed to leave a memorial – a purple lei and a toy car – on the fence outside.
‘‘This should be a time when we should all be able to go there and pay our respects and say our goodbyes – and it feels like you have to pay a small fortune to get in, and it breaks my heart,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t think he would dig that.’’
Malinda Listenbee, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama, wore a Prince T-shirt as she and husband Ulton waited to enter Paisley Park. She recalled hearing about Prince’s death a year ago by overhearing nurses talk about it while at a doctor’s appointment. She said it felt like she had lost a family member.
‘‘He was a caring person, a giving person, and it just felt like I knew him.’’
The Listenbees have visited Paisley Park before, last November, when they took a VIP tour and played on Prince’s ping-pong table.
‘‘I feel like this is a time to celebrate,’’ Malinda said. ‘‘This is a happy space.’’
Rhonda Soso, of Compton, California, was among the fans taking photos outside Paisley Park. She wore a pendant of Prince’s symbol, which she had also spraypainted in black along the legs of her white pants.
Soso said she was there ‘‘just to be part of the purple family, the purple army’’. She said it was difficult to no longer have Prince around, but ‘‘his spirit, his energy is still with us’’.
Liz Larson, 36, of Minneapolis, said her mother was a singer in the 1980s and would sometimes hang out with Prince at First Avenue. Larson remembered being at concerts there herself when Prince would suddenly show up to play.
Prince’s music ‘‘was something you could always put on if you wanted to make people dance at a party’’, she said. ‘‘It would always shift the mood.’’
Larson said she felt isolated when Prince died – she was travelling on business with coworkers who didn’t share her grief. She plans to be at a dance party at First Avenue today with her husband and 6-month-old son – in a Prince onesie. AP