Prince, Iconic ‘Purple Rain’ Musician, Dead at 57: Publicist

by JON SCHUPPE and JACQUELLENA CARRERO

Prince, one of America’s most influential and enigmatic rock musicians, has died, his publicist told NBC News.

The announcement Thursday afternoon came a few hours after authorities in Carver County, Minnesota, responded to Prince’s Paisley Park estate in the town of Chanhassen.

The 57-year-old Grammy-winning artist’s death also came a week after his tour plane made an emergency landing in Illinois, where he was hospitalized with what was described as the flu. That illness followed his cancelling a pair of concerts in Atlanta.

Related: Prince Recovering After Plane Makes Emergency Landing

The singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist was widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive musicians of his era, drawing upon influences ranging from James Brown to the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix. Born as Prince Rogers Nelson, his hits included “Little Red Corvette,” ”Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.”

The Minneapolis native broke through in the late 1970s with the hits “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.”

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