Prince reportedly worked for six days straight in the run up to his death last week.
As reported, Prince died at his Paisley Park home on Thursday aged 57. He was found collapsed in a lift at his home, which doubled as a studio. He was pronounced dead at 10:07am on Thursday. A postmortem has been carried out but no cause of death has yet been confirmed.
Now, in a new interview with The Sun, Prince’s brother-in-law has claimed that his relative was not sleeping and was working too hard at the time of his death.
Maurice Phillips, the husband of Prince’s sister Tyka, was speaking after a private family service at the estate where Prince was cremated. “He worked 154 hours straight,” he told a reporter. “I was with him just last weekend. He was a good brother-in-law.”
SEE MORE: Prince: June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016. The NME Obituary
Police are investigating the death but have clarified that they have “no reason to believe” Prince committed suicide. There were “no obvious signs of trauma” on his body.
PressReports of Prince’s ill-health have been backed by staff at Minneapolis’ music shop Electric Fetus, where Prince visited on Record Store Day (April 18).
Max Timander, who works at Electric Fetus, told the Press Association: “Everyone I’ve talked to on that Saturday said he looked kind of pale and he was not totally looking in the best shape as he normally is. It sounded like he was looking kind of weak. I know he had just got over the flu supposedly.
Timander added that Prince picked up Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’, Santana’s ‘Santana IV’, and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Hejira’ on Record Store Day. He also bought copies of The Chambers Brothers’ ‘The Time Has Come’, Swan Silvertones’ ‘Inspirational Gospel Classics’, and ‘The Best Of Missing Persons’.
Born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, the singer went on to release 39 studio albums over a music career that lasted nearly 40 years. He rose to world fame in 1982 with the release of fifth album ‘1999’, and achieved worldwide success with his sixth, 1984’s ‘Purple Rain’, which was certified platinum in countries including the USA, UK, Australia, Switzerland and France.
Last year he released two albums, ‘HITnRUN Phase One’ and ‘HITnRUN Phase Two’, and was recently reported to be in the middle of writing his memoir, ‘The Beautiful Ones’.
Tributes to Prince have ranged far and wide with President Barack Obama stating “Today, the world lost a creative icon” and musicians including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Katy Perry leading the tributes.