Two of Prince’s heirs have threatened to take legal action after the star’s cache of unreleased music was removed from a vault at his Paisley Park, Chanhassen, home.
According to editors at The Associated Press (AP), Sharon and Norrine Nelson, Prince’s half-sisters, are in dispute with executors of the late star’s estate, Comerica Bank & Trust, after the company removed the music to a secure site in Los Angeles for safekeeping. The sisters have claimed they had not been told exactly where the music was taken, or why.
The collection, which includes master tapes of around 30 unpublished albums completed by the late star, who died in April 2016 aged 57 after an accidental overdose of painkillers, is reportedly worth around $200 million (£150 million).
According to Sharon, a “Paisley Park representative” told her that around four truckloads of material were removed from the vault in early September.
“We want the music back home in Paisley Park where it belongs,” Sharon fumed to AP. “It’s just as though Prince passed away again. That’s how I felt. I was really devastated by that.” While her sister Norrine blasted the move as “extraordinary and unconscionable”, adding that the pair may take legal action.
However, a spokesman at Comerica, who were appointed to look after the artist’s estate after he died without leaving a will, said it had sought the services of an expert storage company to ensure Prince’s audio and visual content was preserved, adding the plans were discussed with the star’s heirs on four separate occasions.
“In an effort to ensure the preservation of Prince’s audio and visual content, Comerica selected the premier entertainment storage and archive company, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services,” a spokesman said in a statement obtained by Billboard magazine. “On four separate occasions, Comerica discussed the process with the heirs and any suggestion otherwise is not accurate.”
