5 November 2024
Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, has died at the age of 64.
Tyka Nelson has died at the age of 64
The singer had cancelled her farewell concert in New York in June, due to illness, and her son, President Nelson, confirmed to Minnesota's Star Tribune on Monday (04.11.24) that she had passed away.
He did not state her cause of death.
Tyka's half-sister, Sharon Nelson, said: "She had her own mind. She’s in a better place."
Her cousin, Charles 'Chazz' Smith, posted to Facebook: "Our family is very saddened to share the news of my cousin Tyka Evene Nelson who passed away this morning."
Tyka released four albums between 1988 and 2011 and had reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot R'n'B/Hip-Hop chart in 1988 with 'Marc Anthony's Tune'. Before her passing, she had been planning to publish a memoir about her life.
Music icon Prince died on April 21, 2016, at the age 57 of an accidental overdose of fentanyl at his Paisley Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Days earlier, on April 14, Prince played his final concert in Atlanta, however, on his flight home the next morning, his private jet had to make an emergency landing after he became unresponsive.
Tyka spoke to him not long after the health scare, which he brushed off as dehydration, but what she didn't know was that would be the last time she would see her sibling.
She tried to get the 'Purple Rain' hitmaker to open up about his health but claimed he avoided her questions.
She told the Star Tribune: "A couple of times I said, ‘How are you really?]'
"He didn’t go into anything with me. That was bothering me, and he knew it was… but that was all he wanted to tell me."
In fact, Prince didn't speak about much during what would be their final conversation.
She recalled: "He kept avoiding questions.
"I kept getting mad. I felt like, 'Talk to me for two seconds.' He’d change the subject, make a joke and then we’d both laugh."
However, he was keen to connect with Sharon, who Tyka didn’t have a relationship with until after Prince’s death eight years ago.
Tyka recounted: "He asked me [to] find more information about our family. Prince wanted me to find [half-sister] Sharon’s number.
"It was like, 'Send this picture to that person.' 'OK. What for?'"
English (US) ·