Tyka Nelson, Singer and Prince’s Only Full Sibling, Dies at 64

Tyka Nelson, a Minneapolis-based singer and Prince’s only full sibling, died Monday morning, a rep for Prince’s estate confirms to Variety. No cause of death was reported; she was 64.

Nelson released four albums between 1988 and 2011 and was scheduled to supposed to hold her retirement and farewell concert last June, but became ill and the concert took place without her. The news was first reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“I’m getting older,” Nelson told the Minnesota Star Tribune before the show, downplaying her musical ability. “I really wasn’t a singer. I’m a writer. I just happen to be able to sing. I enjoy singing.” She said she was writing a memoir. The opening chapters of an autobiography that Prince was writing at the time of his death, titled “The Beautiful Ones” after the song from his 1984 blockbuster album and film “Purple Rain,” was published in 2019.

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Nelson’s last public performance was in Australia in 2018; she appeared often at Prince-related events.

Born May 18, 1960, Tyka was the daughter of John L. Nelson, a pianist who collaborated with Prince on several occasions, and Mattie Shaw Nelson.

“She had her own mind,” Sharon Nelson, her sister, told the Tribune on Monday night. “She’s in a better place.”

Tyka Nelson’s survivors include her sons President and Sir, sisters Sharon and Norrine Nelson, and brother Omarr Baker.

Nelson was one of the six siblings and partial siblings who were ruled to be Prince’s legal heirs after the singer died of an accidental drug overdose in 2016. She and two fellow heirs sold their interests to Primary Wave Music while the others retained their holdings. In a 2022 ruling, the holdings of the estate, which had been valued at $156.4 million, were distributed equally to two camps: Primary Wave, and the three siblings and their advisors, L. Londell McMillan and Charles Spicer, who are said to hold a stake in the estate.

While Prince’s business affairs were in considerable disarray after his death and the parties have faced challenges in working together, in recent years they have released a series of expansive boxed sets, reopened Prince’s Paisley Park compound as a museum, and are at work on other projects.

In a statement, a rep for Primary Wave said: “We are incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of Tyka Nelson. She was well known as a talented singer and songwriter and Prince’s sister, supporting him and working to keep his legacy alive for years. Our thoughts are with President, Sir and her entire family during this difficult time.”