Amid Family Controversy, Prince’s Vault Opened
A little over a week following his tragic death, Prince’s vaunted vault of unreleased musical work has been opened. It’s reported that Prince’s trove of once-entombed recordings are so numerous that a new album could be released posthumously from the “Purple Rain” singer each year for the next century.
Concerning his prolific recording prowess, Susan Rogers, Prince’s former recording engineer, told ABC’s Good Morning America, “We could put out more work in a month than most people could do in a year or more.”
Even Prince Rogers Nelson admitted to his collection during a 2012 interview with The View, “One day, someone will release them. I don’t know that I’ll get to release them. There’s just so many.”
Unfortunately, Prince’s words proved prophetic. Though the award-winning artist was never able to release his cache of hidden works, his mourning public can take solace in the fact of their recent unveiling.
“You’re going to see unreleased Prince albums – if [the estate] is properly managed – for the next two decades. I know from my past experience that very often some of that material needs significant editing.
“As long as the estate is well-managed – and they don’t go for a quick hit by doing something like selling his publishing rights – it will produce income into [what would have been] his great-grandchildren’s years without any problems.”
Certainly, fans of the seven-time Grammy Award winner will hold out hope that Prince’s estate will be properly managed. According to the now-deceased icon’s former recording engineer, most of the multitudinous contents of Prince’s private vault was recorded during his peak years, in the 1980s.
As uncertainty over the handling of Prince’s estate looms, medical examiners are no closer in determining how Prince Rogers Nelson died. An autopsy report won’t be available for another handful of weeks.
Though the exact details of Prince’s finality may never be known, fans can rest assured that in some form the legendary singer’s works will continue to grace the airwaves.
With Bremer Trust’s recent opening of Prince’s music vault, the company that has been granted temporary authority over the late singer’s estate has opened a lasting window into the “purple one”s’ soul.
[Photo by MediaPunch Standard/AP Images]
