Prince: New Music Available On iTunes And Apple Music

Friday, April 21, will mark the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death. Although it will be a sad day for many, there are some good things happening on that day. An EP, titled Deliverance, will begin streaming on iTunes on April 21. A physical copy of the album will be available on June 2. The title track is already available for download on iTunes and Apple Music.

The album is made up of six unreleased Prince songs and can be purchased for $3.99. The six tracks on Deliverance are “Deliverance,” “I Am,” “Touch Me,” “Sunrise Sunset,” “No One Else,” and “I Am (extended).” The songs were co-written and co-produced by Prince and Ian Boxill between 2006 and 2008. According to a press release,

“The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Prince’s opinion of major label contracts, Deliverance is being released independently via RMA, a Vancouver WA based record company. The majority of all sales of Deliverance will benefit Prince’s estate.”

Ian Boxill is a mixing and recording engineer. He worked on completing the songs on Deliverance not long after Prince’s death. Boxill and Prince had worked together for many years and became close friends. When it comes to the release of the new music, Boxill said,

“I believe Deliverance is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing. I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many,” Boxill said in the release. “Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public. When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that’s what Prince would have wanted.”

Over his impressive career, Prince released 39 studio albums and 12 EPs, as well as a handful of live albums and compilation albums. His first studio album came out in April of 1978. The last new music he released prior to his death was Hit n Run Phase Two, which came out on December 12, 2015.

Prince was just 57 years old when he died from an accidental drug overdose. The drug that caused his death was the opioid fentanyl, which is more potent than heroin and morphine. The Grammy-Award winning artist was found unresponsive in an elevator in his Paisley Park home in Minnesota. He was rushed to the hospital but pronounced dead upon arrival.

New details have recently emerged about Prince’s death. Search warrants from the investigation were released on Monday and NBC News reported that the warrants revealed prescription meds were found all over Prince’s home. There were powerful prescription pills discovered in suitcases, in vitamin bottles, and in aspirin bottles. Prince did not have a prescription for any of the narcotics found in his home and it is still unknown as to where he got the fatal dose of fentanyl. No one has been charged in the singer’s death, but the investigation remains active and open.

Many who did not know Prince well were shocked by his untimely death. He wasn’t someone who would be seen out partying and living a wild life. He actually kept to himself and stayed out of the spotlight unless he was performing his music. However, those who were close to him knew that he was struggling with addiction. The day before his death, Prince’s team called an opiate addiction specialist to come see the singer. The specialist made it to Paisley Park the next day, on April 21, the day of his death. Prince was already in the elevator, unresponsive, by the time the specialist arrived.

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]