Prince’s Sister Tyka Nelson Dead at 64

Tyka Nelson, Prince’s only full sister, died at the age of 64 on Monday, her son confirmed.

No details were provided by President Nelson (that’s her son’s name), while other members of her family also reported the news.

She released four albums between 1988 and 2011 and announced her retirement from music in June. She’d been scheduled to appear at a farewell concert later that month, but it went ahead without her as a result of an unidentified illness.

READ MORE: Was Prince’s Famous Rock Hall Guitar Solo an ‘Act of Revenge’?

She shared parents with John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw Nelson with Prince, who also had five half-siblings. Tyka was involved in the extensive legal disputes over Prince’s estate after he died in 2016 without leaving a will.

In June she said she’d started work on a memoir about her life and family, telling the Minnesota Star Tribune: “I really wasn’t a singer. I’m a writer. I just happen to be able to sing. I enjoy singing.”

Tyka Nelson On Prince’s Evasiveness Before His Death

She also reported that she’d been in contact with Prince up until the time of his death, but that he’d been evasive about his health. “He kept avoiding questions,” she said. “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. He asked me could I find more information about our family… [he] wanted me to find Sharon’s number. I didn’t question it. It was like, ‘Send this picture to that person.’ ‘OK. What for?’”

She added: “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.” She hinted that she was planning to go into more detail in her book.