Prince’s Sister Tyka Nelson Dead At 64

In 2016, Prince, one of music’s most enduring icons, passed away. At the time, his sister Tyka Nelson said that he’d told her he’d “done all he came here to do.”

Now the Prince fan community mourns her loss as Nelson has passed away at the age of 64. Her cousin, Chazz and son President Nelson announced the news.

“Born 1960, the daughter of Mattie and John Nelson, she was best known as Prince’s sister and worked to keep his legacy alive with his fans attending fan and industry events,” President Nelson said in a statement following his mother’s passing. “Services will be private, and in lieu of flowers, the family has asked that you take care of one another.”

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Born May 18, 1960, Nelson was one of six Prince siblings who inherited his estate when he passed away on April 21, 2016. She is Prince’s only sibling who shares both parents.

As Prince died without a will, his heirs had to wait years before his estate was settled. Tyka was one of three siblings who sold her interest in the $156.4M estate to Primary Wave, who now owns 50% of the Prince Estate. Prince Legacy LLC owns the other half with Prince’s surviving siblings who opted to retain their shares.

“We are incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of Tyka Nelson,” a statement from Primary Wave said. “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.”

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Though Tyka struggled with substance abuse at points in her life and was sometimes estranged from her brother, she was also a musician. She released four albums starting with her debut Royal Blue in 1988. Though Tyka had two songs that made the top 100 on Billboard charts, “Marc Anthony’s Tune” and “L.O.V.E.” she recognized that her talent when viewed next to her brother’s could never be fairly judged.

“I was praying one day, I said, ‘Please, God, why can’t I sound like CeCe Winans?’” she told Australia’s Studio 10 in 2018. But she also saw some positive in the comparisons to her brother, also saying, “If there’s anyone you can compare me to, c’mon, you might as well compare me to the best, right?”

After his death, Tyka participated in several tributes to her brother appearing on The American Music Awards to pick up a posthumous award for Purple Rain’s return to the charts. She also appeared on a Black-ish tribute episode, participated in several other tributes and memorials and championed various Estate releases, including multiple box sets.

Tyka was dealing with health issues in the last months of her life, per a TMZ report. It is said that she struggled with heart problems and that paramedics had been called multiple times to her Minneapolis home. This summer, Tyka canceled her appearance at a retirement show at The Dakota in Minneapolis, a place her brother sometimes played, citing her age and that she was a writer more than a singer. Others performed in her stead, making it a tribute.

Tyka is survived by her husband, Maurice Phillips, and two sons, President and Sir, along with her sisters Sharon and Norrine Nelson and her brother, Omarr Baker. Sharon, who was on the opposite side of Tyka and the set of siblings who sold to Primary Wave, told the Minnesota Star Tribune after her passing, “Tyka had her own mind. She’s in a better place.”

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