Tyka Nelson, the Minneapolis-based singer and sister of the late superstar Prince, died Monday. She was 64.
Her death was announced to the Minnesota Star Tribune by her son President Nelson. No cause was given, although she had been in failing health for some time. She had retired from music but was reportedly working on a memoir at the time of her death.
Born Tyka Evene Nelson on May 18, 1960, in Minneapolis to pianist John L. Nelson and jazz singer Mattie Shaw Nelson, Tyka Nelson was the only full sibling of the Purple Rain singer born Prince Rogers Nelson.
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Tyka Nelson recorded four albums between 1988 and 2011. She performed sporadically in recent years, including once in 2008 at the Minneapolis club Bunkers and then 10 years later in Australia. She was planning to appear at a farewell concert last June at the Dakota jazz club in Minneapolis but was too ill to attend; the event went on as a tribute to her.
Tyka, along with five of Prince’s partial siblings, were ruled to be the legal heirs to the considerable Prince estate — he died in 2016 at 57 — though legal wrangling continued for years. Two years ago, holdings of the estate valued at more than $150 million were split between a group representing some of the half-siblings and another group identified with Primary Wave publishing; Primary Wave had bought out Tyka Nelson’s interests some years earlier.
In addition to son President Nelson, Tyka Nelson’s survivors include son Sir, sisters Sharon and Norrine Nelson, and brother Omarr Baker.