Rock Royal Prince Dead At 57

Prince Rogers Nelson, the enigmatic, flamboyant and hugely influential musician known to the world simply as Prince, died Thursday at his Paisley Park studio at his home in Minnesota. He was 57.

Carver County Sheriff's officers arrived at Prince's longtime studio around 9:45 a.m. local time in response to an emergency medical call, the department said in a news release. First responders found Prince in an elevator and began CPR but to no avail.

At 10:07 a.m., Prince was pronounced dead.

Authorities did not speculate on a cause of death, but Prince's private jet had made an emergency landing Friday, April 15, at 1:30 a.m. at a small airport in Moline, Illinois, as he was flying home from a show in Atlanta. A spokesperson told TMZ at the time that Prince was suffering from the flu, and he was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was discharged a few hours later.

Bruce Carter, aviation director at Quad-City International Airport, told QCTimes.com an ambulance was waiting to pick up an "unresponsive" passenger from the jet. TMZ on Thursday, citing sources in Moline, reported that Prince was treated for an opiate overdose and received a "save shot" from medical personnel.

Prince planted his roots in the music industry early in his life and by its end he had branched across most of the musical spectrum. His greatest influence was in pop music, though, which he preserved as a long-recognizable genre even while injecting it with a sharp and infectious newness that created a personal version all his own.

By the end of his life, Prince had evolved and innovated throughout a career of 35 years that produced 39 albums, a body of work that established him as a living musical legend. He was a songwriter and producer and virtuoso on numerous instruments, including guitar, keyboards and drums, with talent enough to spare and spread to grateful fans of funk, rock, R&B and, of course, pop.

• See Also: World Reaction To The Death Of Prince

President Obama acknowledged Prince's breadth and depth of impact.

"Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent," the president said in a statement. "As one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time, Prince did it all. Funk. R&B. Rock and roll.

"He was a virtuoso instrumentalist, a brilliant bandleader, and an electrifying performer."

His 1984 film “Purple Rain” is considered one of the best and most influential music films ever, featuring powerful, pain-streaked songs presented with a visual artistry that matched the talents of Prince's songwriting.

That album by the same name included the No. 1 hits “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.”

For "Purple Rain," Prince won two Grammys and an Oscar award and established himself as one of the greatest.

(Perspective: The album gave him a victory over Michael Jackson's Thriller for Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the 1985 American Music Awards.)

Prince was on a roll.

Every song he wrote, it seemed, resonated with his growing number of fans.

“When Doves Cry,” “Raspberry Beret,” “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “I Would Die 4 You,” “U Got the Look,” and “Alphabet St.,” were favorites and remain so for many fans who grew up with Prince songs as their personal anthems.

Born in Minneapolis in 1958, Prince wrote his first song at the ripe age of 7 and had his first platinum album, "Prince," in 1979.

Those who knew Prince recognized his talent and potential at a young age. Owen Husney, the manager who first signed Prince while he was still a minor, told the Guardian in a 2006 interview, “At 17 he had the vision and astuteness of a 40-year-old.

"He was the kind of guy who could sit in a room with you and absorb everything in your brain and know more than you by the time you left the room."

By the end of his decades-long career, Prince had won seven Grammys, sold more than 100 million albums and, in 2004, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He also astounded fans in 2007 with a halftime show that is considered one of the best in Super Bowl history. In pouring rain, Prince jammed for an epic 12-minute set that included a cover of the Foo Fighters' "Best of You." It ended, appropriately, with Prince and his guitar drenched and dripping while the last note of "Purple Rain" echoed through the stadium.

Prince won praise from all corners, but he was especially beloved by his fellow musicians. At the news of his death, Mick Jagger tweeted, "Prince's talent was limitless. He was one of the most unique and talented artists of the last 30 years."

His influence transcended music, too.

In the wake of the Baltimore riots last year, Prince visited the city after penning a song called, "Baltimore," performing it at the free concert held to rally the city to health.

In 1993, Prince memorably changed his name to a symbol, an apparent nod to the merging of masculine and feminine traits. With no name to reference him, he suggested that people refer to him as, “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince,” or, more concisely, “The Artist.”

Rolling Stone named it one of the “Boldest Career Moves in Rock History.”

Pseudonyms were a recurring obsession of Prince's. For his first several albums, he contributed the vast majority of the instrumental parts. But he didn't always claim credit for these contributions, instead attributing the work to the non-existent "Jamie Starr."

"I was just getting tired of seeing my name," Prince explained in an interview with Bass Player. "If you give away an idea, you still own that idea. In fact, giving it away strengthens it. Why do people feel they have to take credit for everything they do? Ego -- that’s the only reason."

Prince’s irreverent attitude and antics were the stuff of legend. During disputes with Warner Bros. over a multi-million dollar contract in the 1990s, he frequently appeared with the word “slave” written on his forehead. In recent years, the artist and the entertainment giant had mended bridges and begun working together again.

Devotion to his work was the constant of his life.

HITnRun Phase 2, released in December 2015, was Prince’s 39th and final record, capping off an extraordinarily voluminous catalogue of work. The album won praise for its eclectic mix of Prince’s established style along with more modern influences. Rolling Stone called it “his most consistently engaging album in years.”

Fans began parking outside Paisley Park shortly after the news broke, while others took to Twitter to share their grief: