EDITOR’S NOTE: Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death. Click here for an intimate, photographic look back on his life.
As the world marks ten years since Prince’s untimely death in the spring of 2016, Minneapolis, the city that birthed him, wants to mark the significance of the moment.
“I think fans are going to be very surprised this year, because usually Prince’s work and catalogs have been focused on distinct projects and periods,” L. Londell McMillan, Prince’s longtime attorney and business partner, recently told CNN.
“For the 10th year, what they’re going to get is a true celebration of his life.”
While celebrations for Prince in the area are an annual occurrence, this year’s event — dubbed the “10th Anniversary Celebration of Life” — is meant to be huge.
Paisley Park — once Prince’s Chanhassen, Minnesota home and studio, now a sprawling museum dedicated to him — will host the celebration of the artist’s life and work, with a series of events designed to do justice to his unparalleled legacy.
The multi-day itinerary will launch on June 3 and culminate on June 7, on what would have been his 68th birthday.
The day before, McMillan in Minneapolis along with the city’s Mayor Jacob Frey recently announced a community sing-along as part of the planned celebration.
The two-hour interactive event will be a free, all-ages outdoor event near the downtown Prince mural in the city the singer loved.
“In Minneapolis, we don’t just remember Prince—we feel him in the streets, in the music, in who we are,” Frey said in a statement.
McMillan told CNN prior to the announcement that attendees of the multi-day celebration will witness “a cross section of his artistic and brilliance and his human spirit across his lifespan.”
“Hopefully we can move from a place of just being sad that he’s not here to wishing he was here, but feeling grateful that he was here during our time, and we got a chance to witness his talents and his magic,” he said.
The singing legend was found dead at his Paisely Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016 after an accidental fentanyl overdose. He was 57.
Prince was an intensely private artist who could play dozens of instruments and revolutionized stage performance. A 7-time Grammy winner during his lifetime, he was also responsible for writing dozens of hit songs for others, including Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” The Bangles’ “Manic Monday,” and “I Feel for You” as sung by Chaka Khan.
