Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson dead at 64

Tyka Nelson, the only full sibling of Prince, has died, ABC News has confirmed. She was 64.

A musician, songwriter and author, Nelson died Nov. 4 at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. She’s survived by her two sons, Sir and President, as well as two sisters, a brother and five grandchildren. 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that “you take care of one another.”

Nelson released four albums and had been set to retire from performing in June following a farewell concert, but according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the concert went on without her after she became ill. She said at the time that she was writing a memoir. Her last public performance was in 2018.

Like Prince, Nelson was the daughter of jazz singer Mattie Della Shaw and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson; she was born in 1960, two years after her brother.

Nelson was one of six individuals who were ruled to be Prince’s legal heirs after he died in 2016. She and two others sold their interests in the estate to Primary Wave Music; the other three retained theirs. In 2022, control of the estate was split between Primary Wave and the other three siblings, plus their advisers.

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