bitflipper
Drug overdose. Most likely prescription opioids.

Yeah, mayhaps an overzealous doctor and/or manager cranking him full of crap trying to keep gig dates. That flu was likely costing someone a LOT of money.

eph221
People still do die of AIDS, despite the progress that's been made.  I just wish someone would do a documentary of some kind celebrating all the great artists we've lost to the disease.  They can start with Rock Hudson.  The Broadway community was completely destroyed amongst other things.

 
I keep thinking the NY and SF scenes were specially hit badly in the 70's and 80's ... for anything that was artistic related to the 60's and such. I was just thinking about Patti Smith's book, and Robert Mapplethorp.
 

Beepster

bitflipper
Drug overdose. Most likely prescription opioids.

Yeah, mayhaps an overzealous doctor and/or manager cranking him full of crap trying to keep gig dates. That flu was likely costing someone a LOT of money.

 
I'm thinking that if it was natural, the whole thing was over, and there was nothing else to discuss. So, yeah ... here comes the bad stuff and some doctor that has been prescribing pills left and right!

Saw an interview with Prince's sound engineer yesterday, she said that there's enough recorded and unreleased music for a new Prince album every year for the next 100 years. Prolific isn't the word.

bitflipper
Drug overdose. Most likely prescription opioids.

I'm a little surprised. He did look ok, and all that religiousness and such. I thought he was living a reasonably disciplined life even though he was "odd".

jamesg1213
Saw an interview with Prince's sound engineer yesterday, she said that there's enough recorded and unreleased music for a new Prince album every year for the next 100 years. Prolific isn't the word.

Apparently that was the case back even in the 90's (I had a buddy who was a huuuuuuge Prince fan and he told me that back then). Probably much more has been recorded since.

Beepster

jamesg1213
Saw an interview with Prince's sound engineer yesterday, she said that there's enough recorded and unreleased music for a new Prince album every year for the next 100 years. Prolific isn't the word.

Apparently that was the case back even in the 90's (I had a buddy who was a huuuuuuge Prince fan and he told me that back then). Probably much more has been recorded since.

There might be a lot in that vault, but I'm betting that most of it is live concert material and such, and not necessarily new material. There might be a lot of new things, most likely unfinished, in that vault, and this is the same issue with the Frank Zappa Trust and Vault. They do not know what to do with the bits and pieces, and the recorded pre-show warmups by the band that were just instrumental, and non-stop, with various changes at the snap of a finger, or something like it. 
 
I doubt that there would be "complete" songs, and material, other than plain piano pieces, for example, as ideas for new pieces in the future.

Uh, apart from a couple of lightweight party anthems, I never got on with him as a songwriter. Just my opinion. May he rest in peace. The media is reviewing his opus as if he were Mozart.
 
The people I knew who were into him were REALLY into him - but they were young ladies in the 80's - read: 1980's - and they were into him for the Elvis effect he had upon them. 
 
Prince the Guitar player and stage showman? Definitely some quality there, and that's a loss. But as a songwriter? Will anyone be covering his songs 20 years from now, because they have become standards / classics?  like Lennon/McCartney stuff?
 
If so, I can't wait for Justin Bieber's comeback album of Prince tunes in 2035.
 
there, thanks for the vent, I feel better.
 

I must admit I'm finding the coverage a little bit overkill. I appreciate his talent and he did pen a few great songs but come on, if you asked most people to name 5 Prince songs they'd probably get as far as Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, Nothing Compares To U (as sung by Sinead O'Conner), Party Like It's 1999 and then....er.....er....
 
He was definitely a character for sure, but hadn't really done much or been in the spotlight to any degree for a good many years, yet the media's treating his death as the end of an era, like we lost another Lennon. Definitely see the need of some coverage for sure, but some news sites have had upwards of 10-15 Prince articles on their front page. Gawd help us when HRH the Queen of England dies, that's all I can say, I think I'll be avoiding the internet for a month. 

I do think it's somewhat impressive that someone can write a couple of hundred songs about sex... 

Actually, there's probably SIX songs that most people would remember (and the Sinead one isn't one of them since nobody, except Sharke, knew that Prince was involved):
 
Purple Rain
Raspberry Beret
Party Like It's 1999
Little Red Corvette
When Doves Cry
Erotic City