Just a year after the intricate legal battle over Prince’s estate was ultimately resolved, the late musician’s heirs have returned to court with two former associates of the artiste.
Four of the artiste’s heirs are vying for control of Prince Legacy LLC believed to be worth some $156 million with two of his former business associates in a lawsuit filed in Delaware on Wednesday.
The fact that Prince passed away in 2016 without leaving a will has complicated the process of settling his estate; this is a tragic irony for a musician who had battled valiantly to own the rights to his songs.
Londell McMillan, who briefly managed Prince in the 1990s, and Charles Spicer filed the most recent lawsuit, which was obtained online, alleging that four members of Prince’s family have been attempting to push them out of the Prince Legacy LLC business. They contend that the endeavor would seriously harm attempts “to preserve and protect Prince’s legacy” and that it breaches a previous agreement.
McMillan and Spicer allege that “the individual defendants lack any business and management experience, have no experience in the music and entertainment industries, and have no experience negotiating and managing high-level deals in the entertainment industry,” they wrote in the complaint. “Their meddling and intervention will destroy the company’s goodwill, current relationships, and revenue streams, making it impossible for Prince Legacy to continue operating.”
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Prince’s half-sisters Sharon and Norrine Nelson, as well as his nephew Allen Nelson and niece Breanna Nelson, are named in the lawsuit. None of the parties responded to requests for comment right away.
Three of Prince’s half-siblings later sold their shares to Primary Wave, while the other six were declared heirs. The estate was ultimately split equally in August 2022 between Primary Wave’s Prince Oat Holdings and McMillan, Spicer, and the remaining heirs to the Prince Legacy.
The estate recently released a massive collection from Prince’s final album to top the Billboard 200 during his lifetime, Diamonds and Pearls, one of several boxed sets filled with previously unheard material from his vast vault.