Almost eight years after Prince's death, his heirs are still fighting for control over his estate with two of the artist's former associates, Variety reported.
The lawsuit, which is the latest in a series of lengthy, costly and complicated legal battles, was made public Wednesday in a court in Delaware. Four Prince's heirs have sued two of his former associates in order to control Prince Legacy LLC. Prince Legacy is one of two holding companies created in 2022 in order to run the late musician's $156 million estate. The other holding company, Primary Wave, owns the other half of the estate and is not involved in the lawsuit.
When Prince died in 2016, he did not leave a will, which is largely why these legal battles have occurred. When the artist was alive, he was known for tenaciously fighting to control the rights to his music.
The fight within Prince Legacy
Since Prince's death, his estate has released several boxed sets filled with unreleased material from the his vault. The most recent one is from the final album that reached the top of the Billboard 200 when he was still alive, Diamonds and Pearls. The entertainment magazine's sources said that this lawsuit shouldn't complicate plans to release the reissued album. Before the album was released last year, it was held up for a few months since the estate had to wait in probate.
According to the lawsuit Variety obtained, L. Londell McMillan, Prince's former manager in the 1990s, and Charles Spicer filed the lawsuit to allege that four of the artist's heirs have been trying to push them out of Prince Legacy. The suit's claim is that this move violates a previous agreement and would cause enormous damage to their work in order “to preserve and protect Prince's legacy.”
The two further alleged 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,” the complaint said.
“Their interference and intervention will make it impossible to carry on the business of Prince Legacy and will cause irreparable harm to the Company’s good will, existing relationships, and revenue streams,” McMillan and Spicer wrote.
The battle between heirs
The pair sued Prince's half-sisters Sharon and Norinne Nelson, as well as his niece and nephew, Breanna and Allen. None of them immediately responded to the entertainment site's requests for comments.
The other heirs of Prince's estate were six of his half-sibling. Three of them later sold their interests to Primary Wave. The estate was divided evenly in August 2022 between Prince Legacy, which was owned by McMillan, Spicer and the other remaining heirs, and Prince Oat Holdings, which Primary Wave owns.
McMillan and Spicer also claimed that Sharon and Breanna tried to sell their Prince Legacy shares to Primary Wave, which they said was not allowed without all of the members' consent. They then allegedly tried to change the bylaws so the sale could go through.
Another part of the complaint stated that “Sharon sought (unsuccessfully) to replace the entire staff of Paisley Park with individuals of her choosing and take charge of Paisley Park,” which refers to Prince's studio-residence.
“Her demands for lavish events held at Paisley Park at the expense of Paisley Park were likewise rejected,” the complaint continued.
One other claim is that Breanna attempted to “appoint her son as an intern of Paisley Park in the marketing department” as well as making major hires without consulting anyone in the company.
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