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Tyka Nelson, a Minneapolis singer and Prince’s sister, passed away Monday morning.
Her son, President Nelson, confirmed the death but declined to offer details. Tyka was 64.
The daughter of John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw Nelson, Tyka Nelson was Prince’s only full sibling. Like her famous brother, she had an interest in music.
Nelson released four albums between 1988 and 2011 and was supposed to have her retirement and farewell concert in June at the Dakota. However, she took ill and the concert — in which she was set to be the emcee and sing a couple of songs — went on without her.
“I’m getting older,” Nelson told the Minnesota Star Tribune before her June show. “I really wasn’t a singer. I’m a writer. I just happen to be able to sing. I enjoy singing.”
She said she was writing a memoir.
Nelson last performed in the Twin Cities in 2008 at Bunkers. Her last public performance was in Australia in 2018.
“She had her own mind,” Sharon Nelson, her sister, said Monday night. “She’s in a better place.”
