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Minneapolis (AP) - For April 21, Paisley Park near Minneapolis is expecting a stream of visitors that should be reminiscent of a pilgrimage.
In Prince's old estate and record label, fans can say goodbye to the music legend.
Outside the entrance there is space for flowers and memorabilia.
Inside the light-flooded atrium, the ashes of the singer, who died five years ago, are exhibited.
Paisley Park, on the outskirts of the city of Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, was Prince's home and workplace, his refuge.
Behind the thick walls of the complex, he gathered all his belongings, his awards, costumes and instruments on around 6000 square meters, and built himself a music paradise with several recording studios, stages and video production rooms.
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Paisley Park was a central component in the life of the legendary musician - and also on the day of his death: Prince was found lifeless in the elevator of today's museum on April 21, 2016 and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
An overdose of pain medication, even if the exact circumstances are still not clear.
Prince was 57 years old.
Five years have passed and the musical genius Prince Roger Nelson - son of a black jazz musician and a white singer - is still more than missed. His mixture of funk, pop, blues and rock, the explosive guitar playing, this sensual soul voice that often climbs into falsetto, the sometimes frivolous lyrics on the US index electrify his fans to this day. Prince produced hits like “Purple Rain”, “Kiss” or “Sign O 'The Times” that will never be forgotten.
Prince, born on June 7, 1958, has been considered a musical child prodigy since his debut with the album "For You" (1978).
At the age of 19, the multi-instrumentalist was the youngest artist to whom the Warner label allowed him to write an album entirely on his own.
The lyrics of the first records read like wet dreams of a teenager.
The music that picks up both black and white sounds - inspired by James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield or Sly Stone, but also by the Beatles - sounded enormously mature.
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The breakthrough came in 1982 with the ambitious double album "1999" and dance floor sweeps like the title track or "Little Red Corvette".
The soundtrack for the film "Purple Rain" completed the rise to superstar two years later.
Meanwhile, the live shows of the barely 1.60-meter-tall Prince became energetic, brightly colored masses of the eccentric genius.
But it didn't stay great.
And that has a lot to do with that bizarre volatility that initially drove the enormously talented artist to be extremely creative and later to make too few career-promoting decisions.
The prince, who was considered arrogant, fell out with record labels, wrote “slave” on his cheek in the struggle for independence and changed his stage name several times - the weirdest example: TAFKAP, “The Artist formerly known as Prince”.
Most recently, his records were only available online at times, and he sometimes sold a new CD as a newspaper insert.
And the world hits and creative highlights were largely absent.
Prince made headlines with his closeness to Jehovah's Witnesses and also with rumors about affairs - with Kim Basinger, Madonna, Carmen Electra, Sheena Easton.
He was married twice - to lesser-known women.
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His death came unexpectedly in the end - also because Prince looked like a man of eternal youth until the end.
His fans will remember him as such when they commemorate their idol on April 21st in Paisley Park.
His fans were most recently electrified by the announcement of a previously unreleased album: “Welcome 2 America” is due to be released on July 30th - and could at least round off the unfinished life's work a little.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210415-99-212213 / 6