Nothing compares to the musical gifts in Prince’s family.
During his illustrious career in the industry, Prince found huge success with hits like “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry” and “Little Red Corvette.” His gift of music, which continues to be celebrated long after his death in 2016, seemingly stemmed from his parents.
His mother, Mattie Della Shaw Baker, was a jazz singer while his father, John L. Nelson, spent years performing as an established musician.
“They really formed the two poles of his being and he said in my last conversation with him, four days before he died, that that was really one of the central dilemmas of his life,” Prince’s The Beautiful Ones book editor Dan Piepenbring told NPR in October 2019. “He said that he liked ‘order, finality and truth’; those were all things that he ascribed to his father. But if a DJ put on something funky, he was going to want to dance, and that would be his mother’s influence.”
Prince’s own sister, Tyka Nelson, also found success in the music world, releasing four studio albums before her death in November 2024.
Keep reading to learn more about Prince’s extended family:
Tyka Nelson
Like her brother and parents, Nelson was an accomplished musician who recorded and released four studio albums between 1988 and 2011. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Nelson was due to retire from music in June 2024 with one final concert set to take place in Minneapolis. However, she fell ill and didn’t make it. Her son, President Nelson, confirmed his mother’s death in November 2024. She was 64.
Before her death, Nelson consistently expressed how much Prince meant to her. “Prince defied the odds,” she said at the 2016 American Music Awards. “A Black teen from Minneapolis with a goal to electrify the world, he had the courage to be different. With his vision [and] God-given talent, he is still one of the world’s most respected and loved artists.”
Mayte Garcia
Garcia’s love story with the “Purple Rain” singer began when her mother slipped one of Prince’s entourage a videotape of her daughter dancing. A friendship between the two began to blossom before things turned romantic when she was 19. The couple married in 1996 and Garcia was pregnant two months later.
The couple experienced a tragic loss when their baby boy died six days after birth due to a rare genetic disorder. Their grief over the passing of their son Amiir would contribute to the pair’s divorce in 2000.
Manuela Testolini
Prince received a second chance at love when he was married to Testolini from 2001 to 2006. Although their marriage didn’t last forever, the pair remained friends even after the divorce. “Prince and I had a magical journey together and I loved him immensely,” she told E! News in April 2016. “The world knew him as a musical genius — I knew him as a husband, friend and fierce philanthropist. Philanthropy brought us together and it was Prince who encouraged me to start my own charity over 10 years ago.”
John L. Nelson and Mattie Della Shaw Baker
Prince’s parents John and Mattie first met in 1956 when they were both jazz musicians. At the time, both had children from a previous marriage — John had four, while Mattie had one. During their marriage, the couple welcomed Prince and Tyka.
While Prince clashed with his father and briefly moved in with his friend André Cymone’s family, the two later reconciled and even collaborated on several of Prince’s songs including “Father’s Song.”
Tyka Nelson and Prince’s Half-Siblings
Because their parents had children from previous marriages, both Tyka and Prince had five half-siblings: Sharon, Norrine and John Nelson (who died in 2021), Alfred Jackson (who died in 2019) and Omarr Baker. In May 2017, a Minnesota judge ruled that Prince’s sister and five half-siblings were the rightful heirs to the music icon’s estate, worth an estimated $200 million.
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