‘Something Wasn’t Right’: Prince’s Bandmate Recalls Troubling Final Months
Nearly a decade after the death of Prince, a former collaborator is shedding light on what he describes as unsettling behavior in the music legend’s final months. According to exclusive reporting from Page Six …
Nearly a decade after the death of 🎤Prince, a former collaborator is shedding light on what he describes as unsettling behavior in the music legend’s final months.
According to exclusive reporting from Page Six, 🎸BrownMark, who played bass in 🎤Prince’s band The Revolution during the 1980s, said he began noticing signs that something was off long before the singer’s fatal overdose in 2016.
“I knew something was wrong,” 🎸BrownMark said. “Something was not right with his memory and his behavior.”
The two had not been in regular contact for years when a mutual acquaintance reached out with an unusual message.
According to 🎸BrownMark, he was told Prince
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had been talking about him and might want to reconnect.
That prediction quickly came true.
“ says, ‘I want you to fly to Minneapolis. Putting some things together. I want to see if you want to be involved.’”
Despite their complicated history, 🎸BrownMark didn’t hesitate.
He left his home in California and flew to Minneapolis, expecting to reunite and begin work on new music.
Instead, he said he was left waiting — alone in a hotel for days — with no contact.
“I don’t have a bat number. I don’t know how to get a hold of . I’ve been sitting here. I don’t know what’s going on,” he recalled saying after encountering drummer John Blackwell Jr.
When 🎤Prince was informed that 🎸BrownMark had arrived, the reaction stunned him.
“‘What? What’s he doing there? Oh, you brought him here?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I forgot.’”
At that moment, 🎸BrownMark said, confirming his concerns.
“That’s when I knew something was wrong. Something was not right with his memory and his behavior.”
Despite the confusion, the two discussed forming a new group and reviving the sound that defined their earlier success.
🎸BrownMark agreed and eventually relocated to Minneapolis.
But even then, he said, 🎤Prince appeared disoriented.
“You could see the panic in his face because you can see he just remembered what he had done: ‘Oh man, wait a minute. I moved him here,’” 🎸BrownMark said. “His memory was like really, really shot at that point.”
Looking back, 🎸BrownMark believes opioid use may have played a role in the singer’s condition.
“Man, just clouds your memory. And I think that’s what was happening with him because he was heavily relying upon opioids for his pain, for his hip,” he said.
🎤Prince died on April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park estate after taking counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
“He ain’t gonna let nobody see him sweat,” 🎸BrownMark added. “He going to tell anybody.”
The recollections paint a picture of a music icon struggling behind the scenes — even as he continued to maintain the image of control and perfection that defined his career.
