Tyka Nelson

Daughter of John L. Nelson and sister of Prince, Tyka Nelson was born in Minneapolis on May 18, 1960. She grew up with her seven brothers and sisters, between a musician father and a jazz singer mother, in an environment conducive to her musical blossoming. While her brother was a global star rivaling Michael Jackson, she decided to take her turn in the music world, under the guidance of Larry Graham. Graham, the eminent funk bassist and lead singer of Graham Central Station, produced her first album for the Cooltempo label, Royal Blue (1988), with the hit "Marc Anthony's Tune", which reached No. 33 in the R&B charts. In the R&B, soul pop, New Jack Swing vein of the time, Tyka Nelson produced the album Yellow Moon, Red Sky for CMC International four years later, before taking a long break to devote to her family life. In 2008, she made her return to music with the self-produced album A Brand New Me, followed three years later by Hustler. A year after the death of Prince, whose estate she manages, she released a final track, "End of the Road", in 2017, before retiring from the stage in 2018. Her planned comeback in 2024 is thwarted by health problems. On November 4, 2024, Tyka Nelson died in Robbinsdale, at the age of 64.

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