London: Pop icon Prince stayed awake for “154 hours” despite being hooked on sleep-inducing painkillers, detectives have been told.
As the 57-year-old star’s family gathered at his home for a memorial 24 hours after his private cremation, his brother-in-law told how the singer had not slept for six and a half days before he was found dead in a lift, reported Daily Mirror.
Maurice Phillips, who is married to Tyka Nelson, the Purple Rain star’s sister, said, “I was with him just last weekend. He worked 154 hours straight. He was a good brother-in-law.” Friends fear he may have been overprescribed drugs by a dodgy doctor.
But Prince’s insomnia appears to clash with reports that he was taking high levels of painkiller Percocet, which is believed to have led to him overdosing aboard his private jet, five days before he died. Prince was found dead at his home at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, last week.
Meanwhile, sales of Prince’s music have skyrocketed since his death. The Very Best of Prince and Purple Rain hold the number one and two spot respectively in the US Billboard chart. The chart is compiled on a Friday, meaning Prince outsold the rest of the market in just 24 hours.
In the UK, two of his albums also entered the Top 40 on Friday. Some of the sales were spurred by the lack of Prince material on streaming services. The star’s catalogue was only available to stream on Tidal, while he relentlessly pursued people who illegally uploaded his material to sites like SoundCloud, Daily Motion and YouTube. “I have a team of female black lawyers who keep an eye on such transgressions,” Prince once said.
