Hints of Prince’s Failing Health Preceded a Sudden Death

Wait a few days before you waste any prayers.”

That was Prince’s reassurance to fans gathered for a dance party on Saturday night at his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minn., after reports that he had suffered a health scare during a flight on Friday.

This famously private performer warned the hometown crowd not to always trust the media. A representative had insisted for weeks that it was only the flu.

Days later, Prince was dead at 57, discovered not breathing after an emergency call at 9:43 a.m. on Thursday in an elevator at Paisley Park, which houses his estate and studio. While no cause of death has been given, Jason Kamerud, the chief deputy for the Carver County Sheriff’s office, said the local medical examiner would conduct an autopsy. Results are typically not available for a few days, he said.

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His death has shocked not only the legions of fans who had thought him to be otherworldly and invincible, but also those who had spotted him out and about in recent days: Prince was seen riding his bike, hosting a party and visiting a local record store and jazz club. Despite his enigmatic reputation, he was a familiar presence around Minneapolis.

A week ago, Prince was healthy enough to give what would be his final public performance. He played two sets in one night at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, making up for shows canceled earlier this month. Addressing the crowd that evening, Prince said he had been “a little under the weather” on April 7, when the shows were originally scheduled, but added, “We’re here now.”

Nicholas Wolaver, a fan who attended the early performance, said: “You would not believe that he was singing ill. He sounded true to his talents and it was an amazing performance.” And although he was performing with only a piano, Prince “got up and danced,” Mr. Wolaver said, adding that even after three encores, “he left people wanting a little more.”

But by the following day, TMZ reported that Prince’s plane had made an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., en route to Minnesota. After what was reportedly a brief hospital visit, Prince tweeted, “I am #transformed.”

On Saturday, there seemed no cause for concern as Prince announced the party at Paisley Park, which also served as a community gathering place. “2 GIVE THANX 4 THE GOOD WEATHER AND 4 ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT,” Prince tweeted, attaching a flyer for the night’s festivities. The cover charge was $10.

Scott Gregoria was among the few hundred fans to show up. Prince looked “a little more weak, a little more pale than when I had seen him before,” Mr. Gregoria said outside Paisley Park on Thursday. But he noted that Prince was also in a gregarious mood, joking around with the crowd and showing off a new guitar in his trademark shade of purple. In lieu of a performance, he played a recording of the Atlanta show over the speaker system.

Prince had been out and about earlier on Saturday as well. Kaitlyn Powell, 17, saw him riding bikes with a companion around a strip mall as she waited for her 3 p.m. shift to start at the local Office Max.

“I saw this person biking pretty quickly around the parking lot, but it wasn’t until he got close to my car and I made eye contact with him that I realized it was actually Prince,” she said. “I kind of second-guessed myself because he wasn’t wearing purple.”

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But when she left her car, there he was, just sitting on the sidewalk. “I got my phone out to take a picture and he asked me not to,” Ms. Powell said. “I said, O.K., I respect that, put my phone away and went to work.”

That morning, Prince had also noted that it was Record Store Day. “PLEASE SUPPORT UR LOCAL RECORD STORE 2DAY: (THROAT CLEARS 2 ATTRACT ATTENTION): ELECTRIC FETUS,” he tweeted, referring to the south Minneapolis shop he was known to frequent. Sure enough, he stopped in that evening to make a purchase, according to The Star Tribune.

On Tuesday night, he was spotted again, this time at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis, still walking the line, even in his final days, between unknowable cipher and local fixture.

“For the residents of Minneapolis, the loss of Prince is too large to describe,” wrote the city’s mayor, Betsy Hodges, in a statement. “Prince never left us and we never left him.”