HEALTHPrince's Final Months Exposed: Singer Would 'Panic' Over Losing His Memory, Claims Former Bandmate
Prince reportedly relied heavily on opioids and was in a 'panicked' state in the months before his death.
April 15 2026, Published 7:34 p.m. ET
A former bandmate is shedding light on Prince's final months before his fatal 2016 fentanyl overdose.
“I knew something was wrong,” BrownMark, who was the bassist in the Revolution from 1981 to 1986, told a news outlet in an interview published on Wednesday, April 15. “Something was not right with his memory and his behavior.”
Prince's Former Bandmate Speaks Out
BrownMark and Prince lost touch in the years before the singer's death.
BrownMark and the "Purple Rain" singer lost touch over the years, as the bassist described their relationship as a "brotherhood that could turn volatile."
"We were both alphas," he explained. "We were always like that."
The pair reconnected after Jim Lundstrom, a janitor at Prince's Paisley Park estate in Minnesota, helped bring them back together.
“He says, ‘Mark, I have a feeling that [Prince is] going to get in touch with you because he won’t stop talking about you,’” BrownMark recounted, adding that Lundstrom said Prince was "regretful" and "ready to make things right."
Prince 'Forget' He Invited Former Bandmate to Paisley Park
Prince died in April 2016 following a fentanyl overdose.
BrownMark soon received a call from the "When Doves Cry" singer, who told him, "I want you to fly to Minneapolis. Putting some things together. I want to see if you want to be involved.’”
After jetting off to Minnesota from his home in California, the musician said Prince "forgot" he had invited him and claimed he spent days waiting in a hotel room before eventually running into drummer John Blackwell Jr. in the lobby.
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Prince Allegedly Forgot Inviting BrownMark to Minnesota
Prince's memory was allegedly affected by his opioid use.
"I don’t know how to get a hold of [Prince]. I’ve been sitting here. I don’t know what’s going on,” he recalled telling the dummer.
After learning BrownMark was in Minnesota, Prince allegedly reacted, "What? What’s he doing there? Oh, you brought him here?" before realizing, "Oh, I forgot.”
When BrownMark finally made it to Prince's studio at Paisley Park, he admitted he "knew something was wrong" with the "Little Red Corvette" singer.
"Something was not right with his memory and his behavior," he continued.
BrownMark Believed Opioids Affected Prince's Memory
Prince was reportedly buying Vicodin before his death.
After discussing plans to make new music together, BrownMark relocated to Minnesota, but Prince once again forgot about the arrangement.
“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 told the outlet. “His memory was like really, really shot at that point.”
BrownMark believed Prince's memory was affected by taking opioids, which he was reportedly using before his April 2016 death. Prince died at 57 years old from an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
“Man, [pills] 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,” BrownMark explained. “He ain’t gonna let nobody see him sweat. He [wasn’t] going to tell anybody.”
