Friday is going to be a rough one for Prince fans. April 21 marks the one-year anniversary of the “Purple One’s death at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota. Producer George Ian Boxill was hoping to commemorate the untimely event by releasing a brand new EP with unreleased songs titled Deliverance, but according to TMZ, that plan has been scuttled after he lost a battle in court with the singer’s estate.
In a hearing that took place on Wednesday, a Federal judge stepped in and issued a restringing order against the release of the album and Boxill was ordered to turn over all recordings to the estate. In reaching his decision, the judge apparently referenced a signed confidentiality agreement that Boxill affixed his name to when recording with Prince.
The material on Deliverance was apparently recorded in the timespan between 2006 and 2008. In the lead-up to the release, Boxill shared one song, the title track over Apple Music, but it’s since been taken down. In court, the estate argued that, Boxill is was in violation an agreement with Prince that stated all the material that he worked on with the him during his life would remain the singer’s “sole and exclusive” property, before going on to assert that Boxill is, “now trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at the expense of the Prince estate.”
Apparently the judge agreed and the recordings will remain locked away until the Estate deems them worthy of release.
