Prince Estate Responds to Claims of Posthumous Polishing of ‘Timeless’ Vault Album Track ‘Calabama’: ‘Of Course, No AI Was Used’
The recently released collection gathers 10 songs from across the span of the late rock icon's career.
The estate of Prince has addressed claims that one of the tracks on the recently released vault collection, Timeless, may have been posthumously polished with added parts. The statement specifically addressed the 2003 hit "Calabama," which features Prince calling out for horns twice. The archived multitrack originally featured a synthesizer filling that space, which horn players later dubbed in.
According to the estate, a group of horn players who worked with Prince were assembled to overdub his synthesizer track with the intended horn line, and this version was released on Timeless. All of Prince's original recorded parts remain intact, with only trombone, saxophone, and trumpet added by Greg Boyer, Adrian Crutchfield, and Lynn Grissett, who had close ties to the artist and are credited in the album's liner notes.
The estate stressed that no other posthumous overdubs were done on the album and that no AI was used. Fans have weighed in on the issue, with some arguing that Prince never added the horns himself and that the original version should be released as stored. Timeless, released in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Prince's death, covers every major era of his career.
The estate promised to provide more details regarding future releases, noting that some recordings in the Purple One's deep vault were simply unfinished.
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