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Michael Tran/FilmMagicPrince was known to millions of fans around the world as a flamboyant stage performer, but to the congregation of the St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall, he was just a worshiper.
Member Anna Barry tells People magazine that the “Purple Rain” singer — whose birth name is Prince Rogers Nelson — was known simply as “Brother Nelson” to the congregation, adding that he was “in good standing,” and would go door-to-door with the ministry.
“He [witnessed] in the beginning,” Barry continues, explaining, “He had a very special territory. He was able to talk to those who the rest of us would never be able to talk to – celebrities, for example.”
Prince regarded the Kingdom Hall as a “safe place” and a “haven,” adds Barry. “He would just have a suit and tie,” she says. “You wouldn’t have picked him out [from the rest of the congregation].”
The last time Barry recalls seeing the music legend was a month ago at a service for the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Memorial of Christ’s death – a sacred day in the church — and tells the magazine he looked “absolutely normal.”
Prince converted to the Jehovah’s Witness religion in 2003, and, with it, “found fulfillment,” a church spokesperson notes in a statement to People.
Prince, 57, died at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on Thursday. An autopsy was completed on Friday, but a cause of death has yet to be revealed.
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