Prince's estate files suit to block release of new music
It alleges the engineer signed an NDA and agreed not to release any music.
— -- Almost a year after Prince's sudden death, new tracks from the pop icon may never make it to fans.
A six-song EP of previously unreleased Prince material is planned and even teased on Apple Music for later this week, but Paisley Park and Prince's estate, who are not involved with this offering, have filed to block it in civil court.
"Deliverance" features six studio recording the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer made between 2006 and 2008. The material is co-credited to Prince and engineer Ian Boxill, who spent the past year completing the unfinished material and mixing the tracks.
But the singer's famed home and recording studio, Paisley Park, along with Prince's estate, have filed a lawsuit in Carver County, Minnesota, seeking to stop the release of the material and have the masters turned over to them.
According to the suit obtained by ABC News, the plaintiff alleges Boxill signed a confidentiality agreement that all the work the two did together "would remain Prince's sole and exclusive property" and that "he would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever."
A copy of the confidentiality agreement was attached in the suit.
The EP Boxill has assembled includes the title track and a four-song suite called "Opera Man" that includes songs titled "I Am," "Touch Me," "Sunrise Sunset" and "No One Else." The EP is rounded out by an extended version of "I Am."
A request for comment from Boxill was not immediately returned to ABC News.
A digital version of the EP is scheduled to be released Friday.